Today, November 20, 2023 is the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

I have long had a concern for the rights and protection of Transgender individuals, including those who are gender-nonconforming and others in the LGBTQ community. But I think it's become more personal and important in the year since I began my own transition. So this year I decided to do something specific.

I decided to have a little personal ceremony at one of the fishing ponds at Tingley Beach. Water from the Rio Grande is diverted into a channel to feed a series of three ponds where people can fish. I picked the south pond because there is a walking bridge across the barrier that divide it from the middle pond, which is for under 12 children. And there was convenient access at the shore.

I bought a bundle of hydrangeas and brought the book, Six Centuries of Great Poetry edited by Robert Penn Warren and Albert Erskine. I also printed out the list of names for those who died from violence here in the U.S.

https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/hrc-foundation-report-epi...

I also brought the poem "all too human" by Drea Dimaggio. (thanks, Drea)

So I drove down to the ponds, found a clear space on the bank and began.

I started reading "Death, Be Not Proud" by John Donne. I altered the seventh line to read
And soonest our best men and women with thee do go ---

Then I went to the list of names. For each I plucked a little stem of hydrangea blossom and tossed it out into the pond before reading the name.
Diamond Jackson=McDonald
Destiny Howard
Mar'Quis 'MJ' Jackson
Caelee Love-Light
Morgan Moore
Kylie Monali
London Starr
Jasmine "Star" Mack
KC Johnson
Unique Banks
Zachee Imanitwitah
Maria Jose Rivera
Chashay Henderson
Tortuguita
Ta'Siyah Woodland
Ashley Burton
Koko Da Doll
Banko Brown
Ashia Davis
Chanell Perez Ortiz
Jacob Williamson
Camdyn Rider
DeVonnie J'Rae Johnson
Thomas 'Tom=Tom' Robertson
YOKO
Luis Angel Diaz Castro
Chyna Long
Sherilyn Marjorie
A'nee Johnson
Dominic Dupree
Lisa Love
London Price
LaKendra Andrews

As I finished, I felt a somber mood arise in my chest.
So many people lost to fear and hate.

And then I read Drea's poem.

I spoke clearly but without shouting.

People went about their fishing and ducks played with each other.

But I had done my part to remember them as I looked at the little white flowers floating on the pond.