As attacks against transgender people continue to rise, the San José queer community remembers trans lives lost and provides a glimmer of hope for trans folks in solidarity on Transgender Day of Remembrance.
On Nov. 20, the Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs hosted a vigil to remember and have community members show support for trans and genderqueer people lost to violence at The Chapel on Hanchett Avenue, according to a County of Santa Clara webpage.
At the vigil, community members read the names of trans individuals who died this year and how they were remembered by their families and loved ones.
Soft music filled the room while people paid respect with colorful roses and quietly shared words of hope and resilience.
Yesica Vera, a workforce and economic mobility specialist at Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley and San José State alum, said that Transgender Day of Remembrance is resiliency and empowerment to them.
“ I didn’t grow up going to these events and not knowing that this community existed, especially in the queer, Latino community – we’re not often seen and heard, right. So my upbringing … had no experience of being in a queer community,” Vera said.
A poll found that 11% of United States Latino adults identify as LGBTQ+ which is almost double the rate of non-Hispanic white adults and Black adults who identify as queer, according to a Salt Lake Tribune June 1, 2022 article.
The Chapel’s walls bounced with the words of people, the names and words of remembrance leaving many with tear-stained cheeks.
“ There’s a lot of fear when it comes to ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), when it comes to a lot of stigma and maybe hate towards the queer community, trans community,” Vera said. “Just seeing everyone come through, (the event) was very beautiful and it gives me hope that we can still fight a good fight and be here in community and give memory to folks who have passed but are still present here with us today.”
Louie McDonough, a first-year social work master’s student at SJSU and a trans man, attended the vigil for the first time this year and paid respect to the trans lives that have been lost this year.
“ Where I grew up in Salinas, California, I felt like a good chunk of the churches there were pretty conservative,” McDonough said. “I think even the Presbyterian church was weird about queer people, but it’s nice to see the church here be so kind and open.”
White evangelicals are a religious group where the majority of followers say society has become too accepting of transgender people, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey.
“ San José – I feel like it’s kinda in the middle, but overall we’re pretty accepting … It’s kind of a double-edged sword because I feel so comfortable here but sometimes it makes me afraid to travel anywhere else ‘cause I feel like this is pretty much a safe haven for me,” McDonough said.
For trans individuals in San José, resource hubs like the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Center and the Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ Affairs offer discussion groups for queer people and a gender affirming care clinic, according to the organizations’ websites.
McDonough said that he feels like San José resources centers should provide more mental health and community-building spaces for trans folks who are over the age of 25.
Ivy Flores, also known by her drag name “Bombón ASSESINA,” attended the vigil and said that resources that the Office of LGBTQ Affairs provides are essential to trans people’s survival.
“ Trans people … face a lot of obstacles, some that they don’t really understand fully and they need support and they need guidance,” Flores said.
Gender-affirming hormone therapy has been found to help improve trans, nonbinary and genderqueer patients’ mental health, according to an April 1 CNN article.
In comparison to patients who were not prescribed hormones, patients prescribed hormone therapy had a 15% lower risk of depressive symptoms over four years of follow ups, according to the same article.
“I think that when these organizations, community groups, leaders come together and really push for (support), it really creates hope for these people that they can work through these issues (and) through these things that kind of hold them back from accomplishing their goals and dreams,” Flores said.
Although the federal administration has attempted to eliminate trans people from history, trans women of color have been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ liberation in Stonewall, including Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, according to a Feb. 14 ABC News article.
“I’ve been impacted by (the) community so much and that’s why I’m here still today,” Flores said.
