A Day of Visibility

[lydamorehouse]

Lindsey Flicker (Facebook) caught a picture of me "in action" at the #WeWontBeErasedMN day of solidarity on Sunday afternoon. The other side of my sign read "Trans Ally"

I can't tell you how powerful this day of visibility was, even for me, who has zero reason to feel particularly validated by all the trans flags and the people who honked and waved or flashed us the peace sign. I loved the idea of it the moment I read what the plan was, which was for people not to march, but to stand shoulder to shoulder and to see if we could span the distance between the approximate heart of Minneapolis (Chicago & Lake) to the "Peace Bridge" (which is the River Road & Lake/Marshall Avenue) into Saint Paul. From their webpage: "Trans folks & allies, does anyone else just want to stand out in public with each other, in a never ending line and be seen? Not a protest, per se but a Trans visibility event."

What still makes me tear up a little? We did it.

To span that distance--approximately six miles--means that literally THOUSANDS of people must have been lining the streets.

On Sunday morning, I got up early to go to Walgreen's to get my 'Sunday Go to Protest" supplies. I was happy that they had blue and pink sharpies, since those are the colors of the trans flag.  The morning looked like it might be rainy, so I made sure to coat my sign in packing tape. But, by the time I left to go meet some friends at the Blue Moon Cafe, the sun was so bright that I grabbed my sunglasses.  I had coffee with Anna D., and two other people I only knew tangentially, Marion E. and Patricia Z.  Anna wanted to stand near the deaf interpreter site, which was actually planned to be close to the coffee shop, so Marion and I stopped where there was a gap that needed filling and Anna and Patricia continued on.  We stood there for an hour as people filled in and spread, and, like I said, we didn't _do_ anything--no chants, no singing (although apparently, there were spots assigned for the folks that wanted to sing AND apparently a band showed up)--but it felt weirdly amazing to wave and be waved at... maybe because there's so damn much hate in the world, the simple act of being smiled at felt astoundingly up-lifting.

But, like I said, this wasn't FOR me. It was for the kids who were standing next to me holding a trans flag with white knuckles because their LIVES depended on it, it was for my friend's friend who I stood beside who is genderqueer. It was for my friends and my cousin and for everyone who really, really needed to hear that people SEE them and LOVE them. 

The signs were all amazing, too. If you need cheering up, you should go to the website and just scroll down the "discussion" section.

Comments

[offcntr]

On behalf of my AFAB older brother, thanks!