My Sisters, I Want You To Grow Old

It's a subject I've talked about twice in the over 10K posts on the blog, and the deaths of two thirtysomething Black trans women just days apart from each other has me thinking about it again.

Growing old and celebrating birthdays  beyond your 35th one as a Black trans feminine person..

We've heard that statistic about the average age of a Black trans person being age 35, and much of it has to do with the unacceptable levels of anti-trans violence aimed at us.

While there are some things that we can do on our end to help ensure we reach advanced birthdays, much of the heavy lifting in this case is going to have to be done by our society.

It is past time for people to stop attacking the humanity and existence of trans people.   We're not going anywhere, so y'all need to get over it.   Our trans lives are not subject to political or theological debate.

We exist.  Deal with it.  We are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.

That means that it's not acceptable behavior for you as a cis male to hurt maim or kill us if you happen to find out that the attractive woman that you got a hard on for in the club or as she was minding her own damned business and going about her day is transgender.   .

It also means cis women, that it is not acceptable behavior,just because you are jealous of that trans woman who is getting more male attention than you, to set her up for a hate crime by shadily whispering 'that's a man' in some brother's ear.

My sisters, I want you to know what it's like to be my age, Tracie Jada O'Brien's, Justina Williams', Gloria Allen's or Miss Major's age.   I would love to see some of y'all with gray hair. or how fab you will look when you hit 35, 40 or 50.   I want to see how your fab trans lives evolve,   I can't be a mentor to you if I don't have you around to pass down your history and some of my life experiences to.as was done for me by my trans elders

I want my Black trans sisters to be able to age gracefully, have and experience the amazing lives I know they are capable of having.

I want to see you grow old.   Is that too much to ask for, society?