Thailand's First TDOR Ceremony

The 'Land of Smiles' has the most well known and open trans community on the planet, but surprisingly until this year had never had a TDOR memorial ceremony.

Prempreeda Pramoj Na Ayutthaya and the Thai Transgender Alliance decided to change that this year.   She organized Thailand's first TDOR which was held in Bangkok's Centara Grand Hotel.   It's also talking place as the Miss International Queen trans pageant is being conducted in Pattaya this week.    

Congrats to our Thai sisters on a successful and historic TDOR event. 

The TDOR Is A Memorial, Not A Party

One of the things that I've heard over and over from some quarters of the trans community about the upcoming November 20 worldwide celebration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance is that it's 'too somber' or 'depressing'.

Um, hello  It's a memorial to the people we've lost to anti-transgender violence.   It's not supposed to be a happy-happy joy-joy event.

TDOR is designed to point out to the media the cost of anti-trans violence.  It's an opportunity for our allies to do intersectional work with our community and support us on one of our issues.  And when I lost my friend Nakhia to violence while living in Louisville back in 2008, it became a way to show the family and friends of the departed transperson how much we love and respect that individual and provide some closure for all who knew the person.

It is not an opportunity for GLAAD, HRC or other GL orgs to fundraise in our community for your coffers, or for college students or people to have an excuse to party.   You want a party, then do so on the International Day of Trans Visibility or pick another day on the calendar such as TDOR founder Gwen Smith suggested, the August anniversary date of the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria riots..  

TDOR exists as a day for us to memorialize the people that we've lost and get people to focus on the fact we are taking the brunt of violence aimed at the TBLG community.   I damned sure as a transperson of African descent want to keep it in the forefront of people's minds that 70% of the people we memorialize every year are transpeople of color..  

There are 364 other days on the calendar (365 in a leap year) for partying.   This isn't one of them.

2010 Houston TDOR On UH Campus

There will be Transgender Day Of Remembrance ceremonies all over the world as the website Ethan maintains will point out.   But this will be the first TDOR I get to attend back in my hometown.

I've been a part of TDOR events hosted by the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary on one level or another for the past 8 years, so it's going to be a little strange in not having a speaking role or taking part in the planning for it.

But as I have to remind myself, I've only been back for five months, and I'd better be careful what I wish for.
  
That's a nice segue into the next part of this post.   For those of you in the Houston area who wish to attend the 2010 Houston TDOR, it will be held on November 20 at the A.D. Bruce Religion Center on the UH Main Campus.

To get to it from I-45 South (downtown):
- exit Cullen
- turn right on Cullen
- turn left into UH Entrance 13A
- you cannot reach this building by car, but the Religion Center is the white building at the far end of the gated parking lot

Parking Information
To obtain a visitor parking permit, visit the Information Center at Entrance 1 on UH University Dr. or the Information Center on Cullen Blvd near the Athletics/Alumni Facility.
The closest parking lots are 9C and 15F.

The TDOR will start at 7 PM CST.     Hope to see many of you local TransGriot readers, allies and friends there.