https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports
The website includes a candle beside the title “Remembering our dead”. The concept feels familiar, as though we are encountering obituaries shared from a funeral home. There is something comforting in glimpsing the life stories of loved ones, seeing memorials shared, and getting information about how we honour life. People are familiar with the diverse ways we remember those who have died, immediately following that death and in the years to come.
We remember the dead. Except, the website to which I am referring, isn’t simply obituaries. It is a site that recognises shared traumas through reports of the deaths of transgender people around the world. These reports are sorted by dates, countries, or categories, violence being the most common, followed by suicide.
Through this website, we get glimpses of heartbreaking stories. Listed under Canada for this past year is Jamie Dooley who died in custody in a Hamilton detention centre under questionable circumstances less than 24 hours after arrival and an unnamed individual who died by suicide following the release of anti-trans policies by Premier Danille Smith in Alberta. Family has confirmed these policies were a contributing factor. The reports of deaths from violence can be particularly hard to read. I will leave it to you to decide if you want to learn more.
What I hope we hold before us today is that every report on this website represents a beloved child of God who is made in the image and likeness of God. This website includes 419 reports from around the world just in the past year. As these lives are acknowledged and grieved during the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, we are right to also pray for an end to this injustice.
Jesus said: When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
Hearing the disciples celebrate the temple and its construction, Jesus reminds them that being centred on worldly things leads to suffering – to violence, wars, famines, and destruction. When we get overly focused on earthly perspective and priorities, we miss what should be important, what should be valued, and how love should be embodied. Yet, suffering can be a wake-up call. Suffering can invite us into reflection on its causes. Suffering can challenge us to know better and do better. Thus, hidden within suffering is the possibility for transformation. The darkness of suffering can be the darkness of the womb and become the beginning of the birth pangs.
The darkness of suffering can be the darkness of the womb and become the beginning of the birth pangs. Over the years we have seen the Trans Day of Remembrance grow in two ways – the numbers of people to remember and the numbers of people who remember. The first is cause for further anguish and grief. The latter is cause for hope. The community of people who care is growing creating spaces for new things to be born in us.
Perhaps, this is the beginning of the birth pangs. This is the promise that God is continually doing news things in the world. Can we trust that God is doing something new in and through the Queer and Trans community? God grieves the losses with us. God loves every beloved transgender child. God calls us to love as God loves, so that, together, we can be part of that new beginning, that new life that springs forth when we place God at the centre of our priorities trusting that the challenges, and grief we experience is the beginning of the birth pangs, the beginning of something new being born in us!
Longing for this moment to be the beginning of birth pangs, may we be transformed by our anger and grief to use our gifts to help give birth to a world where all gender diverse people can live freely, fully, and without fear. This we pray as we sing: We are a Rainbow