TRANS-Aggression

I was driven to create a political collage this past year, recognizing the 38 transgender people who suffered violent deaths in 2022. They are represented by the butterflies. Their names are included as well. I found myself quite emotional when writing out each of their names. While creating this piece, I started considering the word TRANS used here and another way to look at it perhaps. 

First, I’m not what is identified as a transgender person, nor am I trying to speak for them. I can only speak humbly as Troy at this moment, an outsider to their experience. 

In recent times, those who identify as transgender seem to be projected by some xenophobes as a target for their fear. In society, I can see where we both celebrate and fear individuality. Sometimes we place rules on how far someone can go. If they stray too far from the box of recognition into the unfamiliar or foreign, we become uncomfortable. We then assume if we feel uncomfortable with someone’s uniqueness and individuality, it is inherently bad. We then project that bad feeling on what is making us feel that discomfort, the target, rather than looking at our relationship with that discomfort. So, in our attempt to feel comfortable, we would rather control or change the target to something more acceptable or eliminate it. We do this for transgender humans by limiting gender-affirming care, restricting the use of public facilities, to name a few, and even violence. History shows this repetitively for foreign or non-normative communities of people.  

Individual transformation is a shift that brings us in alignment with our highest potential. The path includes a wide range of transformative experiences that support the whole person. Carl Jung often talked about transformation and the psychology of change. For him, it was about growing closer to the authentic self – becoming more aligned with the person that you want to become. In my mind, it is becoming the person you were put on earth to be, to be you and only you. Becoming yourself means being attuned to your inner voice and intuition. And quite often it requires going against the grain of the environment around you. It requires bravery.

This bravery may mean leaving your home or going against your family or a partner. It may mean speaking, acting, and showing yourself in new ways. It could mean changing your spiritual being, your mental being, or your physical being. It seems to me that transgender people would be the bravest and most outward example of the latter in becoming what they feel is their true selves in this world.

Furthermore, could we not see that we are all in the process of changing at every moment? We are never, ever a constant. We are walking and breathing transformation. So, does that make us all “trans-something” people on some level? Could we not look at each other as “change” or “trans” and honor each other for the process we are all sharing in becoming who we are meant to be? Today, could we see transgender people as our lighthouse, visibly leading us through the storm of change that is moving so swiftly inside and outside ourselves?  Can we see that when we hold space for them and their transformation, we hold space for our transformation? Conversely, by fearing and limiting the transformation of others, we limit our collective transformation.

Transformation is breath, life, and expansion. Fear brings stagnation and death. In this, I honor the following transgender beings {butterflies}who lost their lives in 2022:

Caelee Love-Light, Mar Quis MG Jackson, Destiny Howard, Diamond Jackson McDonald, Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Tiffany Banks, Semaj Billingslea, Acey Morrison, Mya Allen, Dede Ricks, Maddie Hofmann, Aaron Lynch, Kandii Reed, Hayden Davis, Marisela Castro, Cherry Bush, Keshia Chanel Geter, Martasia Richmond, Kitty Monroe, Shawmayne Giselle Marie, Brazil Johnson, Sasha Mason, Chenelika Y’Ella Dior Hemingway. Nedra Squence Morris, Ray Muscat. Fern Feather, Ariyanna Mitchell, Mila Love Parker, Kenyatta Kesha Webster, Kathryn Newhouse, Tatiana Labelle, Paloma Vazquez, Matthew Angelo Spampinato, Naomie Skinner, Cypress Ramos, Duval Princess. Amariey Lej.