JadedSnow

Today is an important day…

I just finished the proofreading, and intend to spend the rest of this afternoon doing what I sincerely hope will be the final edit of SNOW.
When that is complete I’ll be ordering new proofs, and within two weeks I should be set for Norwegian publication at least.

But that’s not what I wanted to talk about in this post. I’m intending to insert a little segment in this blog called ‘Maaya says’, where I write about things that both Maaya and I are strongly opposed to or interested in. Namely, human- and animal rights, politics to a certain degree and commemorative events.
There’s a little chibi-Maaya in the works that will be the face of these posts, but for now I’ll have to do without.

Today, November 20th, is International Transgender Day of Remembrance.
A day where the 539 people who have been murdered due to them being transgendered, since the 1970s.

March 7th, 1970: Larry Lavern Turner, a transgendered male is shot by the LAPD.
February 16th, 1982: Dianne Aubert, a transgendered woman is stabbed 131 times, resulting in her death. Her roommate, Marylin was also stabbed 30 times, but survived.
December 31st, 1993: Brandon Teena, a transgendered male is raped and murdered by people who had appeared to be his friends.
November 28th, 1998: Rita Hester, a transgendered woman is brutally stabbed to death in her own apartment.
August 30th, 2007: Maribelle Reyes, a transgendered woman, diagonosed with AIDS was turned away from several treatment centers due to her transgendered status.
January 9th, 2009: Cynthia Nicole, a transgender human rights defender is shot three times in the chest and once in the head, causing her death. It’s believed that she was murdered because of her work for human rights, particularily transgender rights.

These are just a handful of the induviduals who have been discriminated against, abused, violated and murdered based on their transgender-status.
ITDOR is a day where these people are remembered, as well as where awareness on the subject is being spread to the world. In cities all over the world, there are commemorative events being held today. In Norway they are held in Bergen and Oslo. In my city there is no official event, but I’ve lit a candle, in memory of those who have lost their lives over the years.

Both the character Maaya, and I are disgusted by this kind of discrimination and hope that those reading this will spread the word, make others aware. The media doesn’t offer enough coverage on things like this, so it’s up to the people to remember and to stand up against it.
Light a candle, spread the word.

And please visit Transgenderdor.org for more information, statistics and more.

Thanks for reading,
Caroline.

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