Transgender Day of Remembrance is not solely a day to mourn the deaths of members of the transgender community. It is a day to celebrate resilience and to celebrate change.

A celebration took place in Bakersfield on Nov. 20 at the Kern County Liberty Bell from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Ivy, member of Bakersfield LGBTQ, hosted the event. There was a series of speakers of distinct backgrounds who spoke before an audience about their struggles, their stories, and their support. The objective of this event was to honor those who lost their lives and to bring about positive change in the community in order to allow transpeople to live authentic lives.

Ivy said at the start of the event, “We will…raise awareness and hopefully prevent some of the misunderstandings and self-loathing that leads to violent crimes against transpeople by others, or more tragically, by our own hands. Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, so we are going to remember.”

Ivy then went on to talk about when she first realized she was transgender. She recalled being a child and playing house with her cousins and her siblings. Whenever they played that childhood game, Ivy always found herself wanting to be the mother – she always wanted to play the female role.

“What society doesn’t understand is that I am human, I make mistakes, I strive to be successful in life, and I have feelings too. No, my parents didn’t fail as parents, no, I wasn’t molested nor am I psychologically unstable. My journey hasn’t been easy, but what in life is?” Ivy added after sharing her experience as a child.

After her introduction, Ivy introduced Ariel Marie, fellow member of the LGBTQ community. Marie started two years ago, she was reborn and she was standing in front of the audience as her “authentic self,” and her transition would never end.

Marie said, “For 20 years I struggled to match my inside with my outside. When I came to terms of accepting my inside as my outside…when I finally made the decision to be myself, there was no stopping, each step I took, my steps got bigger.”

She went on to say that just as every other woman in today’s society, she wants to work, she wants to be successful, and she wants to be respected.

Another speaker who demanded similar rights for transgender women was Audrey Chavez, with the Bakersfield AIDS project.

Chavez told the audience about how before she knew about the word transgender, she knew AIDS.

Chavez lost her brother to AIDS almost 23 years ago, and during that time she met a member of the transgender community with whom she immediately fell in love. She had a pair of shoes at the podium that belong to that transgender woman, Anita Valdez, who was in the hospice stages of AIDS at the time.

“She was a beautiful woman who only wanted to find a man to love her and to treat her right. Getting in the way, though, was a society that wasn’t ready for our transgender community,” Chavez said about Valdez.

Chavez then put the violence against transgender women into perspective for the audience. According to Chavez, non transwomen make up little over half of the US population, yet transwomen are four times more likely to be murdered than their counterparts.

She continued, stating the science that spells out in great detail the birth difference construction in the womb is unknown by the vast majority of people in America.

“Even when science is shared, many people will say that science is often wrong, and that science doesn’t matter, or that the bible trumps science. So the culture remains disdaining and hostile against fellow human beings,” Chavez said.

She added, “We must make no excuses for being true, real, correct, and authentic.”

After Chavez, David Lollar spoke on behalf of the California Teacher’s Association. He spoke as an ally to the LGBTQ community. Lollar acknowledged the large number of lives being honored that night. However, he emphasized that the only number that mattered to him was the No. 1.

Lollar said, “One life lost is one too many. One future erased, is one too many. And I say, not one more.”

He added information about how the community can stop criminals through legislative action, but the way to stop hateful ideas and murderous belief systems begins with education.

On behalf of the Kern High School District, Lollar concluded, “We will continue to keep you safe, we will continue to educate our community, and, as always, we will continue to love you.”

There were several members and representatives of different religious congregations spoke at the event, offering support and guidance to members of the transgender community.

Andy Kendall with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Kern County offered his condolences and apologized on behalf of every faith community that abuses of transgender people. He also spoke about the many promises his congregation made in order to progress. Kendall said his congregation promises to avoid making assumptions about a person’s gender identity based on their behavior. They promise to respect a person’s self-label and to respect a person’s chosen name and their chosen pronoun. Additionally, he said they promise to not assume that a transgender person only wants to talk about transgender issues.

Kendall laughed as he said, “Some of y’all might fish or garden, or have other interests. We would like to hear about that. You’re a whole person.”

Kendall then assured the audience that the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Kern County is committed to public action in order to change laws.

In addition to Kendall, Unity Church pastor Chuck Cournyea spoke at the event.

“My heart is just bursting with pride right now. Although we are here to mourn those who have been murdered, killed, or committed suicide, it is nice to know that I am part of a community, that my brothers and sisters of the religious faiths are here in solidarity as allies and support for all people,” Cournyea stated. He went on to say that he is happy to see that those who attended the event have a place to go when they need help.

As the rally came to an end, Ivy welcomed Bakersfield LGBTQ Chair Whitney Weddell to the stage.

Weddell said, “We live in a violent world…but tonight we who are gathered here are taking a stand to call for an end to transphobia, to create a world where people can be accepted for who they are…by those they love and by those they encounter in their everyday lives.”

Weddell said that as chair of Bakersfield LGBTQ, she is appalled that an event of this nature must be held every year, and she is appalled that hateful people are pushing for a ballot measure that would deny transgender people the basic human right to use the appropriate restroom.

On behalf of all the organizations present at this celebration of Transgender Remembrance Day, Weddell told everyone standing before her, “We are prepared to stand up for you, to advocate for you, and to educate others about your rights so you won’t have to do it alone.”