(by Rev. John Whittaker – Hinckley Times)
On November 20 at 7 pm a service will be held at St Mary’s Church in Hinckley as part of the International Transgender Day of Remembrance. This will be the first time such a service has been held at St Mary’s and we are deeply privileged to be able to remember and honour all who have been killed as a result of transphobia .
During the course of just over a generation, attitudes towards same sex relationships have been transformed in this country; perhaps most clearly seen in the changes in legislation from same sex relationships between men being a criminal offence, punishable by prison, to the imminent arrival of legislation to allow for the marriage of same sex partners.
But despite this radical shift in public understanding towards the gay and lesbian community, the much smaller transgender community still finds itself subjected to alarming levels of transphobia hate crime resulting in self harm, suicide, assault and murder. This happens all over the world, it happens in this country, it happens in Hinckley.
Last year, the head teacher of an Accrington school wrote to parents to let them know that teacher Nathan Upton would be returning after the summer holiday as Miss Lucy Meadows. Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn launched a merciless onslaught on this and a media storm was provoked. Lucy took her own life. In May of this year, the coroner, Michael Singleton, in recording a verdict of death by suicide, stated that Lucy Meadows had faced ‘ill informed bigotry which had left her feeling that she could not live as a man and was not allowed to live as a woman.’
Anyone doing an internet search on murder resulting from transphobia will find a chilling list of 716 people who have been stoned, shot, mutilated, stabbed, burned and more, for being one of the small group of people who find themselves trapped in the wrong gendered body and who subsequently go through gender realignment.
So on Wednesday November 20, members of the transgender community, friends, supporters and all who want to stand up against hate crime against this and other minority groups will gather. Candles will be lit, reflections will be offered, prayers will be said, names remembered, music sung and together we will honour and remember and pledge ourselves to work for a world where all discrimination, hatred, bigotry and phobia become a thing of generations past and not our generations of the future.
God Bless
John Whittaker
Vicar St Mary’s Hinckley
More information of Trans Day Of Remembrance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_Day_of_Remembrance
http://www.transgenderdor.org/
https://www.facebook.com/transdayofremembrance