Typically, the Transgender Day of Visibility is a time to celebrate, but speakers at a rally in the Loop on Thursday said that 2022 wasn’t typical.
The transgender community experienced the back-to-back deaths of two members earlier this month: Evanston LGBTQ activist Elise Malary, whose body was found in Lake Michigan on March 17, and Chicagoan Tatiana “Tee Tee” Whetstone, 33, who was found dead in a garbage bin March 18.
“When two Black trans women are found dead in the Chicago area in a matter of a week, there’s nothing to celebrate,” said Jae Rice, director of communications for Brave Space Alliance, an LGBTQ center on the South Side.
“So this may be a celebration for some, but for Black trans people, for other trans people of color, this day is a day of reminders,” Rice said. “It is a day to remind Black trans people that we do not matter to this city. It is a day to remind Black trans people that the state does not care about us. It is a reminder to Black trans people that this country does not care about us.”
Speakers at the event outside the Daley Center, which drew about 70 people, said that local government has failed to provide safety and basic resources for transgender people. They pointed to a series of hand-painted, poster-size “report cards” that gave the city and county failing grades in areas such as investing money in the transgender community, making LGBTQ kids feel safe in school, and providing gender-affirming care in Cook County Jail.
They spoke of victims such as Whetstone, whose death has been ruled a homicide.
And they expressed sorrow and frustration about the violence and discrimination transgender people encounter.
“I ask you, how have you failed to protect the Black trans women around you?” said Sharah Hutson, digital organizer for Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation.
“Has your silence around the violence that is happening to Black trans women lead to their erasure? Do you understand what’s at risk when you don’t protect Black trans women?” Hutson said.
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Speakers read aloud from the hand-painted report cards, with members of the audience yelling out grades for the city and county, about 30 Fs in all, and one incomplete.
“Today, I hope we can remember that trans people are beautiful, and holy and magical and worthy of celebration, but I also hope we can remember that trans people in Chicago right now are fighting for our lives, while our blue city and our lesbian mayor are failing us,” said Ab Weeks, organizing director of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation.
Activist Malary’s disappearance was widely publicized by family, friends and colleagues before her body was found.
Malary, 31, had been a board member at the nonprofit Chicago Therapy Collective. She had quit her job with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on March 9, police said.
Hundreds attended a vigil for Malary earlier in March, and Raoul issued a statement saying his office was heartbroken.
“Elise was a valued member of our Civil Rights Bureau who, as a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ community, was passionate about her work. Her kindness and infectious smile will be missed by those who worked with her. The Attorney General’s office has lost a member of our family,” the statement said.
At Thursday’s rally, Malary’s friend, Alexis Martinez, said the community lost “this beautiful jewel.”
“We gather again to cry out for justice. We call for healing. And we feel the tears well up inside of us. And even as we go through the healing process it’s in the back of our minds: When is the next one going to fall?” said Martinez.
Martinez, 72, said she’s beyond anger.
“I want to rage, but I have to have hope,” she said. “I have a right to exist, and nobody can take that away from me.”