On Trans Day of Remembrance, Duluth organization gathers to honor those lost, celebrate resilience

NINA MOINI: This is Minnesota Now. Thank you so much for listening. Today, people around the world gather to remember lost loved ones for Trans Day of Remembrance. The day was created to recognize people who were murdered because of their transgender identity.

The new organization called Trans Northland is holding events in both Duluth and Superior to remember lost peers and have important conversations about resilience. Sean Hayes is the executive director of Trans Northland and he's here now on the line to talk about it. Thanks for being here, Sean.

SEAN HAYES: Thanks so much for having me.

NINA MOINI: And, Sean, I know it's a difficult time right now, a tricky time from folks that we've been hearing a lot of people since the election, transgender people concerned about the future of their health care under another Trump presidency. But I want to zoom out for a minute, if it's OK. Trans Day of remembrance has been going on for 25 years now, so why is this trans tradition rather relevant all these years later, do you think?

SEAN HAYES: Well, that's a great question. And this is always a hard day for our community and going back 25 years. I think about our ancestors or transcestors as I've heard the term and those folks really gathering together to mourn, to grieve the loss of their community members and siblings and their communities.

And so that tradition has continued, sadly, because our community continues to face oncoming violence, as well as discrimination and all attacks as of late, as you mentioned.

NINA MOINI: So with all of that in mind, what are some of your things that are top of mind for you this Trans Day of Remembrance?

SEAN HAYES: So this year, we had started planning this event about a month ago, so that was before we knew the election results. And so my dear friend Tee who works at the Gender Equity Resource Center over at UWS and I had connected and we just said, hey, no matter what happens, our community needs to continue to build connection together. We need to continue to show up for one another as well as really talk about how we take care of ourselves as individuals.

And then also, what does collective care within our community look like as we move into these unknown future years where we know and are already preparing for the attacks and the hard times that we're going to face as a community? And so our focus was going to be really high on the resiliency piece. Oftentimes, we call this date Trans Day of Remembrance and resilience.

And so that was just really important for us thinking about all of the folks, whether it's young, trans and gender nonconforming youth, all the way up to our elders who just are feeling a lot of worry, a lot of concern, a lot of just downright fear about what the future holds. So we want to create spaces where folks can connect and build relationships and just that's like such a huge reminder that we are not alone. There are many of us and we are strong together.

NINA MOINI: Tell me about how Trans Northland is going to be recognizing the day and what people can experience because you're right, there's a lot of talk about resilience and needing to be strong, but there's also joy in coming together and support, right?

SEAN HAYES: That's exactly right. One of the things Trans Northland has done over the last couple of years is host an event called Trans Day or Trans Joy Fest. And so we really, really value and are looking for ways all the time to build joy and to build that hope and just to have those reminders for our community folks, the parents, the family members of trans folks, as well as all of our allies and aspiring allies.

So we're excited about our events tonight. We know that they are they're going to be heavy and lots of folks don't necessarily want to come out for this one. But we are encouraging and inviting our friends and family and aspiring allies to come out and to support us in this time.

NINA MOINI: There's events in downtown Duluth, a panel, a performance, it looks like at UW Superior. So there are different ways for people to experience this moment, it sounds like. How about Sean, for people who want to be allies or better allies to the trans community, what do they need to know about this day and how to approach it and more generally, how to show their allyship right now?

SEAN HAYES: Great question. I would say just care. Care is at the top of our needs right now on a day like today. So the trans person in your life, the family member, whoever it is, reach out and just check in and say, hey, how are you today? Maybe buy him a cup of coffee and show a little extra love on this hard day.

And for those aspiring allies as well, we want to connect with you at Trans Northland. We want you to reach out and meet with us and talk about ways that our allies can start to show up and continue helping support us along the way.

NINA MOINI: And just a final question for you here, Sean, if you want to, are there any people or specific things that you're thinking about today, maybe people that have been lost that you wanted to maybe remember right now?

SEAN HAYES: Oh, Goodness. Yep, I do. I was looking at some of the research and I know that there were 36 transgender and nonbinary folks killed in the United States in the past year. Two of those people were from Minnesota and lived in Minnesota. So I want to lift up their names, Savannah Williams, as well as Liara Tsai, as well as we've lost folks in our community as well to suicide, which is a real worry for folks right now as well.

And so I lift up my dear friend Evan Adams, who died a few years ago, as well as all of the folks that just aren't with us today when they really should be.

NINA MOINI: Well, Sean, I thank you for sharing that and all of this with us, really. And I wish you well with your events and everything that's going on in your area. Thank you, Sean.

SEAN HAYES: Thank you so much. Take care.

NINA MOINI: You too. That was Sean Hayes, Executive Director of Trans Northland.