A poem for TDOV

Content warning: mentions transphobia, murder, death of trans kids, fascism and JK Rowling

Visibility was never our problem

You can see us just fine.
The target on our backs
is visible to all.

Forget the passivity of seeing,
or remembering.
It’s time to act.

So how about a new day?
Trans day of love and celebration
trans day of getting housed
trans day of caring about us
trans day of access to healthcare
trans day of not being infantilised
trans day of not being gatekept
trans day of… just fucking believe us, okay?
even when we’re autistic, yes
just… accept what we say
give us dignity and respect
let us explore ourselves
our needs
without judgement.

Or how about
trans day of quit pretending your arbitrary rules
about pronouns and names
bits of paper
and toilet doors
are biological facts?
Trans day of maybe the world
doesn’t have to be ordered
solely for the convenience of cis people.

Or then again why not
trans day of no cis woman
was ever hurt by trans civil rights?
Trans day of fuck the cisheteropatriarchy
and all its works?
Trans day of fuck the police
and fuck your borders.
Trans day of agreeing with Donald Trump
does not make you a feminist.

I’m far from done
Because this is my
Trans day of rage.

How about trans day of not letting kids die
for want of evidence-based healthcare?
Trans day of recognising a few alive adults with regrets
is better than larger numbers of dead kids.
Trans day of minding that kids are dying.

Trans day of actually cancelling JK Rowling
before she gets more of us killed.
What’s it going to take
to stop people from helping
her fund hate and destruction?

Or how about trans day of truth?
Trans day of journalists knowing how to
debunk propaganda and lies?
Trans day of people doing the reading
before opening their mouths.
Trans day of listening to us
instead of opinionated, clueless cis people.

Trans day of bodily autonomy.
Trans day of giving a fuck about the murders.
Trans day of being allowed to be
Really. Fucking. Angry.
Trans day of cis allies speaking up for us.
Trans day of not having to worry about
how bad it’s going to get
before folks realise we’re dying here.

Trans day of no it’s not a complex issue:
Accept us and we don’t die
and nobody else gets hurt either.
That’s not complicated.

Trans day of not comparing me
burning my personal copy of Harry Potter
with the Nazis destroying
the biggest repository
of the study of trans people
that had yet existed.

Trans day of knowing your history.
Trans day of knowing what fascism does to trans people.
Trans day of knowing fascism
when your country is in the grip of it.

Fuck visibility.
Everyone can see us just fine.
How about
trans day of not turning away?
We don’t need to be seen
we need to be heard.