In Honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance 2010

Saturday is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember and memorialize folks that were murdered due to anti-transgender prejudice and hatred.

Transgender issues are very important to our family, and so, for weeks I've been trying to think of what we can do as a family to remember those lost and to show our strong support for transgendered folks.

Noah and I had a very rough night last night which resulted in about 1.5 hours of sleep for me. He's teething or caught a cold, and his nose has been very stuffy. I knew that we couldn't just stick around the house today, and I thought it might be a good idea for Noah to ride in the car so he would nap upright.

On a whim, we headed to Target after Noah's morning gym class. We bought a bright yellow poster board that Noah picked out and some press on letters. Then we headed toward our nation's capitol for some bonding, statement making and we were hoping to raise awareness and open some hearts.

Off we went. As soon as we reached the White House we found a great big space with plenty of room to parallel park the Prius in. We grabbed the space, fed the meter (which ate like 3 dollars worth of quarters and gave us 40 minutes of time) and started to head to the White House. An older gentleman in an expensive suit saw the poster board and waved at Noah stopped and asked, "Are you going to protest?"

"No, we're trying to raise awareness of the transgendered people that have been murdered for being transgendered. Saturday is the day of remembrance so we're going to take a picture with our poster by the White House."

He gave me a look that told me he'd been working in DC too long. It said he didn't believe in changing the world anymore even though he'd probably come here way back when to do that.

"You're a beautiful little boy. Enjoy the White House."

We kept walking. There's a place way before the White House fence where if you take pictures, the fence isn't in your shot.

Noah squealed and happy yelled when he saw the White House for the first time

I parked Noah there and handed him our sign. He grabbed it with two hands, then I stepped back to snap the photo and he let it fly. After a couple of attempts, another older man in an expensive suit interrupted me.

One of my failed attempts to get Noah to hold the poster

"Want me to hold your sign in front of the baby?"

So he did. I explained why we were there. He smiled, nodded, and then gave Noah a pat on the shoulder.

I had smeared the lens with my thumb so those pictures didn't turn out.

We walked a little farther up, and I explained to Noah why we came to the White House. That not only is it symbolic of all the greatness of our country, but it would give us the opportunity to talk to at least three people about what Saturday means to our family.

We reached the White House fence. I parked Noah's stroller near it and began to snap more photos. A school group asked me to take a group shot of them.

The junior high aged girls complimented Noah's looks and talked about how good looking he'd be in Junior High. One even added, "And he'll have a natural mohawk. He'll be so cool."

A group of five men and a woman came beside us and as I was struggling against the wind to set up more shots of Noah, the poster and the White House, they began to read our poster. They started to talk about it. Nodding at us.

They asked if I'd take their picture then one of them offered to take some shots of Noah and me with our poster.

The white paper in my hand is the list of the names of those we lost

She stopped before she took the camera and asked what the poster meant. I started to explain it to her. In my right hand, I held a hand written list of the names of the transgendered people that had been killed in the last year. I held it up for her to see with tears in my eyes.

She took our picture, and then thanked me for being there. The men with her sat quietly watching our exchange.

We'd accomplished what we set out to accomplish. Talk to three strangers about why the Transgender Day of Remembrance is important.

I started to put the poster away, when I turned and saw a secret service police officer standing behind me.

"Are you protesting?"

"No, we're hear in honor of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. It's Saturday. I want pictures of my baby with this poster showing our support. Of love. And equality. We're for love."

"Good, because we have procedures for protesting and you'd need to fill out paperwork if you were protesting."

I realized maybe we were protesting but I thought it wasn't worth getting on some government list to explain to him that we do want laws to change and we want people to treat all people with dignity and respect. But then he looked at me and said, "Is that some kind of list?"

"Yes, it's the names of the people that were killed in the last year because of anti-transgender hatred and prejudice."

"That's a long list. Finish your pictures and have a nice day."

I smiled as we walked away, and said to Noah. I guess we talked to four people. I hope we opened all of their hearts.

That's when an older woman came up to us smiling. "Can I take a picture of the two of you together? You're both so lovely."

I guess we'll never know how many hearts we opened today, but it felt good to know that people noticed us and appreciated what we were doing there.