Here & Now

Transgender Wisconsinites Fight for Awareness, Safety

LaDi London:

During my time as a cross-dresser, I endured a lot of violence. I even recently, you know, earlier this year endured violence.

Murv Seymour:

For two hours in November —

SunShine Raynebow:

I’m just happy that I’m still alive.

Murv Seymour:

The battle for transgender awareness and equality —

Amira Pierotti:

Our justice will come from us and by us.

Murv Seymour:

Is center stage at the steps of the state Capitol.

Amira Pierotti:

This isn’t something that happens in other states. This is happening right here.

SunShine Raynebow:

I’ve been through hell and back in my life.

Amira Pierotti:

We need our lawmakers to support and championtransgender and gender expansive justice now.

Morgen Loree:

It’s not a huge community. It’s getting bigger as people step out of the closet. Since, you know, we’ve had this boom in awareness, the violence against us has been skyrocketing.

Murv Seymour:

This Trans Day of Remembrance rally is one of many held across the state and the country every November 20^th.

Amira Pierotti:

I’ll share the story of Rita Hester and that’s the story we all should know.

Elle Halo:

Hester was killed on November 28, 1998 in Boston.

Murv Seymour:

The brutal unsolved murder of Rita Hester has been the inspiration for this special day since 1999.

Elle Halo:

Two decades after Hester’s death, the U.S. is facing what advocates are calling an epidemic of anti-trans violence.

LaDi London:

As I heard my sister tell the story of Rita Hester, it just made me think to myself how close I came to being her.

Elle Halo:

This year is on pace to be the deadliest year for trans people since advocacy organizations like the Human Rights Campaign started tracking transgender homicides.

Amira Pierotti:

We wanted to put on an event that would address the epidemic of anti-trans violence.

Murv Seymour:

They do so by saying the names of all 50 transgender murder victims in 2021.

Elle Halo:

Say her name, Mylasia Booker.

Livia Rowell-Ortiz:

The Trans Day of Remembrance gives us an opportunity to reflect and mourn the loss of life as a larger community of what many trans folks face all year.

Amira Pierotti:

The Trans Day of Remembrance is not only a day to mourn but it’s a day for allies to take action, call for justice, make sure that their workplaces are trans inclusive. That we’re calling out friends and family members who continue to be transphobic. There are so many Black trans women and girls who have been assaulted.

Murv Seymour:

Hours after the emotional rally at the state Capitol —

Tim Schaefer:

I would describe this as a pretty traditional space in which we worship.

Murv Seymour:

About three miles away inside the walls of First Baptist Church of Madison —

Tim Schaefer:

That we sometimes use in a pretty untraditional way.

Murv Seymour:

The efforts to raise transgender awareness continues as history is being made here.

Tim Schaefer:

My sexuality is a big deal and isn’t a big deal. You don’t find openly gay pastors in a lot of churches.

Murv Seymour:

Pastor Tim Schaefer who prefers you call him Tim, speaks to his congregation and his community.

Tim Schaefer:

I was, in a way, called to this church despite my sexuality, not because of.

Murv Seymour:

He is the first openly gay pastor of this church in its almost 175-year history.

John:

I hope that we can continue to do on a yearly basis with the Trans Day of Remembrance —

Tim Schaefer:

The way we raise awareness is by sharing stories.

Murv Seymour:

On this November weekend, he too helps share the stories and struggles of transgender people.

Tim Schaefer:

Whether it’s my own story or whether it’s someone else’s story. Jesus teaches in parables, in stories. These are human beings just like you and me. Too often, they’re overlooked, very misunderstood and targeted. It is important for us to be political. We are here in this neighborhood. If we are not talking about the concerns of the city, we’re not talking about things like racism and xenophobia and homophobia and transphobia. If we just stay silent on those issues because we don’t want to upset people, then we become irrelevant.

Vica Steele:

We will hear the names of those who have died from violence.

Murv Seymour:

On day one, First Baptist hosts the first ever transgender remembrance vigil inside its sanctuary while just outside its doors, providing access to community-based transgender resources for those who need it.

Morgen Loree:

Transgender means someone whose gender identity is different than the one they were assigned at birth.

Murv Seymour:

Back inside this place of worship, on the very next day —

SunShine Raynebow:

Growing up I hated myself.

Rhiannon Tibbets:

Being transgender in and of itself is not a mental illness.

Murv Seymour:

A panel discussion to educate.

Barry Trepczyk:

The first kind of feelings that I had when I was five were just that I’m uncomfortable with my name.

Murv Seymour:

On all things transgender.

Wayne Gathright:

Suppressing my true self, my true nature was making me depressed and making me miserable.

Rhiannon Tibbets:

It began to dawn on me that I was self-destructing. I’m very happy that I was not successful in taking my own life.

Tim Schaefer:

When you are trans, you’re opening yourself up for potential violence.

Morgen Loree:

There is an estimated 1.4 to 2 million transgender people in the United States.

Tim Schaefer:

We have trans people. We have LGBTQ people in our pews. Even those congregations who think they don’t, they do.

Morgen Loree:

I guarantee you that at least one of the people you’ve been attracted to in your life was not born the biological sex that you maybe assumed they were. We’re a part of this world like anyone else. We’re not aliens. We’re not visitors from another planet, you know. We’re, you know, your brothers and sisters and your moms and dads and your kids. We’re not really asking for a seat at the table. We’re just trying to take up space at a table we’ve already been at. We’re just trying to say, “Hey, we’re here. We’ve been here and we deserve a voice.”

Barry Trepczyk:

Some people see me and they just decide they think I’m a woman, that I use she/her pronouns.

Wayne Gathright:

Now that I’m able to dress as I want and express myself the way I want to, I’m a whole lot happier than I ever was.

SunShine Raynebow:

I knew I was trans but I was pretending to be somebody I wasn’t. I was pretending to be a straight dude.

Morgen Loree:

When you come out, to people on the outside, it can appear very, very sudden. Because to them, it’s all new. But for most of us, we’ve been thinking about this for years, if not our whole life.

I struggled to fit in as a child. I wasn’t saying I’m transgender, you know, as a baby. I knew something was up, but I really realized what it meant when I was about 10 years old. Coming to face with my own mortality made me reconsider my identity in a way I hadn’t previously.

To anyone watching who is trans, I understand the reasons to stay in the closet. I do. But I promise anyone watching that when you feel safe to come out, if you can, your life will get infinitely better. Infinitely better. And every day after coming out will be easier, because that is the hardest thing that you ever do.

SunShine Raynebow:

But I’m Black, I’m queer, I’m trans, and I’m a woman.

Murv Seymour:

The conversations here intersect with race.

SunShine Raynebow:

I felt like religion hated me, so I hated religion.

Murv Seymour:

And religion.

Morgen Loree:

Traditionally, the Bible has been leveraged against people like us.

Rhiannon Tibbets:

In some ways, my faith complicates my trans journey. There’s a whole large segment of the Christian community that sort of uses Christianity as a pretext to condemn folks in the LGBT and especially to the trans community. I’m devoutly Christian. I know that God loves we. I know that God sees me for who I am. And I know that God values me deeply. I often come here during the week, during the day alone, and sit in the sanctuary, and I’ll pray, and I’ll meditate. And just coming here, I calm down, and I feel God’s presence in a very immediate, powerful way.

Morgen Loree:

I used to sit in these exact pews that you are in now and pray to God to make me a woman. I would sit there ashamed, sure that if anyone knew, they would think that I was a pervert or a freak.

Rhiannon Tibbets:

For a lot of us, life looks bleak. But that sun will come up the next day. There’s always new opportunities.

SunShine Raynebow:

The moment that I started loving myself was the moment my life changed.

Barry Trepczyk:

It’s about you, and it’s about how you feel. And it’s about what makes you love yourself most.

Amira Pierotti:

Madison is one of the best places in Wisconsin to live as a trans or gender-expansive person. There’s a lot more awareness. There are just so many more gender-neutral bathrooms, like just as a baseline of fulfilling basic necessities.

Tim Schaefer:

In my lifetime, gay marriage has gone from not being accepted really at all to gaining wide acceptance. And one of the things that that activists will tell you is they did this by strategically telling stories, by saying, “Hey, these gay couples and lesbian couples, they want the same things you want. They want love. They want companionship.” There are more elected officials than ever before that are LGBTQ and especially trans.

Shepherd Janeway:

I went into the classroom, and no less than three kids said their pronouns are they/them/theirs. Mine too.

Murv Seymour:

That’s Shepherd Janeway speaking at the state Capitol. Shepherd is non-binary, and they’re now campaigning for a seat on the Madison school board.

Shepherd Janeway:

I’m hoping that I can diversify the board. I’m hoping that I can help bring voice to some of the underrepresented and under-listened-to communities.

Tim Schaefer:

If you don’t have women at the table, if you don’t have people of color at the table, if you don’t have gay and lesbian people at the table or trans people at the table, the concerns of those communities just don’t get addressed because they’re not in the forefront of the minds of those who are at the table.

Morgen Loree:

I never want another child to ever, ever go through–

Murv Seymour:

If you can’t understand the emotional passion

Morgen Loree:

What I went through again.

Murv Seymour:

It’s because some of their lives could be at stake.

Amira Pierotti:

Educate yourself, get to learn more about trans and gender-expansive people. And then see what the need is in your community. Are there organizations that are asking for volunteers? And then you can sign up for that. If you have extra funds, donate to organizations, especially Black and Brown trans organizations that receive less support than white-led trans organization.

Morgen Loree:

I don’t have any illusions that I’m going to really see the world I want within my lifetime. My dream is for calm and normality. I just want the same things that everyone else wants. And it’s the fact that basic things feel impossible. I’m tired of being depressed about being trans. I want to be depressed about paying bills. I want to be depressed about aging. People out there who are transphobic, you know, like to say things like, “God doesn’t make mistakes.” I agree God doesn’t make mistakes. I actually feel like I’m living exactly the way I was created.

Murv Seymour:

Reporting for “Here & Now” —

Amira Pierotti:

Hopefully one day we won’t need a Trans Day of Remembrance.

Murv Seymour:

I’m Murv Seymour.