DONNA ACETO
Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker, a military veteran and a cofounder
of NYTAG, also addresses the crowd.
➤ REMEMBRANCE, from p.26
in our bodies to fi ght another day, we need to
make sure we are creating spaces of change. We
need to make sure we are working with elected
offi cials and faith-based organizations to make
sure they are also creating affi rming spaces.”
Among those in attendance at the vigil included
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams,
who stayed briefl y, departing before the march.
Following a series of speakers and a moment of
silence, activists and attendees marched along
the sidewalk on Christopher Street and hurled
chants like, “Hey hey, ho ho, transphobia has
got to go!”
Once at the park, everyone huddled together
as the surrounding Rainbow and Transgender
Flags blew in the wind. Walker, a military veteran,
stood at one end of the park and invoked
the late Army General Norman Schwarzkopf,
saying, “’The more you sweat in peace, the less
you bleed in war.’ And we are at war... We need
to organize, stay organized.”
Attendees at the park were refl ective and
passionate. Rae Lindsay, who recently came out
as transgender and uses they /them pronouns,
said they felt it was their duty to participate.
“Even if I was in a neighboring city, I would
still make my way here today,” Lindsay told Gay
City News. “Hearing the stories of people losing
their loved ones, it angers me and makes me
want to fi ght harder. That’s what today means
to me. It’s Transgender Day of Remembrance,
but it is also Transgender Day of Resilience,
and we have to be resilient. The more people
that show up, the stronger we are.”
Others in the crowd also conveyed the need
to embrace folks regardless of gender identity
or sexual orientation — a seemingly simple factor
in affi rming people’s lives. Cosbert Richards
donned rainbow colors and highlighted the importance
of accepting people for who they are.
“Trans women are women and trans men
are men and that’s it,” Richards said to Gay
City News as the crowd dispersed following the
event. “This is about uniting. You can’t separate
ourselves because we have different sexual orientations
or gender identities. At the end of the
day, we are here, we are queer, and we are not
going anywhere.”
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