Today is Trans Day of Remembrance.

Many of you know that I am trans. I came out more than 20 years ago in Omaha, Nebraska, and since then I’ve been an organizer and advocate for the trans community.

Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR) began in 1999 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of cissexism and transphobia. Each year, I hold this day as a time to honor our community’s losses and acknowledge the violence we continue to endure. It is a day for trans folk to grieve, to connect, and to strengthen the relationships that hold us and carry us forward in our struggle.

This has been a devastating and terrifying time for trans and nonbinary people.

Our community is under attack like never before—socially, politically, and culturally. We are in the midst of an organized smear campaign and unprecedented state-sanctioned violence. This year alone, more than 1,000 anti-trans bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country. The Trump administration and the far-right policy machine are targeting trans people as a way to undermine bodily autonomy, self-determination, and human rights for everyone.

This campaign has emboldened anti-trans bigots to heighten scrutiny, harassment, and attacks against trans people and anyone who doesn’t fit restrictive beauty and gender norms. This TDOR we honor the nearly 300 trans and nonbinary people have been murdered this year because of their gender identity or expression.

These numbers are hard to hold, and are markers of our consistent stress, anxiety and fear.

And yet, we persist, as we always have.

Trans people have existed since time immemorial, throughout history, in cultures around the globe. We will continue to exist regardless of laws designed to erase us or rhetoric meant to demean us. We will continue.

Today, as I do every year, I will join members of my local trans community and our allies as we hold one another through sorrow and as we dream together about the world we are building through our magnificent lives. We will gather, we will cry, we will sing, and we will rest.

And tomorrow, we will continue to fight—for our dignity, our families, our rights, and our lives. I hope you will join us.

In community, in connection, and in deep, radical love,