Chicagoans seek to reclaim transgender remembrance day with West Loop ballroom competition
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Every move on a West Loop dance floor Sunday was an expression of freedom and identity
"We created this sheerly out of bringing communities together," said Zahara Bassett, founder and CEO of Life Is Work.
The people surrounding the lively ballroom competition were crusaders for providing a safe space for transgender people to be themselves.
"We are tired of feeling down, feeling like we always have to mourn, so the intentionality behind this event is bringing and uplifting those we have lost from the spaces that they found safe: ballroom, drag performance," Bassett said.
Chicago LGBTQ organizations Life is Work, Brave Space Alliance and the Chicago Therapy Collective came together to commemorate the upcoming Transgender Day of Remembrance.
"Everybody who is here today is feeling love and feeling rejuvenated. It's been a very difficult year on so many levels, and, so, as we go into tomorrow, we need a lot of heart. We need a lot of energy," said Iggy Ladden, executive director of the Chicago Therapy Collective.
The organizations hosted a free event in the West Loop Sunday afternoon to empower and embolden the transgender community and their supporters.
"It is a way for us reclaim this day. This day is usually meant for mourning and sorrow and things like that. And while we want to remember our fallen trans siblings, we also want to embrace resilience," said Jae Rice, deputy CEO of the Brave Space Alliance.
The faces of transgender lives lost to discrimination or violence were projected on the walls of the venue.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 26 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been killed so far this year.
Activists say the reported numbers don't paint the whole picture of what, they say, is an "epidemic of violence."
"When we hear about trans deaths, you have to realize that there's more. That's actually more violence being inflicted upon us because there are so many times that trans people are misgendered, and they are not counted as a trans death," Rice said.
The organizations represented at Sunday's event have been fighting against the hate, they say, is killing their community.
Their mission is to uplift transgender lives.
"We truly believe that if we can provide people access to these much-needed resources that they desire that we can potentially lower the murder rate, and we probably won't be having to have a Trans Day of Remembrance again," Bassett said.
