First off, thank you for taking the time to look over this blog and be an ally to transfolks and this project. Just your interest and time give me hope that the violence against trans and genderqueer people (to only mention a few of the many oppressed groups we stand with in solidarity) will one day end.
As I sat at the 2009 Transgender Day of Remembrance and listened as over 100 names were read, I looked around and saw transpeople and our fiercest allies re-traumatized. It became clear to me that "tolerance" was not working. And besides, who wants to just be "tolerated" anyway? Transgender and genderqueer people deserve to be supported, celebrated, and valued.
It is my hope that Made for Flight will encourage those of us with privilege (and there are many kinds of privilege in this world - white, straight, passing, male, the list goes on) to use that privilege to speak out, call out, and act out against transphobia and other forms of oppression. We cannot talk about transphobia and ignore the fact that the majority of those we commemorate on Transgender Day of Remembrance are transwomen of color. Racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and transphobia are inherently inter-related and we must work in solidarity with one another to overcome them all.
I created Made for Flight with the goals of building awareness, community, and a sense of the power and history of transgender people despite the many forms of violence and oppression we experience. I wanted to focus on our resiliency, our ability to transform and transcend. I hope that you will join us in this endeavor.
From The Bone People by Keri Hulm:
They were nothing more than people by themselves.
Even paired, any pairing, they were nothing more than people by themselves.
But in a group, they formed the heart and muscle and mind of something
perilous and new. Something strange and growing and great.
Together, all together, they are the instruments of change.
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