I shall be recording the following speech for the TDoR vigil to be held at Reading on the 19th of November.

Alice Litman.

Remember her name.

She died just six months ago having been discharged from trans youth healthcare to wait … and wait … and wait … for the adult service and mental health support to kick in.  They didn’t and just 1,023 days after her 18^th birthday at the tragically young age of 20 she took her own life, not being able to cope with having to wait for at least another three years, probably more as the waiting lists grow and grow with no sign of them ever coming down – six years now at the main London clinic for a first interview.  What potential have we lost?  What would she have achieved?  Who would she have loved, who would have loved her?  Her family loved her and her death has devastated them and when they talk about this loss and what she meant to them online and to the press, they get vile and disgusting responses - even jokes – what is wrong with people and journalists, where are their feelings, their sympathy.  Simply where is their humanity?  This was a young person, not a thing to be disparaged or to be the butt of jokes.  I would ask them what if she had been your niece, your sister, your daughter?

Danny France.

Remember his name.

His story echoes that of Alice, also trapped between youth and adult transgender and mental health services; taking his life at just 17 not being able to cope with the interminable waiting lists.  Yet another preventable death that has devastated his family and friends.  Why do we allow this level of failure to happen in the health service?  The Tavistock GIC are currently five years behind with far more referrals being added each month than interviews being provided.

Brianna Ghey.

Remember her name.

Back in February she was attacked and stabbed to death in a park in Culcheth in Cheshire by two 15 year olds.  She was just 16. I wrote this at the time from my heart and I would not change a word, but it also applies to everyone I have mentioned as well as those you will see listed later:

“Brianna, I never knew you, and now I never will.

What would you have become?

What career would you have followed?

Who would you have loved?

Who would have been your friend?

No one now will ever know

As you have been taken

Too soon

Too senselessly

Too thoughtlessly.

You deserved better

So much better

A life destroyed

A family left devastated

Friends left bereft

By ignorant hate

Mindless hate

Thoughtless hate”

To the families and friends of all the people whose names I have mentioned and to all of those I haven’t but who you will see later, on behalf of myself and the rest of the compassionate and caring community I would like to express our deepest sadness and regret for your loss of such beautiful and promising young lives and to extend our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to you all.

We understand the hardships and the obstacles that all these people, whatever their age, had had to overcome to be able to live their authentic lives, with or without the love and support of their families and friends, or, in too many cases, on their own.

Many of the people from the transgender community who have died this last year are not from the UK, but a growing number are and this includes our first murder victim for many years.  Why has this country become so much more difficult for many transgender and other queer people to be able to live peacefully in?  Most of us are just trying to live out ordinary, quiet lives, yet we constantly find ourselves being thrust into the spotlight of an uncaring and obsessive media as a form of clickbait to sell more copies or to get more subscribers and never mind the harm it does to us and those around us.

But we cannot heap the blame entirely onto the media as the government must shoulder its share for much of this, using us and other marginalised communities as distractions from the continuous series of scandals that appear to be endemic to the party – whether it be two prime ministers with criminal records, bullying, tax evasion, crashing the economy whilst watching porn in the chamber, or so many more.  Is it any wonder that these continuous unjustified attacks lead those of us in these marginalised communities to feel victimised and unsafe and that the level of anti-LGBTQIA+ generally, and anti-transgender specifically, hate crimes are soaring, a 56% increase in one year is untenable and unthinkable in a civilised country.

Most recently we have had the guidance to schools encouraging teachers to out their trans pupils to parents.  But what if those parents are not accepting, what if they reject the child, maybe abuse the child or worse of all send them for conversion therapy, where is the safety?  Are they really advocating for an increase of trans youth homelessness an already high proportion of the youth homeless population?  As one mental healthcare worker of long standing put it: “are we really heading back to the times when trans kids were sectioned for being trans”.

I’ll finish with this quote: “Humanity must evolve, for all human conflict, a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation, the foundation of such a method is love” - Martin Luther King Junior.  And one of mine: love matters, hate and prejudice are easy, love and acceptance are difficult.  Let’s challenge ourselves to accept others with love and understanding and make this world a better place to live peacefully with ourselves and with each other.

Love will win.