November 20th marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), a time to grieve and honour the memory of transgender people who have lost their lives to anti-transgender violence. The terrifying and unacceptable truth is that transgender people, and transgender women in particular, are facing increasing violence and hate. This violence takes many forms, from economic, political, and social marginalization; to new laws that demonize and exclude transgender people from public life; to egregious acts of physical violence including assault and murder.

In this environment of fearmongering, hate, and intolerance, it’s not hard to imagine that trans people are feeling especially scared and isolated. Trans people must be not only given opportunities to collectively mourn, but also to express themselves safely and publicly in the same ways that we all deserve: in all of our creativity, wholeness, and complexity!

Here in the Yukon, the grassroots transfeminine community organization BRICKS is hosting Trans Awareness Week (TAW), a series of events celebrating the amazing work and vision of transgender creatives and performers, as well as an opportunity to observe TDoR. Events like TAW are more important than ever, both for trans people, but also as an opportunity for cisgender people to support and show love to our trans family, friends, neighbours, coworkers, and community members!

The labour movement and it's institutions must support the trans community:

• Transgender people are workers! This one seems obvious, but everyone benefits when workers support one another. “A rising tide lifts all boats” is a classic labour aphorism - when we make things better for one group of people, all people are better off for it! The labour movement has been critical for ensuring racialized workers, women workers (cisgender and transgender), and other marginalized workers receive equal wages for equal work, safe working conditions, and access to the same legal protections as all other workers.
• Transgender people are still largely economically marginalized. It is the unfortunate truth that transgender people can often be subjected to economic and housing discrimination that leads to higher levels of poverty and precarity than other workers - the labour movement has been a key player in the fight to change that for many workers over the decades. Another classic labour slogan is, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” The labour movement must fight for and support trans workers!
• Labour protections can especially benefit transgender people. Some trans people may have healthcare and other needs that are currently best accessed through the additional supports that unions and other labour organizations and legislation have secured for workers. Just like new parents can access maternity and parental leave and folks with disabilities can access accommodations to ensure they can participate fully in the workplace, labour rights sometimes don’t benefit every single worker, but that doesn’t make those benefits any less necessary.
• Human rights are workers’ rights! The labour movement has made great strides to ensure that all workers are treated fairly and equitably. And while there is still a long way to go, the labour movement continues to fight for all workers and to hold employers accountable for discrimination and unequal treatment. Unions throughout the country, and notably the Canadian Labour Congress, have noted the importance and urgency of protecting and uplifting transgender rights, and have called for unions to “hold or attend events” on days, like TDoR, that affirm the importance of transgender people to our communities.

Trans rights are labour rights in ways that far exceed the four points above. Equality and solidarity have always been the watchwords of the labour movement, and workers have long understood that if we don’t stand together, we all fall. There is no labour movement without trans liberation.