PORTLAND, Maine — Nearing the end of a year that has seen 26 transgender people murdered in the United States and Donald Trump elected president, transgender Mainers and their supporters will gather across the state on Sunday for a day of remembrance, hoping to find solidarity and comfort as they cope with fear.
On the heels of news this week that a transgender teenager died by suicide at Long Creek Youth Detention Center, Sunday’s events in Bangor, Portland, Lewiston, Waterville, Belfast and Damariscotta will provide the first opportunity for transgender people to officially gather and reflect since that incident and the election.
National reports of bullying and harassment of transgender people since the election have terrified transgender people in Maine, according to Gia Drew, a transgender woman and outgoing president of the board of directors at the Maine Transgender Network.
Leo Eichfeld, 16, of Topsham said Wednesday that his mother took him to get his passport two days after the election, fearing that under a Trump administration, he might not be able to have his gender changed.
“I’m kind of nervous about it all,” he said. “Maine has definitely been on the course of progressing trans rights and LGBT rights, [but] I am worried that the nation is going to regress because there have been so many things enacted to better the lives of all those folks.”
Eichfeld said he has no firsthand experience with harassment, although friends have.
“I have a close friend who was like, ‘I may want to go back in the closet because I’m just so scared now,’” he said.
Another friend who hopes to become a scientist wondered if she should revert to presenting as male because female scientists may not be taken seriously.
“They’re terrified of going to school, terrified of bullies getting emboldened to say things,” said Drew, who meets with groups of transgender teens each week. “They’re terrified that all the laws and policies we’ve worked so hard for are going to evaporate overnight. If you’re queer and you’re an immigrant, what does that look like for you? There’s a real, tangible fear.”
Nationally, transgender people feel under siege, which has prompted the Human Rights Campaign to create a new Parents Transgender Equality Council, president Chad Griffin wrote in a release.
“In the days since the election, transgender people and their parents have reached out to us filled with fear and questions about what the results of the election mean for their families,” Griffin wrote. “These parents, standing shoulder to shoulder with transgender people, are going to be vital in our continued effort to defend our progress, open hearts, and demonstrate to this country that transgender people are loved and worthy of being treated with dignity and fairness.”
Drew said her group has echoed for transgender Mainers a message from Sarah McBride of the Human Rights Campaign.
Immediately after the election, McBride wrote to transgender young people and their families to say, “You are worthy, you are beautiful, you are not alone, and we are here to stick up for you.”
Drew said, “That’s our message, too.”
Maine’s court system established protections against transgender discrimination with a 2014 order in a lawsuit brought by the Maine Human Rights Commission and others on behalf of Nicole Maines, a transgender student who was denied access to a girls’ bathroom while attending an Orono school. However, Gov. Paul LePage — as an individual — has joined legal challenges in federal court to decisions related to transgender bathroom access in Virginia and Texas.
The Trans Day of Remembrance, started in 1999 after the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester, is designed to reiterate that message, and offer transgender people and their allies the strength to continue the fight.
“TDOR is a vital observance for many of us in the trans community,” Quinn Gormley, incoming board president of Maine TransNet and Health Equity Alliance (HEAL’s) central Maine community outreach coordinator, said in a statement. “It provides a time each year to reflect on the violence our community faces, especially those who live at the intersections of oppression. It’s also an opportunity for us to invite new allies into our struggle.”
Eichfeld said he hopes to attend the vigil at 4 p.m. Sunday in Portland’s Monument Square, to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance. He hopes other transgender people and their allies are preparing for battle.
“I’m hoping everyone will put up a big enough fight that hopefully nothing drastic happens and we don’t go back several years,” he said.