At 4zzz, we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we broadcast. We pay our respects to the elders, past, present and emerging of the Turrbal and Jagera people. We acknowledge that their sovereignty over this land was never ceded and we stand.

In solidarity with them.

You're listening to TRANSM on four triple Z, amplifying the trans and gender non conforming voices of Brisbane and Beyond.

Good morning, Mean. You're listening to Transmission on 4zzzz. Today on Transmission is a very special and sombre tone. It is Trans Day of Remembrance on the 20th of November every year, and we're going to be doing a special episode commemorating the lives that we've lost in this last year as part of our community.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land in which 4zzz broadcast, which is the Turrbal, Jagera.

And Jagera people, and that sovereignty was never ceded, always was, always will be aboriginal land. I'd also like to extend my love and respects to first nations trans people, sister, girl and brother boys, and acknowledge all of their existence and that they also struggle just as much as the rest of the indigenous community for their rights and that land back should be part of everything. Land back means everything to trans people. And then we stand in solidarity with you. My name is ez, I use he, him pronouns and I'm in studio with, I'm sev.

I use he, they pronouns.

And my name is Sean. Typically you would have heard me make a joke about how I'm an abomination and that my pronouns are some fodder for laughter. But not today. Today my name is Sean. My pronouns are she, her and Sean.

I believe you have some content for us today that we're going to be going through.

Yeah.

Every year that the statistics are released from the Transgender Murder Monitor about the victims of violence, the transgender, non, binary and gender non conforming victims of violence. I try to take the time to sit with that list and read through it. And I've written something for everyone and I just want to, at the top of the hour, remind everyone that this is going to be difficult. Some of this will be difficult to hear. I urge you all to find ways in which to seek comfort and support. But this is something that we should be doing, acknowledging the realities of the world. So, yes, as I said, every year the Transgender Murder Monitor releases their count of the number of trans, non binary and gender diverse people who've been lost to violence in the last year. It's counted from 1st October 2023 to 30th September 2024. The demographics won't surprise you. Overwhelmingly, they're people of colour. Overwhelmingly, they're transfeminine. Staggering numbers of them are sex workers and migrants and refugees.

This year, 350 trans and gender diverse people were murdered.

As I said, every year I take the time to read that full list and the circumstances of their death. At most, all that's available is a.

Few short lines to sum up the horrors they suffered at the end of their lives. Sometimes there isn't even a name or a listed cause.

Just an entry connected to the fact.

That a person was found who clearly came to harm. It's a woefully inadequate way to capture the scale of loss. Every single entry is a universe in their own right. An infinite weave of hopes and wants and fears and desires that were abruptly ended. Whole constellations of people in our community wiped out. I wish I knew them all. I wish I could write the list that said Samantha missed swimming most of all and would slip into the ocean at night when no one could see her. A list filled with entries like Armen loved to cook for his housemaids. Some nights they'd have to beg him to stop as he gleefully carried in yet more dishes from the kitchen. Or how about Kendra didn't hate her bullies. She knew they just didn't understand and hoped that one day they would. But this isn't that list. This is a list of just some of the names and the manner in which they died. In our hearts, they'll always be more than this list, more than their victimhood. But right here, right now, I'm listing them so that you can understand the scale of violence that was inflicted upon them. I hope that you can sit with the discomfort. Lisa was shot in the back while she walked home from a friend's house. Vivian was stabbed by her ex boyfriend. He left her body on the road. China was shot by a masked man as she sat in her car. Kenny was shot at a party. Six people carried her to the street and left her to die. Miriam was a candidate for a political party. She was shot in the street by a group of men. Carla was shot five times. Best friends Amiri and Kean were shot to death in their car. Their killer took his own life. Savannah was shot by a man after she'd had sex with him. He said he had to do it. Ani was assaulted when she fled. Her attacker chased her, running her down with their car. Verbena was beaten to death by two men, one of them a police officer. They claimed she'd been shoplifting. Eric was stabbed by his partner during an argument. He died before reaching the hospital. Diana, a trans community leader, was stabbed to death in a hotel by her partner. He turned himself in. Jesus was stabbed by their boyfriend who then killed themselves. Alejandra was found wrapped in a tarp. The police interrupted her killers while they were digging a grave to dispose of her. Roxanna was found with her hands and feet tied to a tree. She'd been strangled. Blanca was stabbed by their partner. Their neighbours had ignored the cries for help. They thought it was just another argument with their abusive partner. Araya was robbed and shot. Her killer used her stolen phone and social media profiles to taunt the police. Amber was shot. She was found in a driveway. It was Christmas Eve. Megan was shot by a delivery driver when she objected to him misgendering her. Kitty was attacked on New Year's Day. A man and woman chased her, beat her and then ran over her with their car. Lila was beaten in the street by their ex partner. Witnesses filmed the intact. Instead of intervening, she died of her injuries. Kelly died in hospital two weeks before. Her boyfriend had set fire to her car while she was in it. Samantha was shot 14 times. She was the second trans politician to be murdered in the space of a week. Next was beaten in a school bathroom. The staff didn't call an ambulance. They died the next day. Abigail was brought to a vacant lot to be executed. They shot her in the head three times. Haalia was stabbed in a bar by a woman who started an argument with her. Yennefer was lured out to meet a man via social media. He strangled her to death. T was shot outside a mall. He'd been telling people his life was in danger. Meredith died in hospital. She and her friends had been beaten by four men. Jorana, a social activist, was shot by three men as she sat in her car. Manju was strangled to death by her partner. Kira was struck by two cars. Someone pushed her into the road. Kash was stabbed nine times by her ex boyfriend. Barbali was shot by her brother and his friends. They said it was an honour killing. Roma was stabbed in the street. 30 minutes passed without authorities coming to her aid. They said it was another department's responsibility. Catalenya was shot in the head. She was found in a garbage dump. Carabella was stabbed 20 times by a man when he realised she was trans. Kenya was beaten to death outside her home. She'd reported a group of people for harassing her Maria was beaten to death by her partner. She was found in a ditch behind her home. Geraldine was stabbed by a man when he discovered that she was trans. Christelle was shot eight times by men on a motorcycle. Monique was shot in the parking lot of the mall. Veronica was stabbed in the park by a group of men. Vanity was shot to death in the lobby of her apartment. Gull died in hospital. She'd been shot because she refused a man's advances. Jennifer was shot as she got off the bus. Her killer had been waiting for her. Gabby was beaten to death by her partner. He buried her in the backyard. Rashi was strangled by her partner. She was found in a well weighted down with stones. Akilah was chased by a car and run over. Larissa was found at the street stabbed in the neck. She'd previously survived a similar attack the year before. But not this time. This is just 50 of the 350 that we know of. It doesn't include those lost to neglect, or those who lost hope and couldn't continue, or those who just vanish into the world. In the last year, I've found myself victim to both random attack in the street and intimate partner violence. Neither were expected or deserved. And I'm still struggling with the thought that I could have been an entry on this list. Everything I am distilled down to a single line describing what someone did to me. It isn't nearly enough. So while I sit with my discomfort with that, I'm going to ask you to sit with yours. If you're not trans, non binary or gender diverse, I'm asking that you hold in your mind the knowledge that it's possible for someone you love to be reduced down to a single line, merely an entry on a list that will never capture the full breadth and majesty of their life. Because while we want you to help us count our living too, to honour those who remain, we also need you to sit with the discomfort of seeing us count our dead. So don't let go of your discomfort. Don't. Don't push it away. Don't cover it up. Don't. Please. Please, just sit with it.

You're listening to transmission on 4 triple Z. My name is Ez.

I use he, him pronouns.

My name's Sev. I use he, they pronouns.

My name is Sean and I use she, her pronouns.

Today is a special episode where we talk about Trans Day of Remembrance, which is a day to basically acknowledge the murdered members of our community. And it's quite, as you can imagine, very heavy and very sombre for us Particularly in the studio this morning, courtesy of Sean. Working very hard to read those names out before.

So working very hard to traumatise you all.

Yeah. And, you know, a necessary. A necessary thing to do. It's important that we let our community know, and beyond our community, what trans people are going through on an actual ground level, on an everyday level. The things that we're afraid of and the things that are very likely to come into truth, which is that we could be murdered. And it doesn't matter where you are in the world, it is dangerous to be trans. Whether you have all the legal rights in the world, it's still ideology that leads hate against trans people in our community. And that's definitely how you have 350.

Murdered trans people in the last 12.

Months, which is absolutely harrowing. And, yeah, so pretty damn heavy in here. But I'm really glad that I'm with.

You both this morning, so.

Oh, would not have been able to do this without you two.

I'm so grateful, Sean. Thank you for having the fortitude within yourself to be able to not only present that, but to compile it, to have gone through the full list of 350 names. I couldn't have done what you just did. And I pride myself on being able to speak openly and from the heart and vulnerably and to represent the trans community. But the hurt that that brings and raises, the fear and loss and the overwhelming knowledge that this is what we are holding together every day and every episode of transmission, when we're celebrating trans joy and achievement and lives, all of us and all of those lives are living in this constant knowledge. And I love when people recognise us for our strength and resilience. But I'm pretty sure we're all sick of being resilient in the face of people who wish us harm, who wish us dead. The most harrowing thing on that list is the amount of people targeted by their intimate partners.

That's a really hard thing.

It's a really hard thing to see that so much of the hatred that people have, the fear that people have in their hearts, their transphobia doesn't even transcend when they know trans people, when they love trans people, when they live with trans people, like you say, the. The culture and the rhetoric, the ideology of transphobia, it permeates everywhere and everyone. Like we. We all have to challenge our own internalised transphobia as trans people because we're raised in these cultures to confront the knowledge that so many of us are victimised by those closest to us as well.

It just.

It hurts.

It hurts so much, immeasurably.

And it's been a. I mean, I really appreciate that, what you said. And I mean, I'll be. Like I said, this was a very small selection of the larger list, the sort of more fulsome version of it I will be posting tomorrow on the Abomination About Town substack where people can see it. If anyone has the capacity to go through the raw data that the Transgender Murder Monitor provides, I would urge you to do that. There is some deeply disturbing statistical information, but of course I urge everybody to take care with themselves. It is hard to do it.

Yeah, I think we need to look out for each other at this time. Mourning is also, you know, acknowledging the lives that were lived. And I also want to acknowledge that although many of these people that died were, you know, were killed for who they are, but I also want to acknowledge the bravery that comes from living as your true self and willing to, despite all odds, despite fear of death, to live in your authenticity, even if.

It'S for just but a moment.

And I think that takes more courage than quite a lot of the cishetero community that I see to have the strength to stand up and be like, I am different, but this is who I am and I'm willing to live this life even if it's fleeting. And that's definitely something that I feel every day is a pride. Not for community, not for anyone else, but for me. And I'm proud of myself, that I've had these iterations of myself and living in my truth that I get to continue to do here on air, on 4zzz, in the community that I work with, open doors, youth service, and as well with just the music scene that we have in this incredible city full of trans and queer artists and in punk spaces and indie spaces, in country spaces, and in every crack of music, we have a trans person creating and.

Inspiring each other and loving each other.

And openly accepting each other. And our differences are celebrated and not.

Shunned or a cause of fear or alarm.

I think it's our differences that make us beautiful. In the same way that within our own community, within the trans community, we are not monolith. We don't always get along and we don't always have the same interests. And as much as trans femme music is just noise to me, I still. I mean, I love it, you know, I love it. I love. I love every single one of you. And I loved. I love every single part of our community. And I think we're so brave and.

We should continue to be.

It's part of what's so frustrating when people talk about transness and gender diversity from the perspective of it being some fading. The. It ignores the reality that there is risk to be this and it is. If it was some fad, people would not risk their lives in the way that they do by existing like this. This is a choice to live authentically and honestly, knowing the risks that harm will come. I have been the victim of many things that resonate with this list. Having someone attempt to push me into traffic is something that I think of regularly. But I will continue to do this despite that. There is no way that that is going to stop me wanting to be this. And Sev and I were talking, you know, sort of before the show about every person has a different capacity to live and support their community and carry the weight. I am glad that I am tall and strong and visible and obnoxious and loud and occupying space because it reminds people that people like me exist. It creates more room for those who don't have the fortitude to face it every day.

My authenticity allows others the room for.

Theirs and for people who haven't found it yet to grow into it, which is such an important thing.

Absolutely. Representation is so.

It's life saving.

It's life saving, hopefully.

Yeah, I. As you mentioned earlier as well, this list of 350 people that Sean was reading excerpts from today doesn't even speak to the other losses that the trans community worldwide suffers every single year. With all of the violence, with all of the transphobia, with all of the political fever against trans folks, trans lives, trans rights. It is a emotional and mental health minefield out there for trans folk, particularly trans young people, and also folks who are finding themselves later in life when your peers are inherently leaning into anti trans rhetoric. I can't imagine how difficult it is to be coming to terms of being trans as a later life person in this climate. We have lost so many members of our community to suicide as well.

Medical neglect and medical neglect, you know, and obviously we're talking about a list of people and commemorating, memorialising people who were lost to violence, but the orders of magnitude more people who suffer the same things that don't end in the loss of life.

Those people still exist in the world.

And they still, they are still suffering the same things that sadly these people suffer the ultimate act of.

Yeah, I just want to acknowledge, thank you to everyone who's texting in right now your beautiful messages and love and solidarity. It's really, really Touching for us here in the studio. There's lots of tears today and there will be a few more yet. I suspect. We're going to go to some more music and when we come back, I'm going to read a poem and we're going to chat about some nice things we're going to do for ourselves today.

Hi, I'm Nonamie. I make cardboard worlds sculptures. I'm also a trans person. What I have faced are merely whispers to what I fear is down the road. I ask, can you be a safe place so people like me can make art and thrive? Can you be a safe place so people like me can walk the streets of their own city without being followed? Can you be a safe place so people like me can take an Uber without fearing that second glance, the studying eyes and to know I can safely get from one destination to the other? Can you be that safe place?

You'll listen in transmission on 4zzz. My name is Ez.

I use he, him pronouns.

My name's Sev. I use he, they pronouns.

My name is Sean.

I use she, her pronouns.

And today we are talking trans Day of Remembrance, which is obviously a very significant day for the community where we earlier in the episode we read through.

50 of the 350 names of our.

Murdered siblings in the trans community. And so, yeah, it's been a sombre morning. We're trying to hold space here in the studio and it's been lovely seeing all these text messages come in. We've had other announcers come into the studio in between music as well to give us hugs and yeah, it's been very sweet. Lots of tears and toilet paper tissues. So, yes, that kind of morning. I'm gonna read a poem to sort of, sort of wrap things nicely together.

A poem from Bobby Sanchez, who's a.

Two spirit trans person from Mesoamerica. Big fan of Bobby. I'm not the biggest, I'm not the best at reading poems, so all the learning disabilities I have. So I'm gonna give it a read. We'll see how we go. This, this, the poem is called 8th.

Wonder of the World, Bobby Sanchez. And it says, dear trans person, don't.

Give up on yourself.

Love trans person. So you know how they say our bodies are like temples? Trans bodies are temples. Temples like churches. You pray on our bodies like it's Sunday morning. Temples like believing in the unknown. Temples like, you should massage your forehead to clear that transphobia out of your head. Transbodies are temples. Call us Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, places of faith. Would you Ever believe in us? Even if I told you we are temples with cracked walls and broken stained glass, but buildings still standing because we have a strong foundation. Foundation made by brick and transphobic slurs. And the cement in between the cracks is our tears dried up.

Don't you know that trans people cry?

Acid rain. Trans people are rain, wind and sun. The sun shining through the cracked stained glass. See how our beauty reflects off the surface. We are ancient Colosseums, but we don't get tourist visitors, only chases and confused cisgenders with lots of inappropriate questions. Trans bodies are like temples filled with a library of books, but no one wants to read us. We leave water by the door, so you bless yourself with holy water. Before you enter our bodies, you better know we are more than just a place to lay your head or kneel in prayer. We are Sunday mass in ancient colosseums, like 8th Wonder of the world. Transbodies are temples. Would you ever dress up to come visit us? Trans bodies are worthy of worshipping, worthy of believing in. Trans bodies have been forced to dress up in the closet over the past 500 years. Wonder if this closet door has a lock from the inside. Trans bodies are so shiny, I can see our glow from across the street. Two temples, one street, two foundations unable to be taken down because we are a sanctuary city, protected, opening our arms to whoever comes knocking at our doors, especially other trans bodies. I am a temple. You are a temple. Please believe in us.

Thank you, Es.

That was magnificent.

Yeah. Bobby Sanchez, cheque her out.

Incredible artist.

Taking a breath, having a moment, I.

Think after the morning that we go through every year, Trans Day in Remembrance.

It's important to also look towards the.

Things that bring us joy and things.

That can soothe our souls and keep us here in the land of the living for as much time as we have, so we can continue to, I don't know, revel. I feel like the greatest revolution is.

To laugh and to be joyful, because that's what they want us to not be. And every time that we celebrate and we laugh and we make jokes and we hug each other, we win every single time. So if you have a moment today to hug or care for or tell.

A trans person that you love them and you care about them, please do. Please do, because that is how you fight back and that is how we live is with love.

Before we're having a trans experience, we're.

Always having a human one, just like you, dear listener. So please let love be the thing that fills you up and not hatred and fear.

So, ez, why don't you tell our dear listeners what it is that you are doing today.

Yes, today, since the change of government.

I thought better get off a hop.

Skip and a jump on down to the birth deaths and marriages registry because.

I still have an FE on the.

Front of my mail that I need to go and get sniffed. So I'm going in to update the.

Gender marker on my birth certificate today.

Congratulations.

That's wonderful.

Yeah.

Yeah. So what about you, Sev?

What are you doing today to celebrate life?

I got a cute date with a trans boy.

Nice, nice, nice.

The best way to celebrate that. There is just that unique and wonderful sense of knowing that is and being seen, that is loving another trans person. It absolutely brings so much joy into my life. Yeah, he's a. He's a very special person.

So T for tea, baby.

Oh, love it. And what about you, Sean?

Yeah, today I'm. I'm. So, as some of the listeners may remember, I have had massive surgery to remove my face and reattach it for facial feminization. And I am going to be spending some time getting some progress photos done showing my scars.

Spoiler alert. She looks phenomenal.

Ah, thank you.

I'm a little bit cuter now, I'll give it that.

But no, I'm going to be spending my day in the process of acknowledging the change that has occurred. And I'm going to be spending time with my staff today, some of them who are non binary and gender diverse and being a mentor and giving guidance to them in their career, in their work. I'm really looking forward to spending that time. Yeah, it's going to be a wonderful day.

It is. It is going to be a wonderful day. Thank you so much, everyone for tuning in and for listening to transmission and supporting 4zzz. A great way that you can support the trans community is by subscribing to 4zzz. In fact, because 4zzz has the very first by trans 4 trans radio broadcast in the country.

And that's the show you're listening to right now. And you can support them by heading to the 4zzzzz website. 4zzzzz.org support.

You can subscribe. When you subscribe, it's for the entire year. You get a whole bunch of perks and you get to keep us on.

Air, which is super important.

And also a benefit to us is we won't have to necessarily use toilet paper to dry our eyes. Yeah, episodes like this, we might be able to afford some tissues.

Subscribe so transmission can get three ply tissues, please? That would be great. Yeah. Thank you so much for listening to Transmission. See you all next week.

Thanks, everyone.

Thank you so much for listening to Transmission. See you next Tuesday, 9 to 10am on 4 Triple Z.