Remarks prepared for the Transgender Day of Remembrance service at First Christian Church of Decatur, Ga.
Friends, community, allies:
We gather today with heavy hearts, but also with spirits bound by love and resolve. Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is a day born out of profound loss, a day to honor the lives of our transgender and gender non-conforming siblings who have been stolen from us by violence, by hatred, by indifference.
We come together to speak their names, to hold their memories in the light, and to refuse to let their existence be erased. Each name represents a story, a life filled with dreams, with laughter, with struggles, and with love. They were artists, parents, friends, and leaders. They were people who deserved to live fully and authentically, without fear.
I ask myself, why must we continue to gather like this, year after year? Why must we read a list that grows ever longer?
The answer is both simple and deeply complex. We live in a world where ignorance and fear are weaponized against those who dare to be different.
The violence our community faces is not random. It is the brutal outcome of systems that devalue trans lives, of rhetoric that dehumanizes, and of a society that too often chooses to look away.
But are we, the ones gathered here, content with this reality? Are we willing to accept this as the cost of living authentically?
I say no — we are not!
To our allies here today, your presence is a powerful statement. But I must challenge you, and indeed all of us, to move beyond passive support.
Being an ally is not a title you claim; it is an action you take, repeatedly. It is correcting pronouns, even when it’s uncomfortable. It is challenging transphobic jokes in your family and workplaces. It is using your voice and your privilege to amplify trans voices, to advocate for inclusive policies, and to demand justice.
Are you ready to be more than just an attendee at a vigil? Are you ready to be a co-conspirator in the fight for liberation?
To my transgender and gender-diverse family and my friends: Today is for you. It is a day to grieve, and your grief is valid. It is a day to feel anger, and your anger is righteous.
But I implore you, do not let this day be only about your pain. Let it also be a testament to your incredible, unyielding resilience. Look around you. See the love, the strength, the unshakeable community that exists in this space. We are still here.
We honor the dead by fighting for the living! Our remembrance must become our fuel. It must drive us to build a world where a day like this is no longer necessary. A world where every trans person, especially our trans siblings of color who face the harshest realities of this violence, can live not just to survive, but to thrive. A world where your light is not extinguished but celebrated.
So, I challenge you — right now, in this moment — to refuse complacency. Refuse to let fear dictate your future. Refuse to settle for anything less than justice.
For every soul we remember, for every life that could have been, we turn grief into revolution, memory into fire, and mourning into movement. You are not bystanders to your own history. You are its authors.
The world does not change because we ask. It changes because we demand it, because we stand unflinching in the face of hatred and say: “You will not erase us. You will not silence us. We are the living legacy, the unstoppable force.”
Remember their names. Honor their truth. And let’s build a world so bold, so beautiful, that one day, remembrance will be only a celebration — because trans lives not only matter, they lead. And we will not rest until that truth is undeniable and a fact of life.
That is our promise. That is our power. That is how we win.
Editor-in-Chief of Whosoever and Founding and Senior Pastor of Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta, Rev. Paul M. Turner (he/him) grew up in suburban Chicago and was ordained by the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches in 1989. He and his husband Bill have lived in metro Atlanta since 1994, have been in a committed partnership since the early 1980s and have been legally married since 2015.