‘We’re not going anywhere’: Trans people show determination as they honor lives taken

Jeff Miller asked the same question over and over. No one had an answer. There is no answer, not in the current political climate. 

“When will it ever end?” he asked. The words held so much weight you expected them to fall clanging to the floor. Instead, there was silence as Miller listed the names of the dead:

Sam Nordquist, 24, a biracial trans man tortured and killed in an Upstate New York town.

Tahiry Broom, a 29-year-old Black trans woman shot to death in Detroit.

Elisa Rae Shupe, 61, dead by suicide after jumping from the roof of a Syracuse New York, hospital. She’d wrapped herself in a trans pride flag.

“When will it ever end?” Miller repeated.

You don’t hear much about the trans community in the news these days. It seems every reporter is caught up in the blizzard of actions taken by the Trump administration. But for the 40 or so people who gathered in a fellowship hall at First United Methodist Church in Bloomfield Monday night for a candlelight vigil organized by the Pittsburgh Equality Center to honor Nordquist, Broom and Shupe, trans people were a top priority.

“It’s important that we are here for each other,” said Vincent Folkes, founder of For the Boys PGH, a collective that centers its efforts on empowering the city’s trans masculine community. “Because we are all we have. We should never forget how long it took us to get here. And how quickly they just tried to take it away.”

Republicans relentlessly demonized trans people in the 2024 election. Anti-trans ads filled the airways. Election results indicate the tactic worked with much of America. Legislation targeting trans people is moving its way through state legislatures.

In the face of so much hate, the trans community voiced defiance, determination and understanding.

“We are going to continue to fight,” said Dena Stanley, executive director of Trans YOUniting. “We’re going to continue to live. We’ve been here. We’re not going anywhere.”

As for the hate’s origins, Folkes offered this thought:

“As trans people, we are tasked with the blessing of self-discovery. To understand ourselves and, through all of our struggles and triumphs, to unlearn what is not of us, and to relearn what is of us …  to be brave enough to learn who we actually are. To be gracious enough to know that those who intentionally set out to harm us have simply not dug deep enough to love themselves. And so the hate of those who love themselves the most is triggering.”

GOP attacks aren’t limited to trans people. Folkes pointed out that Republican officials’ dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts throughout the federal government will impact a wide swath of workers.

“Every single person matters,” Folkes said. “Because when they think about taking down DEI, it’s not just for the trans people. It’s not just for the Black people. It’s for the cis man who is also disabled. It’s for the cis woman who is white but is still a woman.

Miller, a long-time board member at the equality center, said he found hope in the presence of those in the trans community and their supporters who showed up on a winter evening to remember the lives of Nordquist, Broom and Shupe. And he issued a call to action.

“If there ever was a time to stand up for the community, that time is now,” Miller said. “We must stand up and speak out against those who seek to do harm, and those who choose to remain silent in the presence of discrimination and bigotry.”