Transgender day of remembrance

[serene]

It was very touching. A little disorganized and longer than I thought it
was supposed to go, but it worked out well. I got choked up reading the
tombstones. So many innocent people, so much suffering.

Two sweet things: One man drove by with a bike trailer full of yellow and
orange mums. He had heard nothing about the vigil, but he happened to
have picked up the flowers at the "flower junkyard" (apparently, somewhere
near Trader Joe's there's a place that florists dump their old flowers for
the taking), and he gave them to us to place on the graves. It was
beautiful and touching, and it made me cry.

The other sweet thing was a student who came up to read the sign I was
holding up (to keep the wind from blowing it over). He read the sign and
stood there for the next hour and a half helping me hold it, talking about
how stupid it is to oppress people who aren't like you, talking to me
about his life, and asking me questions about mine. After the vigil, I
took him out for a sandwich. The guy was completely blown away by the new
thoughts that were swimming around in his head, and he was utterly loving
and undefensive about gender, queerness, and progressive politics. He is
from Orange County, if that tells you anything. I felt really honored to
spend a couple of hours with him, talking about life, the universe, and
everything.