Memorial Day - a photo on Flickriver

Memorial Day

            Memorial Day is a celebrated holiday in the Unities States where people celebrate and remember the lives of those who served in the armed forces.

Which leads me to another photograph of the candlelight vigil at the Trans Rights protest I attended in which the lives lost in the LGBTQ community were remembered and I'll explain why.

Over time, with the US military, our government has been a little more accepting of people with different sexual orientations and gender identities but our current administration-both Trump and Pence, are incredibly hateful and ignorant of the discrimination and danger that the LGBTQ community is constantly under in America and that this is a valid human rights issue demanding legislative protections. 


I want to pose a question to all Americans as well as all  conscientious people in the world who care about human rights: What good are these overarching concepts of freedom when they do not apply to all people?  This is not a freedom I can believe in.  It is a selective discrimination based on the luck of being heterosexual, or white, or able bodied, or male, or born into wealth.  This is not the America I want to live in and, though not all soldiers agree with me, I have to say that I don't think the selective freedom is all that worth fighting for.  It is far more noble to honor all people.  It redeems us as humans.

If you have been watching the news of what is happening in America, you'll see our country is still struggling with a rise in hate crimes.  Although the more recent ones have focused on Islamophobia,  news stories about those killed for being trans have been under-reported or buried amongst the constant stream of reporting on the insanity of the Trump administration.

This year alone, the following people in America have been killed for being trans.  They exercised their freedom to change their bodies, when they felt they were literally born as the wrong gender and they were killed for it.  Many of them were also minorities.  We could have learned and loved with these people and become better humans.  Now, they are gone and we have lost a part of ourselves too. :

Mesha Caldwell
Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow
Jojo Striker
Tiara Lashaytheboss Richmond
Jaquarrius Holland
Chyna Doll Dupree
Ciara McEween
Alphonza Watson
Chayviss Reed
Brenda Bostick
Sherrell Faulkner

Let us remember them.  Let us say their names.  Let us make sure the violence stops.

**All photos are copyrighted.  Please don't use without permission**

   

Taken on: March 3, 2017

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Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, f/3.5, 1/25 sec, 70mm, ISO 4000 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens:	EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Aperture:	f/3.5
Exposure Time:	0.04 sec (1/25)
Focal Length:	70mm
ISO:	4000
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)
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