Gays Against Guns honored the 35 Transgender lives lost to gun violence this year on Saturday, November 20th in a dual ceremony, beginning at the Arch in Washington Square Park before moving to the Judson Memorial Church on Thompson Street in the West Village.
Member of GAG, all dressed in white, stood silently, each holding a placard with the name and story of someone we lost. Known as Human Beings (HBs) these solemn veiled figures memorialize the queer brothers and sisters taken far too soon.
Sonni Mun, 52, lives in lower Manhattan. A physician who has since transitioned into healthcare IT, spoke to me about why she chose to volunteer as an HB,
“Gun violence prevention is something I care deeply about because I saw so much of it growing up in New Orleans and especially when training as a physician there. I especially care about social justice and how we treat the most at risk in our society. Right now, transgender people are some of the most marginalized people in our country and irrational fear of trans people has been weaponized by the right. So often guns are used to kill and threaten people who are marginalized for who they are. I joined Gays Against Guns in memorium for Transgender Day of Remembrance to bring attention to how hate weaponized in a country awash with guns leads to so many deaths. We have to protect those most at risk and most targeted.”
Gays Against Guns NY is an inclusive direct action group of LGBTQ people and their allies committed to nonviolently breaking the gun industry’s chain of death—investors, manufacturers, the NRA and politicians who block safer gun laws.
(**all photos in this article were taken by the writer.)
