Hello,

As long as I can remember, I’ve always felt like a girl. I was never conflicted about it, but society and everyone around me said that what I felt and what I knew to be true was wrong.

It’s been a long hard fight, but I feel so blessed to be the woman and the artist I am today — with a platform I never imagined I could have.

But my visibility means nothing without purpose behind it. That’s why I am reaching out.

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance and, this year alone, we’ve lost at least 22 trans or gender non-conforming people to senseless acts of violence. Of those murdered, 91 percent were Black trans women like me — and more than 80 percent were under the age of 30.

Being transgender today can feel like living a life in crisis, especially if you’re also a Black woman. We enter the world every day never knowing if it’ll welcome us, or if it’ll take away our jobs, our homes or even our lives.

No one deserves to live like this. Not you or me … and certainly not the more than 150 trans and gender non-conforming folks we’ve lost to fatal violence since January 2013.

This violence is an epidemic nationwide. And it’s time we address it head on.

Just this week, the Human Rights Campaign released a distressing, yet important, report: A National Epidemic: Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in the United States in 2019. In it, HRC looks at the lives lost this year and details the contributing factors that led to their tragic deaths — read it and share it with your loved ones so they’re informed, too.

Then, we must demand action — from lawmakers and law enforcement, to the media and in our communities. Nothing will change until we recognize and tear down the toxic racism, sexism and transphobia that deny so many in my community access to housing, employment and other necessities to survive and thrive.

Now more than ever, transgender and non-binary people need you to have our backs. I am here today with my friends at HRC proudly by my side ... speaking up and out in our commitment to ending this epidemic.

I hope you’ll use your voice and commit to ending it, too.

P.S. Local volunteers are hosting memorials all across the country to remember those we’ve lost. Check if there’s one near you and RSVP if you’d like to pay your respects.