Highland councillor Sarah Fanet calls for discussions around trans people to become more human after speaking at Trans Day of Remembrance vigil in Inverness
Highland councillor Sarah Fanet has called for the re-humanisation of trans people at an event to remember those who died over the past 12 months.
Trans Day of Remembrance is an opportunity to pay respect to trans people who died as a result of violence, with the number of people listed for 2023/24 rising once again.
At a vigil organised by Highland Pride in Inverness on Wednesday evening, more than 400 names were read out.
Cllr Fanet was one of those reading the names to those in attendance, and commented afterwards on what her main takeaways were from the list.
“When we talk about trans people, this is what we need to remember – their names and their lives,” she stressed.
“I felt an immense sadness as I heard the names, particularly as the number has gone up since last year. It was very poignant, very powerful, but very sad.
“We need to rehumanise the narrative when it comes to talking about trans people.
“At the moment it’s toxic, and not talking about real people, so we need to remember we are talking about human lives.
“We need to remember when we’re talking about legislation or other matters, it’s about making sure that people can get on with their lives. That, I think, has been forgotten.”
Cllr Fanet also made a short speech after the list was completed, discussing how she felt seeing news of the court case concerning the death of Brianna Ghey last year and the battle simply for it to be acknowledged that the teenager was killed because she was trans.
That led her on to the importance of visibility, even when people around the world are being killed for living as their authentic selves.
She has seen first hand how people’s perceptions can change when they know someone from the trans community on a personal level, and she believes that representation and being able to have honest conversations are the way to reducing the number of names read out at next year’s vigil.
“I think politicians need to sit down over a coffee and talk with human beings about their experience of gender re-assignment,” Cllr Fanet added.
“It’s important that they acknowledge that we are real people.
“As an example, some people say bad things about transgender people, and I ask ‘but what about me’? They say that’s different, Sarah is just Sarah.
“Once you bring a real human being into the equation, it changes the narrative.
“We just need to rehumanise the way we talk about people – not even just transgender people, but people in general.”
