Danielle Castro

I feel extremely honored, accepted as part of a beautiful community, and humble to be speaking here today. I really don’t know exactly what to say, but I do know that this event is in remembrance of our little sister Gwen. It’s almost sad to me that it takes such tragedy and devastation for us to wake up and come together. Gwen’s passing on has woken me up to being a better person with more appreciation for life. Being Latina has brought with it its fair amount of hardships. Being transgender has only made things that much more challenging to say the least. I can relate to Gwen because as a teenager and throughout my young adult years I have put myself in situations which to most would seem to be logically dangerous and life threatening. To be accepted as a girl and accepted as being a part of my Latina culture was and still is a large part of my life. You see, growing up transgender and Latina brings along a feeling of never being accepted, and unfortunately the harsh reality is that in a global scale we are not. The common misconception amongst Latina women is that we must be attractive in order to fit in to this male dominated society. Our physicality is seen as our power and ability to have a say in life, and adding transgender to that equation adds to it a magnification of this feminine quality. This has been happening in many indigenous cultures from the day we were created, and in fact anyone that was transgender was seen as a healer or spiritual leader of their communities. Never before has there been a more ignorant view of us transgender individuals. It’s sad to me that in this day and age we must be frightened for our common welfare and lives, but it’s even sadder to me to see a young child like Gwen having to struggle without a place to turn to for help. Meanwhile we as people are struggling with the dichotomy of advocating for our equality by taking pride in the labels we have given ourselves. Let us not forget the truth of the matter. A human life has been lost irregardless of gender, ethnicity, or any other labels. I come here with this message, that I am mourning the loss of my little sister and I for one am taking a stand to better myself so that I can be an example for my community. God Bless every one of you, and I thank each and every one of you for coming.