ID: Banner with meander patterned border in Freedom Oklahoma colors with text "November", a graphic of a person planting something, and a Freedom Oklahoma logo.

If you’ve ever been called resilient, it has probably been said at a moment while or after you’ve endured some bullsh*t you absolutely should never have to, while the folks who throw that term around did absolutely nothing to support you. At least that’s my experience. We laud folks for being resilient, without creating the infrastructure to abolish the systems and conditions that require that resiliency to survive.

Trans+ folks are called resilient in this moment as we see cuts to healthcare access, limitations on where we can be involved in society, where we can use the toilet, if we can participate in sports, bans on getting accurate documents, all alongside violence that killed us, especially Black and Brown femmes and Two Spirit folks, since colonization (along with the violence of colonization itself).

November marks the 28th annual observance of Trans Day of Remembrance and Resilience (TDOR), in which we come together to grieve the too long list of 2STGNC+ folks lost to violence in the last year. Were these people not resilient enough to survive? No. Usually quite the opposite. So this month, I ask you not to throw around the word resilient. I ask you to turn your grief, your rage, even your praise of trans+ folks being so strong/brave/resilient, into action that changes the conditions for us. Not just those of us who are palatable or passing. For all of us. Because we don’t get liberation through resilience alone.

In Solidarity,

Cole McAfee

November Updates

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November Updates 〰️

Join Us November 20 at 7 PM to Mark TDoR

Join us at Oklahoma Film Exchange on Friday November 20 at 7 PM for a screening of What Will I Become? to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance at Resilience, followed by community craft space at Oklahoma Cider Company. Made possible by the film’s directors and distributors, following its US premiere at the deadCenter film festival, we hope you’ll join us for this special evening. Film screenings at OFX, microcinema, worker co-op, and arts collective, are available on a sliding scale, with recommended donations of $10. QR codes to cover parking fees are available on site for the lot next to OFX and OK Cider Company, and there is additional street parking available in the area. Learn more about the screening and RSVP here. Learn more about What Will I Become? here, more about Oklahoma Film Exchange here, and more about Oklahoma Cider Company here.

photo of a young child building a zine with the words "Come zine with us Fri 12/11"

Save the Date (December 11) for our Next Allies Zine Event

Our next allies zine training session will be on Friday, Dec 11, from 6 - 8 pm. Come have dinner with us and spend some time going over the election results. We will be getting to know who the decision makers are in the structures of power that fuel our crimmigration system, with new insights after election day. We will also be learning about the tool of power mapping and how useful it can be when organizing with your neighbors. Folks will be able to create a power map together as a group and of course get some more zines to fold and distribute. Make sure to register so we have a solid head count for food!

Giving Tuesday

Every year on the Tuesday following the fourth Thursday in November, the philanthropic community asks folks to give, to commit resources to show gratitude and support work of organizations who make a difference in your community, whose mission means a great deal to you, whose work is critical in times such as these. We know that as we approach giving Tuesday, it’s been a tight budgetary season for all of us (as individuals and organizations). With the costs of every day living continuing to rise, there may not be much space in your finances to give. And still, we want to offer our gratitude in advance for each of you that make space to give to Freedom Oklahoma this Giving Tuesday and all year long. We know that every dollar you send our way is a meaningful contribution, and we do our best to steward those dollars into creating spaces that build community, connection, and compassion towards the future where all 2SLGBTQ+ folks have the safety to thrive, in Oklahoma and everywhere we call home.

You can always give to support our work at https://www.freedomoklahoma.org/donate. We couldn’t do what we do without your continued generosity.