Day 29. Honoring the Martyrs of Queer and Indigenous Resistance.
Our history is written not only in victories but also in the lives cut short by violence, silence, and erasure. Around the world, queer and Indigenous people have been targeted for who they are, for the land they protect, and for the love they embody. We honor them not only as victims but as martyrs, people whose lives and deaths fuel our ongoing struggle for dignity, sovereignty, and liberation.
To remember is to resist forgetting. Their names, stories, and courage remind us that we are part of a lineage of resistance, and that their unfinished work is now our sacred responsibility.
Stories of Resistance and Remembrance
Berta Cáceres (Lenca, Honduras) was assassinated in 2016 for defending her people’s rivers and sovereignty. Her leadership in the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) https://copinh.org/ inspired global environmental and Indigenous rights movements.
Marsha P. Johnson (USA) was a Black trans activist and Stonewall veteran whose life and mysterious death remain a rallying call to demand justice for Black trans women and unhoused queer people. The Marsha P. Johnson Institute https://marshap.org continues her legacy by protecting and defending the human rights of Black transgender people.
Indigenous Two-Spirit ancestors – They carried traditions of gender diversity and sacred balance long before colonization. Many of their names were erased, yet their spirit continues through the resurgence of Two-Spirit ceremonies, storytelling, and cultural reclamation.
Countless Lost – to HIV/AIDS, to anti-trans and racialized violence, to displacement, and to systemic neglect, are remembered as part of the struggle for life, truth, and collective liberation.
“We are alive because our ancestors dreamed us into being. We must dream, too, for those yet to come.” — Indigenous Queer Saying
Learn More
- Trans Day of Remembrance – A global annual observance honoring the memory of transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
- Front Line Defenders – An international organization that documents and supports human rights defenders who face risk, including Indigenous land protectors and LGBTQ+ activists.
- Human Rights Watch: Indigenous Rights – Provides global reports on threats, abuses, and resistance movements involving Indigenous communities fighting for their lands and sovereignty.
- Marsha P. Johnson Institute – Founded to protect and defend the human rights of Black transgender people through advocacy, organizing, and leadership development.
- COPINH: Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras -The organization co-founded by Berta Cáceres, continuing her legacy by defending Lenca lands, rivers, and communities from corporate exploitation.
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