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On November 20, communities will come together for Transgender Day of Remembrance, honoring the lives of transgender people who died by violence this year. And as families, friends and advocates light candles for each life lost, we’ll also be recommitting to the work ahead.
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
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my name is Jody Patterson I’m mom of
00:04
five
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my name is Ophelia I am a single parent
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I have three children I have two
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daughters once done
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my name is Debbie Jackson my daughter is
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Avery and we live in Kansas City
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Missouri she’s 8 years old I went to
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college in Arizona met my husband we
00:19
waited about six years to have children
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that we now have three melissa is your
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typical pre-adolescent girl
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Nellie is my third child by birth and
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born like perfectly anatomically to what
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I would assume was a girl when Avery was
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four years old if she just looked at me
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and said you know mom you think that I’m
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a boy and you talk about me being a boy
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but you know I’m really a girl on the
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inside right transgender was something I
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did not know anything about I’d say
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around 3 to 4 years old she was more
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expressive in terms of telling us that
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she was a girl looking back it clicked
01:02
for her when she finally saw herself
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outwardly as she felt in word was when
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she was 6 when Penelope was hiding from
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me I knew something was really deep
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sometimes you hide from friends who
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might judge you sometimes you hide from
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siblings who you’re competitive with but
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when you hide from your mom that was
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like a big eye-opener for a four or five
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year old to come and tell you why do you
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think God made me this way did he make a
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mistake did I get there late when they
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were passing out the body when I became
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worried was the way people reacted to it
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you hear a lot of stories about
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teenagers and adults who who encountered
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violence or who encounter just fearing
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for safety in general we see stories of
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kids as a young as 11 and 12 who commit
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suicide because they just can’t take the
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pressure or they’re not being accepted
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at four Avery was suicidal as we went
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down the road highway speeds all of a
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sudden her brother starts yelling from
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the backseat mom mom stop the car stop
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the car and then yells Avery’s unbuckle
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their seatbelt she’s trying to open the
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door had to pull over and stop the car
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and jump out on the side of the road and
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just give her a big hug and say why why
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are you doing this I don’t know what I
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would do without you we talked about
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transitioning youth but do we talk about
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the whole family the whole journey you
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know the whole family transitions
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everyone goes through something what I
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did commit to is that I will be with
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Penelope on this entire journey what
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they’re going through is it’s not a
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fault
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it’s not anything that’s wrong with them
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that it makes them very special and that
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they can live a completely healthy happy
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life just being who they are since she’s
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transitioned she’s like a completely
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different person her confidence in
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herself is off the charts I want my kids
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to be loved to love to have great
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education and to explore the world I
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think I’m actually giving her tools and
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strength to move forward and do good
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things in life I know that we’re very
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fortunate that we have such a great life
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in such a great support system and such
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positivity surrounding us I would like
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her to live in a world where she doesn’t
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have to fight to exist
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my story is inspirational my story is
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triumphant trans kids are like some of
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the most phenomenal kids it’s a normal
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healthy part of the human condition and
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I’m happy to share the story because
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it’s a great story to tell God gave us
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this gift of a child to open our eyes
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and expand our worldview
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you
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video