"A hug to the memory of our dead, to the memory of Ayelén Gómez." In Buenos Aires and Tucumán, trans activists and LGBTQ+ and human rights organizations are calling for a mobilization on Thursday to demand an end to transphobic murders and justice for Ayelén Gómez. Her body was found on Saturday under the bleachers of the Lawn Tennis Club in the provincial capital. After marching in a circle with the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, there will be a vigil. Photos: Ariel Gutraich. In Tucumán—where Ayelén Gómez was born 31 years ago and where she was murdered—and in the city of Buenos Aires—where she studied at the Mocha Celis Trans Popular High School—trans and LGBTQ+ activists, LGBTQ+, feminist, social, and human rights organizations are mobilizing to demand justice. Shortly after the autopsy revealed that Ayelén died of asphyxiation, a meeting was held yesterday afternoon at the Open Doors Educational Center (CETRANS) in San Miguel de Tucumán. Ayelén had planned to continue her studies there.

[READ MORE: Transvesticide in Tucumán: according to the autopsy, Ayelén died of asphyxiation]

The gathering was marked by a climate of sadness and solidarity. Present were social organizations, students from the center, some political figures, and representatives from the Ni Una Menos movement in the province. Ayelén's family was also there.

First national march from Tucumán

It was decided to march on Thursday, August 17th, to demand "Justice for Ayelén and for all transfemicides, travesticides, and violence against trans people." "From the Open Doors Transgender Educational Center, we, trans women, fed up with invisibility, abuse, physical and symbolic violence, discrimination, and unsolved deaths in a province with a mediocre and absent justice system, are organizing in the..." first national march promoted from Tucumán by us"This is echoing in other provinces to make us visible and support us in a solid and massive demand," they reported in a statement from that center.

March against transvesticide in Buenos Aires, June 26, 2017.  With the slogan "Without trans women there is no #NiUnaMenos," the meeting point will be the CETRANS. The march will depart from there at 5 PM, circling the perimeter of Parque 9 de Julio—near where Ayelén was found—and proceeding up Córdoba Street to Plaza Independencia. "We will all march in black to support and protect our fellow students in danger," the organizers announced, emphasizing, "It is very important for CENTRANS to accompany the students for safety reasons." Other slogans accompanying the march include: #WeWantToBeAlive, #TheStateIsResponsible, #TheHegemonicMediaAndThePoliceAreToo. "Ayelén had fled various forms of violence from Buenos Aires and intended to study at our educational center. Before she could realize her dream, she was killed, and the media downplayed it, as they always do with us, as if our lives had no value." "We are fed up with the normalization of violence against us because Ayelén's case is representative of what trans people suffer daily in this society due to lack of access to public policies and the full exercise of our rights," says the collective text written by those present at the meeting.

Transvestite Vigil: Our Whys

Words from Marlene Wayar calling for the Trans Vigil in Plaza de Mayo. Tired of grieving for our dead. Tired of them killing us just when we've managed to get one of our daughters to start and stay in secondary school. And then they kill her. Tired of arriving late. Tired of only shedding tears. Tired of hearing only empty words, directed at nothing, with nothing offered to heal death. We summon trans bodies to an embrace in memory of our dead, in memory of Ayelén Gómez. We self-summon this collective embrace before they kill us and it's too late for the embrace. We summon those bodies capable of empathizing with our trans bodies. We summon you to join us in the embrace, because there is nothing else we can do. We, trans women, summon from a place of disempowerment. What can we ask for? Justice, perhaps? From poverty, what can we buy them? Respect, perhaps? And the persistent failure, what can we boast about? A women's document that enables hate crimes? Not their empty public policies. Not their social actions that fail to shelter us. Not their banal and vain spirituality meant to embrace us as children. Not their cowardice in defending us from murder or abuse in the neighborhood. Not their prudishness in refusing to share a desk in elementary or high school. Not their contempt for healing us in their public or private hospitals. Not their lack of understanding of the hunger of girls trying to stay alive, which they exploit to prostitute us. Not their selfishness in refusing to share the housing we need as children. Not their excessive misery in refusing to include us in their workplaces. Not their pretty academic words or their beautiful arts that don't transform anyone's life. We speak from experience. We call for an embrace, for the shame of embracing the injustice of our bodies in the public square. For drying our tears. We call you to silence, tired of shouting that they are killing us. We call upon you. ]]>