Hello, my name is Gini.
I am a trans woman.

Today, I wear my red ribbon not just as a symbol, but in memory
Of those I knew and lost.

For those who live with HIV.
For those still living with fear.

Fear of being denied the medication they need.
Fear of what the future holds.

HIV was one of the reasons I didn’t transition in the 1980s.
The ‘T’ in LGBT hadn’t yet found its place.

I was not gay but I was afraid. Afraid of being caught in the panic that surrounded anyone who appeared to be a gay man.

I was out on the margins, alone.
I lived 40 years in the shadow of that decision.

Forty years of wondering “what if?”
Forty years of an incomplete life.

And now, somehow, it feels like we’re back in that same era
People asking,

“Will I get my meds?”
“Will they work?”

Once again, lives are hanging in the balance, not because of medicine, but because of politics.

Because of bigotry.
Because of money.

But this time, I will not retreat.
I will not go quietly into the shadows.

Because if I do, then I’ve learned nothing.
And worse, I become complicit in shaping another 40 years of silence for someone else.

That’s why I wear this red ribbon
For my friends who lived in fear.

And for those who now live in fear again.
During the AIDS crisis of the ’80s and ’90s, it was often lesbian women who stood forward when others turned away.

They offered care, compassion, and courage.
And today, I’ve felt that same strength and support, from women and especially from lesbian women.

History repeats, and so does resilience.
But this isn’t just about trans women.

This panic, this manufactured fear, is bigger.
It touches all genders, all identities, all people, regardless of background.

In the 1980s, HIV was a disease we did not yet understand.
Today, we are fighting ignorance we do understand.

Hatred that we can confront.
We know the cause; prejudice.
And we know the cure; solidarity.

Human rights are not a finite resource.
Human rights are not a zero sum game.

When one person gains rights, another does not lose theirs.
Equality is not subtraction, it is multiplication.

When we all stand equal, the energy spent denying others can finally be used to build something better for all of us.
So, I leave you with this:

You cannot always tell who your allies are.
They don’t always look like you.

But look around
So many different faces, but all with the same hope.

A better, fairer world.
If each of us leaves here today and creates just two new allies…

And they each make two more…
And two more…

And two more,
We will change the world.

Now is my time to step forward.
I will not go back into the shadows.

Not now.
Not ever.