LGBTQ+ community honors life of transgender girl after suicide

Rochester community rallies to show strength after another tragedy in the Central New York transgender community.

15-year-old transgender student Katelyn Rinetta committed suicide in late March.  Myer Lee 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Brittan Hardgers was on the brink of crying as he stood at the podium, delivering his heartfelt message to the ailing community. 

The crowd of about 100 people filled First Unitarian Church last Sunday to honor the life Katelyn Rinetta Benoit, a 15-year-old transgender girl who committed suicide at school in late March. Hardgers and other trans activists were there to speak. 

“If I’m under attack, every person in this room should feel attacked,” Hardgers said to the crowd. 

Hardgers, the president and founder of Next Generation Men of Transition, was on stage with other transgender activists like Javannah Davis, the founder of Wave Women Incorporated. Both spearhead the fight for trans rights in Rochester through their respective organizations. 

Hardgers, a transgender man, said frankly, he’s tired of the deliberate attack from Trump on transgender people. 

His fellow activist Mickey Di Perna — who hosted the vigil — echoed his sentiments. 

“Every time they [Trump Administration] say something negative about trans people they’re supposed to represent, they cause harm,” Di Perna said. “Not just emotional harm. They also inflict serious physical harm when people are empowered by their hatred to do something.” 

Trans activists Mickey Di Perna and Brittan Hardgers hug at Katelyn Rinetta Benoit vigil. Myer Lee

Since returning to office in January, President Trump has signed several executive orders that directly impact the transgender community. Some of them include an order that says the government will only recognize two sexes, another that denies requests for gender markers on passports and one that moves transgender women to prisons with men. 

A federal district court blocked President Trump’s transgender military service ban in late March. 

The fallout from these sweeping orders is that there are more eyeballs on the transgender community — for better or for worse.

In early March, seven people allegedly kidnapped, tortured and sexually assaulted Canandaigua transgender man Sam Nordquist. Later that month, Benoit walked off a building at the School of the Arts, taking her own life. 

“It’s becoming too frequent,” Hardgers said. “Everyone is living in fear, and the fear is very much so valid. I am pushing for resistance. I am pushing for a fight.” 

Hardgers said he’s been out and proud since he was 12 years old. It did, however, take him some time to live as his true self because he didn’t see many Black and Brown people in the trans community. 

Now, thanks in large part to him, Rochester has a vibrant and growing black transgender male community boasts dozens of members, he said. 

“I have an amazing community that has taught me it's OK to be myself,” Hardgers said. “And being myself, I created what I didn’t see.” 

What gets lost in all of the brutality that’s constantly shown regarding the trans community, Hardgers said, is how resilient and powerful his community is. 

Hardgers, Di Perna and Davis showed up at First Unitarian Church on Sunday to reinforce that message. People brought flowers for Benoit and there were tables with pamphlets, bracelets, pens and other materials that exalted LGBTQ+ pride. 

Also, there was a tri-fold poster board that people signed for Benoit as they entered the church sanctuary. 

They left messages like “May her memory be a revolution!” and “Rest in beautiful power.” 

Hardgers and her peers are doing all they can — in Rochester and Albany — to ensure the trans community isn't silenced or forgotten.

Di Perna said the Rochester City school district can do more to protect transgender youth like implementing more cultural competency training for teachers and students or at least investigating Rinetta's death. Local LGBTQ+ organizations like Hardgers’ Next Generation Men of Transition can assist with the training, they added. 

Something everyone can do to support the transgender people — no matter their community affiliation — is create safe spaces. It’s not so much the walls that make places safe but rather the people within them, Hardgers said. 

“Trans rights are human rights,” Hardgers said. “That needs to be understood and dissected. This fight is not over. But with our power, with the guidance of our ancestors. We will make it out. We will make it through.”