Transgender Day of Remembrance
After the November 1998 murder of Rita Hester, a transgender woman living in the Boston area, Gwendolyn Ann Smith and other organizers formed the "Remembering Our Dead" project and accompanying vigil in San Francisco in 1999.
The annual November 20 observance has grown into the national Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is an opportunity for communities to come together and mark the passing of transgender or those perceived to be transgender individuals who have been murdered because of hate.
Although the day primarily memorializes those lost to hate crimes, it also serves as a forum for transgender communities and allies to raise awareness around the threat of violence faced by gender variant people and the persistence of prejudice felt by the transgender community. Activities also make anti-transgender violence and bigotry visible to such key community groups as police and medical services, the media and elected officials. Communities often include a variety of events including town hall style "teach-ins," photography and poetry exhibits, along with candlelit vigils.
As expressed on Gwendolyn Ann Smith’s site, the guiding principle for the national Transgender Day of Remembrance is summed up in George Santayana’s immortal words, "Those who cannot remember the past doomed to repeat it."
- Watch videos commemorating this day:
- More information about the Transgender Day of Remembrance [www.gender.org]
- "Remembering our Dead" [www.gender.org]
