WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, joins in the commemoration of Transgender Day of Remembrance on Wednesday, November 20, 2013. The 15th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance is a solemn tribute to those who have lost their lives to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice and also seeks to raise awareness of the constant threat of brutality faced by the transgender community.  HRC Steering Committees in 25 cities around the country are partnering with local organizations on community events.

"Today as we remember our transgender brothers and sisters lost to archaic hate and senseless violence, we stand together as one LGBT community," said HRC President Chad Griffin.  “We will always keep the victims of anti-transgender violence front of mind as we continue the fight for full equality.”

Statistics on anti-transgender violence are startling. A 2012 report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Program (NCAVP) finds that transgender people were 1.67 times more likely to face threats and intimidation compared to the broader LGBT community, and that 53.8% of anti-LGBT homicide victims were transgender women, marking a 40% increase from 2011. Furthermore, seventy-eight percent of transgender children in grades K-12 reported being harassed in school, 35 percent physically assaulted, and 12 percent sexually assaulted, according to a 2011 report from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

The first Transgender Day of Remembrance was held in honor of Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 led to the "Remembering Our Dead" web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, hundreds of cities around the country and the world have hosted annual Transgender Day of Remembrance events in solidarity with transgender hate crime victims.  For a list of cities where HRC is participating in Transgender Day of Remembrance, please visit www.hrc.org/tdor. For a list of vigils and remembrances worldwide, visit www.transgenderdor.org.

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

# # #