Transgender Day of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual day of observance for the transgender and gender diverse people who lost their lives to acts of anti-transgender violence. Started in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, it has become an important tradition of honoring those lost.

On November 20, 2010 - at the age of 21 – I gathered with a small LGBTQIA+ affinity group in rural Texas in observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance. We lined an eight-foot table with page after page of names of transgender or gender diverse people who had lost their life to anti-trans violence that year. I spent time with each name and read them aloud. I thought of their loved ones. Their community. The joy and genius they brought to the world and how that was taken too soon.

At that time, I was living as an openly trans person outside of the gendered expectations placed on my body. I was deeply aware of the risk I faced in being visible while living in a proudly anti-LGBTQIA, anti-trans state. The violence levied at the trans community was clearly depicted in the data. However, more importantly, the voices and stories of Black and brown trans women and femmes targeted most often by this violence continuously pointed to the overlapping anti-black, misogynoir, transphobic, homophobic, and anti-femme biases that created this deadly culture.

10 years later, I am struggling again to conceptualize the reality that 327 trans and gender-diverse people were murdered globally this year, with 95% of those murdered being trans women or trans feminine people. In the US alone, we know that at least 32 transgender people were fatally shot or killed by other violent means (likely with many more deadly attacks going unreported or misreported by the police and media). These statistics are compounded in a year that more legislation has been filed to restrict the lives of trans people than at any other point in the nation’s history, with trans youth being the most frequent target of lawmakers. We are still navigating a pandemic that has a continued with disproportionate impacts on BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folks’ health, employment, and access to supportive housing. These compounding truths feel inescapable in their magnitude.

I, personally, feel the furthest from my community when I am watching news cycles and legislators act like trans and gender diverse people’s existence is debatable. I, purposely, seek spaces that uplift trans lives while allowing grief to walk hand in hand with resilience. Which is what I want to offer to you in this post – potential spaces and ways to engage where you may find your community. Spaces where you can grieve, find hope, or take action.

Trans Day of Resilience is one beautiful example of how “our rebellious mourning recommits us to the living. We refuse to forget or forfeit our power, even in the face of epidemic violence. We remember: we are pure possibility. Our freedom dreams could set the whole world free.” This art project is an annual love offering to trans people of color everywhere and is led by Forward Together. Learn more about the TDOR art project here.

(INSERT Trans Day of Resilience Art) @ the artist

Transgender Day of Remembrance Events

Transgender Day of Remembrance with Gender Justice League, Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound, and Rainbow Center (Tacoma)

Saturday, Nov. 19, 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.

ALMA Tacoma, 1322 South Fawcett Avenue, Tacoma

Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to mourn and celebrate those we have lost during the past year, it is also a time to draw attention to the systematic harms that lead to these deaths. This year the event will be discussion various topics, using a roundtable format with speakers.

Following our speakers, we will be holding a candlelight vigil to read the names of those who’ve lost their loves to anti-trans hate crimes and violence in the United States this year. Following this, both sites will give space for debrief and conversation.

Learn More: https://www.facebook.com/events/419955883628727?fbclid=IwAR1Vrzj-toSnkLQvQ54pbOKYjiq0Cot8A8K9sJUnXOgbPCiXEhx4SNIqD5c

Trans Day of Remembrance: Celebrating Life with Conspiracy of Geniuses

Saturday, Nov. 19, 6 p.m.

1201 2nd Avenue Seattle, WA 98101

Don your finest and join Conspiracy of Geniuses (CoG) in celebrating trans lives! Commemorate our fallen and rejoice the living at this interactive event. This event is by and for trans people. We choose to honor our communities in our way of mourning by celebrating the life they had and those of us who are still here. Cis people who join us, we ask you remember this event is not about you. We task our allies with not just mourning us after the world has killed us, but to fight to keep us alive!

Learn more: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trans-day-of-remembrance-celebrating-life-registration-458466775467?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Trans Day of Remembrance with U.T.O.P.I.A. Washington

Sunday, Nov. 20, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Auburn Riverside Theatre, 501 Oravetz Rd SE, Auburn

Transgender Day of Remembrance also known as TDOR is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the lives lost due to violent acts of transphobia. We welcome you to join us as we memorialize and honor our fallen siblings at our vigil.

Learn More: https://utopiawashington.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/utopiawashington/event.jsp?event=28&

Transgender Day of Remembrance with Gender Justice League, Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound, and Rainbow Center (Seattle)

Sunday, Nov. 20, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

University Unitarian Church, 6556 35th Ave NE, Seattle

Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to mourn and celebrate those we have lost during the past year, it is also a time to draw attention to the systematic harms that lead to these deaths. This year the event will be discussion various topics, using a roundtable format with speakers.

Following our speakers, we will be holding a candlelight vigil to read the names of those who’ve lost their loves to anti-trans hate crimes and violence in the United States this year. Following this, both sites will give space for debrief and conversation.

Learn More: https://www.facebook.com/events/419955883628727?fbclid=IwAR1Vrzj-toSnkLQvQ54pbOKYjiq0Cot8A8K9sJUnXOgbPCiXEhx4SNIqD5c

P.S. If you are trans, make sure your voice is heard!

The U.S. Trans Survey is the largest survey of trans people, by trans people, in the United States. The USTS documents the lives and experiences of trans and nonbinary people ages 16+ in the U.S. and U.S. territories. The deadline is extended until December 5, 2022

Take the US Trans Survey