Close to thirty participants gathered on Friday, November 20 at the Hope Unites Church of Christ in Orlando to observe the Eleventh International Transgender Day of Remembrance. The Transgender day of remembrance was established as a way to memorialize persons who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Hundreds of similar events took place on the same day all around the world in countries like Australia, Canada, Belgium, Italy, France, England and Israel.
The event is held each November to honor Rita Hester who was murdered on November 28, 1999 in San Francisco. It was Hester’s still-unsolved murder that brought about the “Remembering Our Dead” Web Project and a candlelight vigil in her honor.
“Transgender individuals make up a disproportionate share of victims of hate crimes. We are ‘double outsiders’ with greater obstacles in accessing services that are already marginal for the gay and lesbian communities,” said Jake Green of the Florida Anti-Violence Project and one of the organizers of the Orlando observance. “Silence about the murders confirms the message the offenders send, which is, ‘your community does not deserve to exist.’ Transgender Day of Remembrance declares we are worthy of existing free from violence, with dignity and respect.”
The Orlando observance included guest speakers and a short film at Hope Unites followed by a candlelight vigil at Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando. Participants gathered at the Chinese Pagoda on the west side of the park and with lit candles held a moment of silence before making their way around the lake peacefully. Those who took part in the vigil included transgender persons, families, youth, seniors and even a couple of dogs.
Organizers hope that this event and others like it will bring awareness and understanding to their plight as well as an eventual end to all hate-based violence.
“Hatred is beginning to be understood as an attitude or disposition rather than a temporary emotional state and this kind of hatred, engendered in our culture, requires systematic change to affect the violence,” shared Green. “Core programs include crisis response, broad proactive education and outreach to raise awareness about the issues, diversity and sensitivity training to institutions like schools, police departments, health care and other direct service providers and coalitions to move these initiatives forward. With advocacy and collaboration hate and violence begins to be replaced with equality and respect.”
Get more information on this year’s observance as well as details about past observances.
