International Transgender Day of Remembrance takes place on November 20th every year. It is a solemn day that honors the transgender and gender diverse people who died due to acts of transphobic violence. The day began in 1999 when trans rights advocate, Gwendolyn Ann Smith, held a memorial to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. From that first memorial in the late 90s, Transgender Day of Remembrance was soon recognized both within the United States and around the world. As Gwendolyn Ann Smith said “Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence…With so many seeking to erase transgender people–sometimes in the most brutal ways possible–it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.” (GLAAD, 2023)
Accurate statistics on the violent deaths of transgender people are difficult to find for many reasons. “Many hate crimes and murders go unreported or, crucially, misreported in the media–meaning the actual number of deaths could be far higher.”(Wareham, 2023) Transgender Europe is a collective of different organizations that advocates for equal rights and protection for transgender and gender diverse people. Each year at the start of Transgender Awareness Week, the group releases their Trans Murder Monitoring Global Update. This report tracks news articles of murdered transgender people. Since 2008, the organization has released a global report on the deaths of transgender people as well as observations on data trends. In their 2023 update, they reported that between October 1, 2022 and September 20, 2023, “320 trans and gender diverse people were reported murdered…This total is very close to the 327 cases reported in the previous year, showing that deadly violence against trans people remains at a consistently high level.” (Transgender Europe, 2023) Alongside their global update report, Transgender Europe also released an updated map that shows 2023’s data as well as the total data collected since 2008. This map tracks the global violence transgender and gender diverse people face.
The National Center for Transgender Equality, an organization based in the United States, recently released their Trans Remembrance 2023 report with their virtual Trans Remembrance memorial. “We crafted this digital space for both grieving and celebrating those we’ve lost. Countless precious trans lives have been extinguished, and to grieve is an arduous journey. However, in our period of grief, we persist. We pay tribute to and exalt the existence of those who have departed, and our brilliance remains unaltered.” (National Center for Transgender Equality, 2023) The memorial highlights the stories of transgender and gender diverse people who lost their lives due to bullying or overt transphobic violence. Visitors are encouraged to read the stories of the people memorialized on the website in an attempt to combat transphobia.
Transphobic violence may be underreported or misreported, but there are news sources that accurately report these instances. Organizations such as Transgender Europe, the National Center for Transgender Equality and GLAAD are valuable sources. LGBTQ focused news organizations and reporters such as LGBTQNation, Autostraddle, Erin Reed and Washington Blade also provide comprehensive coverage of transphobic legislation and bigotry.
International Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to mourn the lives lost and work towards equality and safety for transgender and gender diverse people. “Any measure of society must include the value it finds in protecting its most vulnerable from harm and healing the wounds they have already suffered….Transgender Day of Remembrances has never been so important.” (National Center for Transgender Equality, 2023)
Citations:
- Remembrance Report 2023. (2023). Trans Remembrance. https://www.transremembrance.org/
- Trans Murder Monitoring 2023 Global Update. (2023). Transrespect versus Transphobia worldwide. https://transrespect.org/en/trans-murder-monitoring-2023/
- Wareham, J. (2023, November 13) Beaten, stabbed and shot: 320 Trans people killed in 2023 – new monitoring report. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiewareham/2023/11/13/beaten-stabbed-and-shot-320-trans-people-murdered-in-2023/?sh=3eabcc3c1646
