It is crucial to keep space in devotion and memorialize the life of transgender people we have lost too quickly, just as we come up as a group for times of joy.
This year, Clark will hold a vigil and schedule time for fellowship in honor of and memory of lives lost to anti-trans crime.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil will be held on Thursday, November 16, at 6 p.m. in the Fireside Lounge at Dana Commons by the Office of Identity, Student Engagement, and Access ( ISEA ) and the student organizationPRISM. ISEA and PRISM extend an invitation to the society to unite in remembrance of life lost to hatred and transphobia all over the world. Following the ceremony, there will be occasion for scholarship over food.
On November 20, the international community observes Transgender Day of Remembrance. Clark holds its ceremony the week before Thanksgiving because that day generally falls during a time when fewer citizens are on campus.
“The death rates of trans individuals, and specifically trans women of color, are high in countries across the world due to anti-trans violence, ideas of hate, discrimination, or transphobia,” says E. Tejada III, ISEA’s associate director for gender and sexuality. It is crucial to keep space in devotion and memorialize the life of transgender people we have lost too quickly, just as we come up as a group for times of joy.
Transgender Day of Memory was established in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in honor of Rita Hester, a trans woman of color who passed away in November 1998 while residing in Massachusetts. Since then, the grave but significant tradition has included vigils held all over the world to realize all trans people who have died in violence and to promote a world free from hatred.
In a 2012 Huffington Post post, Smith remarked that” the idea of remembering our dead enters into areas that those few who gathered in 1999 could scarcely have imagined.” ” The issue of anti-transgender crime has seen a little greater awareness.” Another fights for transgender privileges have been successful.
However, anti-transgender crime is also prevalent. We continue to receive a list of people who have been brutally murdered each year just for being themselves.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 25 trans and gender nonconforming people have died violently as of 2023.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, black transgender women are disproportionately affected by this violence, accounting for 52 % of all fatalities in 2023.
Smith has urged people to keep advocating and remembering past November 20.
She wrote,” We should be working every day for all of us,” both living and dead.
Visit the Campus Calendar to learn more about Clark’s ceremony, and/or RSVP on Clark Engage.
