Family Equality joins peer organizations, advocates, and community members around the world in recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance. Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) is an annual observance that honors the memory of the lives that have been taken by anti-transgender violence over the years.
Starting as a vigil in 1999 to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998, TDoR has become an annual observance. “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,” says TDoR’s founder and transgender advocacy, Gwendolyn Ann Smith.
Too often, violence against this community goes unreported, unnoticed, or misrepresented in the media. This year, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as growing racism and police brutality, the lives of trans and gender-diverse people are at even greater risk. This is especially true for transgender women of color, specifically Black and Latinx transgender women, who are disproportionately affected by fatal violence.
So today, as we recommit to trans inclusion at all levels of our work, Family Equality also honors those we have lost:
🕯 Brianna “BB” Hill
🕯 Nikki Kuhnhausen
🕯 Yahira Nesby
🕯 Mia Perry
🕯 Dustin Parker
🕯 Neulisa Luciano Ruiz
🕯 Yampi Méndez Arocho
🕯 Monika Diamond
🕯 Lexi
🕯 Johanna Metzger
🕯 Serena Angelique Velázquez Ramos
🕯 Layla Pelaez Sánchez
🕯 Penélope Díaz Ramírez
🕯 Nina Pop
🕯 Helle Jae O’Regan
🕯 Tony McDade
🕯 Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells
🕯 Riah Milton
🕯 Jayne Thompson
🕯 Selena Reyes-Hernandez
🕯 Brian “Egypt” Powers
🕯 Brayla Stone
🕯 Merci Mack
🕯 Shaki Peters
🕯 Bree Black
🕯 Summer Taylor
🕯 Marilyn Cazares
🕯 Dior H Ova, who some reports identify as Tiffany Harris
🕯 Queasha D Hardy
🕯 Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears
🕯 Kee Sam
🕯 Aerrion Burnett
🕯 Mia Green
🕯 Michelle Michellyn Ramos Vargas
🕯 Felycya Harris
🕯 Brooklyn Deshuna
🕯 Sara Blackwood
🕯 Angel Unique
The above are the recorded names of trans people in the United States who have lost their lives to anti-transgender violence between October 1, 2019 and November 1, 2020 according to the TDoR list from Transrespect Versus Transphobia Worldwide and the Human Rights Campaign’s “Fatal Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Community in 2020”. Family Equality recognizes all those whose deaths have gone unreported or misrepresented, as well as the overwhelming number of transgender people who have lost their lives around the world.
Find Community & Support
Next week, on November 25, we’re hosting another biweekly Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming Peer Support space for parents and caregivers to connect and find support. In this session, we will be focusing on resilience within the trans community. To RSVP, click here.