Transgender Day of Rememberance
(TDOR) was started by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999. Smith was a transgender advocate and started TDOR to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a trans woman who was killed in 1998. Since then, TDOR takes place annually on November 20th where we honor the memory of transgender people whose lives were lost due to anti-transgender violence.
Why is Transgender Day of Rememberance important?
Transphobia is more alive than ever. According to UCLA, Transgender people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of a violent crime, including rape, sexual assault, and aggravated assault. Despite the high levels of hate crime in the transgender community, cases like Rita Hester’s rarely get media attention. Hester was killed just weeks after gay college student Matthew Shepard, unlike Shepard’s case, Hester’s case got little to no attention at all. Even folks in the LGBT2SQ+ community consistently misgendered Rita and failed to recognize the visibility of Trans lives.
Over 375 Transgender people have been reported to be killed in 2021, which was considered to be the deadliest year for Transgender folks. 70% of murders happened Central and South America, for a full list of individuals please visit: https://transrespect.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/TvT_TMM_TDoR2021_Namelist.pdf
In North America, 44 murders of have been reported. Transgender folks were either shot or killed by other violent means. Remember and honour their names.
Tyianna Alexander, Samuel Edmund Damian Valentin, Bianca Bankz, Dominique Jackson, Fifty Bandz, Alexus Braxton, Jeffrey “JJ” Bright, Jasmine Cannady, Jenna Franks, Diamond Kyree Sanders, Rayanna Pardo, Jaida Peterson, Dominique Lucious, Remy Fennell, Tiara Banks, Natalia Smut, Iris Santos, Tiffany Thomas, Keri Washington, Jahaira DeAlto, Danika “Danny” Henson, Serenity Hollis, Oliver “Ollie” Taylor, Poe Black, Thomas Hardin, EJ Boykin, Aidelen Evans, Taya Ashton, Shai Vanderpump, Tierramarie Lewis, Miss CoCo, Pooh Johnson, Disaya Monaee, Briana Hamilton, Kiér Laprí Kartier, Mel Groves, Royal Poetical Starz, Zoella “Zoey” Rose Martinez, Jo Acker, Jessi Hart, Rikkey Outumuro, Marquiisha Lawrence, Jenny De Leon, Angel Naira, Danyale Thompson, Cris Blehar, Nikai David, Ke’Yahonna Stone, Za’niyah Williams, Nikki Turietta, Rubi Dominguez, Keeva Scatter, Martina Caldera, Geri Judd.
Never Forget.
Written by Ali Ramirez, VP of Engagement – Students’ Association Council