Transgender Day of Remembrance Honored by the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force
Events to Remember Transgender People Killed in the Last Year
November 20, 2004 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day when people gather to remember those who have been killed as a result of anti-transgender hate or prejudice. This annual event is organized by Gender Advocacy and Education, and this year there will be events in more than 150 cities specifically remembering the 21 transgender people known to have murdered in the last year.
"On November 20, we will all hold in our hearts and in our thoughts our brothers and sisters who have fallen victim to anti-transgender hate," said Matt Foreman, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director. "We know that discrimination and violence against transgender people is pervasive. We know that law enforcement routinely ignores and fails to investigate and prosecute anti-transgender crime, including murder. We know that for every victim whose name we know there are dozens of others who will never be known or acknowledged. Let us all use this day to not only remember, but to rededicate ourselves to bringing and end to discrimination and violence against transgender people."
The Task Force Transgender Civil Rights Project said it was aware of only one anti-transgender murder that was prosecuted as a hate crime and went to trial in the last year. That prosecution in California, of those accused of the brutal 2002 murder of Gwen Araujo, ended in a mistrial after the jury found itself irrevocably deadlocked. The case will be tried again in May of 2005.
The Task Force's Civil Rights Project provides technical assistance, including evaluation of legislative and policy language, to organizations, advocates, legislators, and others who areworking to establish policies and laws to create equality for transgender people.
A list of the locations and times of the Day of Remembrance events can be found at:
http://www.gender.org/remember/day/where.html. Transgender Day of Remembrance is a project of Gender Education and Advocacy.
Note: The Task Force reminds editors and reporters that transgender people are to be referred in the pronoun appropriate to the gender a person lives his or her life as. More information on how to appropriately refer to transgender people can be found in Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's "Suggestions for Fair, Accurate & Inclusive Coverage" available at
http://www.glaad.org/media/resource_kit_detail.php?id=3061 or from the National Center for Transgender Equality, "Basic Tips for Journalists" at
http://www.nctequality.org/media.asp.
