Transgender Day Of Remembrance November 20, 2007

In November of 1998, Rita Hester, a Transgender woman in Boston, Massachusetts, answered a knock at her door. Instead of a friend, however, the person at the door was an assailant who forced entry into her apartment and stabbed her over twenty times. Rita's death that night proved to be the event that focused the attention of transgender people everywhere on the terrible violence often inflicted on trans people.

Beginning in 1999, a day in November has been set aside as a day to remember our brothers and sisters killed during the past year and honor those like Rita who died in previous years because of gender identity/expression ignorance and hatred. The annual Transgender Day of Remembrance also serves to raise public awareness about hate crimes against trans people. Many cities worldwide hold vigils and memorial services. Whether standing up at a vigil or just raising your own awareness, we all need to stand with this community against this violence.


We should remember that hatred kills in many ways.

Ronnie Antonio Paris was only three years old when he died in January 2005. Ronnie Antonio was beaten to death by his father, Ronnie Paris, who felt the child was behaving "like a sissy" and was terrified the child would grow up to be less than a "real man." Ronnie Antonio Paris died of brain injury from repeated head trauma.

Tyra Hunter died in 1995 after a car accident due to the insensitive non-treatment of emergency techs who discovered she was transexual.

Maribelle Reyes
Location: Houston, Texas
Cause of Death: AIDS; Reyes was turned away from
several treatment centers due to her transgender status.
Date of Death: August 30, 2007

The TransGriot, and she truly is, has a series of excellent posts for this 9th annual Day of Remembrance:
There's Something About "Deception"
HRC, Keep Your Moneygrubbing Hands Off Our TDOR
Transgender Children FAQ (excellent post)
Making Change: The Cost of Being Transgender
Disposable People
Transgender Day of Remembrance- Peeps We've Lost
(There are very few that make the media and so very many that do not. In the Remembering our Dead series, we learn some of their faces and stories.)