Tomorrow's Transgender Day Of Remembrance Raises Awareness Of Violence Against Transgender People

Tomorrow's Transgender Day Of Remembrance Raises Awareness Of Violence Against Transgender PeoplePhoto: torbakhopper/Flickr
Teresa Hammerl
Published on November 19, 2016

On November 20th the Transgender Awareness Week comes to an end, when San Francisco and other cities around the world organize the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), a tribute to those whose lives have been lost due to transphobia. This year, the annual event in San Francisco will take place at Trans: Thrive on Sunday, at 3pm.

The event features a panel of Trans/GNC (Gender Non-Conforming) POC advocates, a memorial film, and some performances. A coalition of local nonprofit partners and transgender health and rights groups including TAJA's Coalition, Trans:Thrive, Trans Employment Program, the SF LGBT Center, and El/La Para Trans Latinas support the event.

"We need allies now more than ever to rise up against transphobia, racism, ableism, and oppression plaguing our country and beyond," Clair Farley, Director of Economic Development at SF LGBT Center explains. "We must do better, people's lives depend on it," she said.

TDoR was initially founded 17 years ago by trans activist and Bay Area resident Gwendolyn Ann Smith, to memorialize the murder of a young transgender woman of color. Today, TDoR is observed in over 200 cities in more than 20 countries. "[The Transgender Day of Remembrance] is a day where we remember those we have lost, when we mourn, and when we consider that we live in a world where we or our friends could very well be next on the list," Smith wrote in the Huffington Post.

"The level of violence targeting transgender and gender non-conforming people has become a national crisis, with 90 percent of the violence impacting transgender women of color," the event organizers said in a statement.

This year, the TDoR committee is also selling shirts to help raise money for a memorial fund for low income trans people, as well as to support projects working to end violence against the transgender community.

Danielle Castro of TAJA will be speaking at this afternoon's first ever OurTownSF Live! event at the Eureka Valley Recreation Center in the Castro. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, visit Trans Lifeline, or call the crisis hotline by and for the transgender community at (877) 565-8860.