News: November 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today—November 20, 2018—marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). Let us all take a moment to remember and honor those who lost their lives to acts of anti-transgender violence and discrimination. 

TDoR, also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, was founded in 1999 to “memorialize the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester in Allston, Massachusetts.” Hester’s murder on November 1998 “shook the local trans community to its core and transformed the way people across the country respond to anti-transgender violence.” 

But the fight against transphobia and anti-transgender violence continues to this day because the issue persists. Take a look at the numbers below:

• Violence against the transgender community is on the rise. In 2017 alone, there were 29 recorded deaths of transgender people in the U.S. due to “fatal violence” perpetrated by “acquaintances, partners, and strangers” according to Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
• In a recently released report by HRC, “at least 22 transgender people have been killed in the United States” this 2018 (although other reports say the number is 28) and “82 percent of them were women of color; 64 percent were under the age of 35 (others as young as 16).” But this is just the known data because some victims’ death go unreported and also because some of them “may not be identified as transgender in the media.” This is because journalists, or the authorities, or the victim’s families themselves refuse to acknowledge their gender identity. 
• The country with the most reported trans murder in the world is reportedly Brazil (167) followed by Mexico (71).
• Statistics worldwide shows that a total of 368 trans people were murdered from October 2017 to September 2018.

Today, TDoR is observed annually by over “185 cities throughout more than 20 countries” around the world.