WeHo marks Transgender Awareness Month with several events

The City of West Hollywood and the City’s Transgender Advisory Board recognize November as Transgender Awareness Month. Since its incorporation in 1984, the City of West Hollywood has led the region in the pursuit and implementation of progressive policies that foster an environment of acceptance in which diversity is celebrated. During Transgender Awareness Month, the West Hollywood community looks toward the future and recommits to ending discrimination and transphobia by amplifying the visibility and voices of people in the transgender community.

The City of West Hollywood will fly the transgender flag over West Hollywood City Hall through Tuesday, November 30, 2021. The flag will be flown at half-mast on November 20, which is Transgender Day of Remembrance, in honor of transgender individuals who have been murdered. City Hall will be awash in blue, pink, and white lighting throughout the month. From Wednesday, November 10, 2021 through Sunday, November 21, 2021, the globe lanterns above Santa Monica Boulevard between N. Robertson Boulevard and Hancock Avenue will glow in blue, pink, and white. Transgender flags will be flown on the City’s medians where flags are currently displayed.

The City of West Hollywood is a co-sponsor of the Unique Woman’s Coalition (UWC) TransGiving Dinner on Friday, November 19, 2021. This annual event provides a traditional full-course holiday dinner and creates a safe social environment among Trans-identified community members, allies, and their loved ones. In 2019, more than 200 people attended, and in 2020, UWC organized TransGiving Dinner to-go due to the COVID-19 pandemic. TransGiving Dinner is a cherished tradition for Trans people, nonbinary people, and gender non-conforming people who may feel disenfranchised from their families. The evening features live entertainment, access to resources, and of course, community and allies. UWC is dedicated to being a collective voice centering on the narratives and needs of Black Trans culture and is committed to fostering the next generation of black trans leadership from within the community through mentorship, scholarship, and community care engagement work. For information about TransGiving Dinner, visit the Eventbrite page: www.eventbrite.com/e/transgiving-dinner-los-angeles-tickets-202122302247.

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is part of the City of West Hollywood’s annual recognition of Transgender Awareness Month. Transgender Day of Remembrance was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorates transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death and has become an important annual tradition. This year, the Transgender Advisory Board of the City of West Hollywood will present a virtual Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony on Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 6 p.m. featuring a reading of names to memorialize people who have been murdered as a result of anti-transgender violence. The program will be hosted by transgender leader and advocate Sabel Samone-Loreca and will include guest speakers and tributes by musical artist LZ Love and the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, TCLA. For information about the Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony, visit www.weho.org/lgbtq. The City encourages every community member to honor these lives and memories and to take the opportunity to reflect on the work that remains to be done.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) tracks annual statistics of violence against the people in the transgender community. In the latest statistics currently available, HRC has reported that in 2021 there have been at least 43 transgender or gender non-conforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means in the United States. A disproportionately high number of victims are Black and Latinx transgender women. The 2021 report follows reports of 44 deaths in 2020; 27 deaths in 2019; 26 deaths in 2018; 29 deaths in 2017; and 23 deaths in 2016. According to HRC: “it is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and unchecked access to guns conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare, and other necessities, barriers that make them vulnerable.” This wave of violence has been declared an epidemic by the American Medical Association. Rates of actual violence or deaths may, in fact, be higher but anti-transgender violence can be difficult to accurately measure, as victims are sometimes misgendered in reports, which can delay awareness of deadly incidents.

The City of West Hollywood has been one of the most outspoken cities in the nation in advocating for the legal rights of LGBTQ people. More than 40 percent of residents in the City of West Hollywood identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The City of West Hollywood is one of the first municipalities to form a Transgender Advisory Board, which addresses matters of advocacy on behalf of transgender people in the areas of education, community awareness, and empowerment, and makes recommendations to the West Hollywood City Council. Through the Transgender Advisory Board, the City of West Hollywood regularly co-sponsors programming and recognizes Transgender Awareness Month and Transgender Day of Remembrance each November and the Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31. For more information about the City of West Hollywood’s Transgender Awareness Month activities and resources, visit www.weho.org/lgbtq.

As part of its support of the transgender community, the City of West Hollywood has a Transgender Resource Guide available on the City’s website, which provides information about a variety of resources including legal, health, and social services, available in the Greater Los Angeles area to enhance and improve the well-being of transgender people.

For more information about Transgender Awareness Month, please contact City of West Hollywood Community Programs Coordinator Larissa Fooks at (323) 848-6413 or lfooks@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.