Transgender Awareness Month continues with the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance observance on Friday night, starting at 6 p.m.
The event is intended to honor those who have been killed as a result of anti-transgender violence as well as look to a future where discrimination and violence against transgender people has been ended.
The traditional Reading of the Names is the centerpiece of the event, where members of the community recite the name of at least one person who has been killed due to transphobia and then read brief biographical details about the person being memorialized.
In years past the Transgender Day of Remembrance has been a live event, but this year it will be held online due to coronavirus pandemic social distancing requirements and the ban on large gatherings.
The ceremony is being held on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/92210616016
So far this year, 37 people in the United States are known to have been murdered due to anti-transgender violence. The most recent happened on Tuesday to Yuni Carey, a trans Latina woman with deep ties to the Los Angeles transgender community. Initial reports say she was murdered by her partner in Miami.
In honor of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Los Angeles City Hall in downtown Los Angeles will be illuminated in the trans pride colors on Friday.
In a separate event happening on Thursday (Nov. 19) at 6 p.m., the Los Angeles LGBT Center will host a virtual workshop for members of the trans and non-binary communities to learn about their rights, as well as the resources available in the event of a hate crime.
Titled “Know Your Rights: Victim’s Rights and Services,” the webinar will include a question and answer forum with a panel of experts from the LGBT Center.
According to the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations’ 2019 Hate Crime Report, reported hate crimes against transgender people increased by 64 percent from 2018 to 2019, making the need to know one’s rights and the resources available even more important.
The workshop is free, but advance registration is required. Sign up at lalgbtcenter.org/rights
I look forward to our next President swiftly rescinding the reprehensible military service ban and am heartened by society’s rebuke of the famous novelist who keeps digging herself in deeper with her anti-trans screeds.
This until now sanctioned fear of the other has had devastating real-world consequences on the physical and mental health of our trans brothers and sisters. It must end now.