Sunday, Nov 20th

[nandm]

This Sunday, November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance.

I can not speak of this day as eloquently as Joe Solmonese
President, Human Rights Campaign can so I will just post a quote of the email I received today regarding this event.

Over the past year we have seen the end of the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," progress on repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and marriage equality become reality in New York. These are all things to rejoice in, but today I 'm thinking about some of the most important work that remains ahead of us: bringing an end to anti-transgender violence.

This Sunday is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It's a day to think about and honor our transgender brothers and sisters, particularly those we've lost to violence caused by hatred and prejudice.

As Sunday approaches, advocates around the country are working to raise awareness of the issues impacting transgender and gender-variant Americans. Last night our own Allyson Robinson was in New Orleans, where leaders from the LGBT Community Center and other organizations are holding an entire week of events, including a film screening, lectures and an interactive art installation. Today she is heading to Waco, Texas, where she and her family came out while she was a graduate student at Baylor University, for that city's first-ever Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil.

To truly honor we must know its history. Transgender Day of Remembrance is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 led to the "Remembering Our Dead" web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then the event has grown into an annual memorial for transgender hate crime victims held in hundreds of cities across the country and around the world, bringing together transgender people and their allies to stand in solidarity against violence and hate.

Though that violence has continued unabated this year, there is reason for hope. Just this week the Massachusetts Legislature passed the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, which adds protections to the state's civil rights laws against discrimination in employment, housing, education, and credit based on gender identity or expression and adds gender identity and expression to the state's hate crimes law.

I hope you'll join us in honoring this poignant day and in our work to end the violence and extend justice to cover the transgender community. No matter where you are in the country, there is a place to stand with our transgender friends and family members. For a list of vigils and remembrances, visit transgenderdor.org.

Joe Solmonese

Joe Solmonese
President, Human Rights Campaign