OutFront Kalamazoo Observes Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR)

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20th that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence in the United States and around the world. Here in Michigan, Governor Whitmer issued a proclamation observing the day.

As a community, we come together to say the names of those who lost their lives due to violence and hate. #saytheirname #AlwaysOutFront

TDOR was started as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. Rita was a highly visible member of the transgender community in her native Boston, MA where she worked locally on education around transgender issues. In 1999, one year after Rita’s murder, advocate and writer Gwendolyn Ann Smith coordinated a vigil in Rita’s honor. The vigil commemorated not only Rita, but all who were tragically lost to anti-transgender violence.

Locally, OutFront Kalamazoo partnered with the Kalamazoo College Office of Religious & Spiritual Life for a Transgender Day Of Remembrance event at Stetson Chapel yesterday to mourn those who were lost this year by reading their names.

Earlier this week, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation released “An Epidemic of Violence: Fatal Violence Against Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People in the United States in 2021” a report honoring the at least 46 transgender and gender non-conforming people killed in 2021:

Tyianna Alexander, Samuel Edmund Damián Valentín, Bianca “Muffin” Bankz, Dominique Jackson, Fifty Bandz, Alexus Braxton, Chyna Carrillo, siblings Jeffrey “JJ” Bright and Jasmine Cannady, Jenna Franks, Diamond Kyree Sanders, Rayanna Pardo, Jaida Peterson, Dominique Lucious, Remy Fennell, Tiara Banks, Natalia Smut, Iris Santos, Tiffany Thomas, Keri Washington, Jahaira DeAlto, Whispering Wind Bear Spirit, Sophie Vásquez, Danika “Danny” Henson, Serenity Hollis, Oliver “Ollie” Taylor, Thomas Hardin, Poe Black, EJ Boykin, Taya Ashton, Shai Vanderpump, Tierramarie Lewis, Miss CoCo, Pooh Johnson, Disaya Monaee, Briana Hamilton, Kiér Laprí Kartier, Mel Groves, Royal Poetical Starz, Zoella “Zoey” Rose Martinez, Jo Acker, Jessi Hart, Rikkey Outumuro, Marquiisha Lawrence, and Jenny De Leon.

Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence… With so many seeking to erase transgender people—sometimes in the most brutal ways possible—it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice." – TDoR founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith

With these 46 known deaths since January 1, HRC has officially recorded more violent deaths of transgender and gender non-conforming people than any year since they began tracking this violence in 2013. Roz Keith, founder and executive director of Stand with Trans noted that 310 trans individuals worldwide lost their lives to violence over the past 12 months. Saying their names honors their memories and brings respect — something so many trans people have had to fight for all their lives. While this day is a day of mourning and remembrance, it is also a day to reflect on contributions to the community and the power of survival. In remembering each name, OutFront Kalamazoo expresses its sympathies to the family and friends of those lost and denounces the surge of violent attacks against the transgender community in recent years.

We remember. We mourn. We stand together. #AlwaysOutFront