Barnstable MA (October 2023) —This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. This year’s theme, “Community” hopes to create a space where people of all ages, races, genders, abilities, and classes can come together as a community to remember the victims of anti-transgender violence. A community vigil will be held in person on Sunday, November 19 from 2:00PM to 4:30PM at the Unitarian Church of Barnstable, 3330 Main St. Barnstable MA
The Transgender Day of Remembrance began here in Massachusetts in 1998 in response to the tragic unsolved murder of Ms. Rita Hester, an African American transgender woman, in Allston, MA. The “Remembering Our Dead” website project began in 1999, along with the first annual Transgender Day of Remembrance candlelight vigil in San Francisco to mark Ms. Hester’s death.
Unfortunately, anti-transgender violence has only risen since the first Transgender Day of Remembrance. As the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) notes, “transgender people living at the intersections of other marginalized identities, such as immigrants, people of color, and people with disabilities, experience higher rates of violence” and other unique barriers to their safety.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance has become a time for the transgender community, allies, and advocates to gather, remember and honor the victims of anti-transgender hatred and violence. The day is now observed in over 200 cities in 21 countries around the world, including right here on Cape Cod. The Cape Cod Transgender Day of Remembrance Committee invites all transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender-fluid people, and all allies of the community, to attend this vigil.
Thank you to event sponsors, Fenway Health, Cape and Islands Transgender Resource Fund (CITRF), Independence House, Inc, and Unitarian Church of Barnstable.