Transgender Awareness Month & Transgender Day of Remembrance 2024

November is Transgender Awareness Month, a time to celebrate, honor, and stand up for our community and our transgender, non-binary, and/or gender-diverse (TGD) friends, family, and neighbors as we work to raise awareness, foster understanding, and celebrate the TGD community’s rich tapestry of experiences.

Each year during Transgender Awareness Month we mark the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) on November 20. On and around this day, people everywhere pause to remember and mourn the lives lost to hate and transphobic violence, with the days preceding it (November 13 – 19) being commemorated by many as Transgender Awareness Week.

Transgender Awareness Month

Transgender Awareness Month invites us to center the lives and experiences of TGD folks around the world, including our own staff, patients, and supporters. For Fenway Health and our Trans Health Program, it is a time to recommit to providing comprehensive, compassionate healthcare and services to all members of the TGD community. We provide patient-centered, evidence-based care to ensure trans and gender-diverse people are informed and affirmed in their gender and healthcare needs. We also advocate for policies at the local, state, and national levels that protect and affirm all members of the LGBTQIA+ community, including TGD people.

There are several things you can do during Transgender Awareness Month, whether you consider yourself a member of the TGD community or a friend or ally.

Celebrate TGD History

In 2021, Gabby Omoni Hartemann, a transgender archaeologist, wrote about the importance of remembering and honoring the history of TGD people. “The erroneous idea that we, transgender people, “have no past,” feeds the notion held by many cisgender people that we don’t belong in the present,” her piece reads in part.

There are many amazing stories about transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse people to learn more about from history, including:

• Hatshepsut, an Egyptian Pharoah that many modern scholars believe may have been transgender long before the term was even coined
• The Public Universal Friend, an American preacher who shunned their birth name and gendered pronouns and dressed in androgynous clothing
• Albert D.J. Cashier, a trans man and soldier in the American Civil War
• Lucy Hicks Anderson, a socialite, chef, and philanthropist who is considered one of the earliest documented cases of an African-American transgender woman
• Claude Cahun, a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer who eschewed gender norms and who many scholars believe was non-binary
• Christine Jorgensen, an American trans woman who became the first person to be widely known for having gender affirming surgery
• Sylvia Rivera, a veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising and tireless advocate for those silenced and disregarded by larger movements especially transgender people who were often excluded from the larger gay rights movement
• Louis Graydon Sullivan, an influential American author and activist known for his work on behalf of trans men
• Rita Hester, a transgender women whose 1998 murder in Allston, Massachusetts inspired the Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance

Of course there are many others from throughout time and from around the world. Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories.

Promote Visibility & Education

Raising awareness about the diverse experiences of transgender individuals, combating stereotypes, and educating the public about gender identity and the community’s victories and struggles are important ways to help combat anti-trans sentiment.

If you are TGD and feel safe and comfortable sharing your story with others, do that. If you are a friend, loved one, or ally to the TGD people in your life, be vocal about that and speak up when others spread misinformation online or in-person. Share the stories, art, and achievements of trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people on your social media and in your discussions.

There are many great resources online that can help you learn more about TGD people, including:

• Advocates for Trans Equality – Understanding Transgender People
• Fenway Health’s National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center – Transgender Health Resources
• GLAAD – Transgender FAQ
• HRC – Transgender Children & Youth – Understanding the Basics

Advocate for Inclusive Laws & Policies

By actively participating in the movement for transgender equality, we can contribute to a world that values and respects every individual, regardless of their gender identity. This is especially important in the midst of the current nationwide political environment.

One of the ways you can help in this effort is to support organizations dedicated to transgender rights and well-being. Whether through donations, volunteering, or participating in awareness campaigns, your support can make a meaningful impact. Fenway Health is one of those organizations, and you can find information about others on GLAAD’s website.

You can also learn about anti-TGD bills in your state at translegislation.com and contact your elected officials to advocate against them. Talk to your friends, family, and neighbors and help them understand how destructive legislation like this can be, especially for young people. Vote for politicians who align with your values. Attend a local Transgender Day of Remembrance event.

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR)

TDOR honors the memory of transgender people whose lives have been lost to anti-trans violence. It is both a memorial and a call to action to address the systemic issues that lead to violence against transgender individuals, particularly transgender women of color, who are disproportionately affected.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance began here in Massachusetts in 1998 in response to the tragic unsolved murder of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman and beloved community member, in Allston. The day is now observed in over 200 cities in 21 countries around the world, including across Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, anti-trans violence has only risen since the first Transgender Day of Remembrance. The HRC has tracked the murder of 27 transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse people so far in 2024. This violence especially impacts QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous People of Color) folks – 74% of those murders were people of color and nearly half were Black transgender women. 63% were killed with a gun.

Scheduled Massachusetts Transgender Day of Remembrance events currently include:

• Boston’s 25^th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 15 – 17
• Boston TDOR Vigil, November 16
• Cape Cod Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 17
• Town of Chelmsford’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20
• Town of Reading’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20
• UMASS Dartmouth Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20

Keep an eye out for others being announced as we get closer to November 20.

Transgender Awareness Month is a time for reflection, education, and celebration and Transgender Day of Remembrance offers us an opportunity to remember those we have lost. We hope everyone finds meaningful ways to commemorate these important occasions.