Today, on this Transgender Day of Remembrance, we remember every transgender person who lost their life to violence because of who they were.
According to a report by the Human Rights Campaign, 33 transgender or gender non-conforming people were killed in the past year in the U.S., the vast majority of them people of color. Most of the victims were under the age of 35.
In 1999, Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded by a small group, including Jahaira DeAlto, Nancy Nangeroni, and Gwendolyn Ann Smith, to memorialize the murder of Black transgender women Rita Hester and Chanelle Pickett. The first TDoR took place in Boston and San Francisco. The annual day of remembrance continues to be observed on November 20, the anniversary of Pickett’s murder.
