Transgender Day of Remembrance is held every November 20th to honor the memory of individuals who have been the victims of anti-transgender violence. It grew out of a vigil held in 1999 for Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in San Francisco in November of 1998 whose murder has never been solved.
Violence against transgender people, crossdressers, and other gender non-conforming people is still very common. Some statistics show that at least one transgender person is murdered every month, and many of these cases go unsolved.
Transgender Day of Remembrance is organized by many GSAs and other organizations to bring awareness to this violence and to honor those who have died.
For more information on what you and your GSA can do to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance, visit this website: http://www.transgenderdor.org/
We also think it’s important on Transgender Day of Remembrance to uplift the work that is being done today by transgender people and their allies to eliminate gender-based violence and create more transgender-inclusive schools and communities.
The Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has put together a great list of resources for Transgender Awareness Week, including a history of transgender visibility. Check it out here:
http://www.glaad.org/transawarenessweek
Every October, LGBTHistoryMonth.com lists 31 new LGBT icons, and if you go to their website you can click on the keyword “transgender” on the Icon Search page, and pull up all the trans* folks who have been recognized. Check it out here:
http://www.lgbthistorymonth.com/category/icon-tags/transgender
Finally, some of our fellow GSA Networks have some really great resources on how to make your GSA more inclusive of transgender and gender non-conforming students. Check out this example here:
http://gsanetwork.org/resources/creating-inclusive-gsas/transgender-issues
Did your GSA organize an event to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance? We would love to hear about it! Email Tim at tim@gsafewi.org and tell him what you did.