Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) 2020
November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance.
We remember those of us who have been lost or taken from us through hate and bigotry, just because they were transgender.
In the last 12 months, 350 trans and gender diverse people were reported killed worldwide.
The vast majority were transgender women and trans feminine people.
In Europe, half of those killed were migrants.
In the USA, 80% of those killed were people of colour.
In the UK we have no actual figures, because murders of transgender people are not recorded alongside the fact they are transgender.
Since 2008, 3664 trans trans and gender diverse people were reported killed worldwide.
Many more trans people are lost to suicide, forced by hatred, bigotry, social stigma and rejection to take their own lives.
Transgender Day of Remembrance was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith.
A vigil to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998, it commemorates all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death.
“Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. 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.”