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Written by Lisa Neff, WiG Staff Writer
Dec 2, 2009
In their memory... “We light these candles for those we never knew, for those that come after and for those who still struggle,” Milwaukee MCC Pastor Wendy Woodruff told 30 congregants gathered for a memorial service Nov. 21. Congregants read aloud the names of more than 200 transgenders killed worldwide. The event was held in observance of Transgender Remembrance Day. – Photo: Louis Weisberg
MILWAUKEE — Vigils took place Nov. 20 in Madison and Minsk.
Remembrance programs took place in Eau Claire and Edmonton.
The 11th annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance took place Nov. 20.
The first remembrance day honored Rita Hester — she was killed Nov. 28, 1998, and her slaying remains unsolved. A year after Hester’s death, activists organized a vigil in San Francisco to call attention to violence and discrimination against transgender people.
The National Transgender Discrimination Survey, a forthcoming study from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality, has found more than one quarter of transgender people lost a job for being transgender. It also found high rates of housing instability and homelessness, and double the rates of poverty compared to the general population.
“We mourn our fallen sisters and brothers who have become the victims of hatred and prejudice, and we commit ourselves to doing what it takes to prevent others from joining their ranks,” read a statement from NCTE. “We pause to acknowledge the loss we all suffer because these people are no longer sharing their gifts, their laughter, their struggles, their work and their lives with our world. We decry the many forms of discrimination — racism, sexism, economic injustice, ageism, and so many more — that compound the transphobia and homophobia we face and make some among us even more vulnerable to violence.”
Activists around the world observed the day with candlelight vigils and marches, roundtable discussions and demonstrations, film screenings and art exhibits.
In Eau Claire, plans included the sharing of stories and images at the LGBT Community Center of the Chippewa Valley on South Farwell Street and film screenings.
In La Crosse, the 7 Rivers LGBT Resource Center’s youth group, GALAXY, hosted a film screening and discussion on trans issues.
In Madison, UW-Madison LGBT Campus Center and the Ten Percent Society hosted a performance night — theater, song, monologue — followed by a vigil.
The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center screened “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and a ceremony took place.
Chicagoans marked the day with an interfaith service and a vigil.
In New York City, where in July a jury convicted Dwight DeLee in the state’s first hate crime conviction for the killing of transgender Lateisha Green, a vigil took place.
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