2012
The annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) memorializes individuals who have died throughout the world in the previous year because of anti-transgender hatred. Each November, the worldwide transgender community turns its attention to family, friends and loved ones lost to violence and prejudice. A tradition inspired by the Allston, MA vigil for slain transsexual Rita Hester in 1998, this day has become the worldwide rallying point for a community long under siege.
US Dept. of Justice Statement – US Sec’y of Labor Statement
Thursday Nov 15, 2012
Lowell Trans Day of Remembrance Observance
6:30pm – 9:00pm
Vigil will start at the Kerouac Commemorative in Lowell and proceed down East Merrimack Street ending at the Christ Church United where there will be speakers, reception, and open discussion.
Friday Nov 16, 2012
Chelmsford Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil
7:00 pm in the chapel of First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church
2 Westford Street, Chelmsford, MA (the white church on the Common).
The chapel is located in the end of the building next to the church’s parking lot. Contact dee.halz@ix.netcom.com.
Saturday Nov 17, 2012
Springfield Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at 3300 Main Street, Springfield
Sunday Nov 18, 2012
Boston’s Transgender Day of Remembrance
4pm at St Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 138 Tremont Street, Boston near Park St and Downtown Crossing subway lines.
Community Speak-Out, Candlelight Vigil, Hosted Reception
Folks will gather in St Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral downtown for a program of speakers, community speak out, and a candlelight vigil on the Common. This free program begins at 4 pm and concludes with a reception featuring hot drinks and good food.
Boston’s Transgender communities extend a warm welcome to all who would like to attend this important event to memorialize our dead and underscore the serious suffering in our communities. No one should be subjected to violence simply because of their gender identity or expression. No one should be denied the basic rights that enable their safety and security. No one should consider taking their own life to escape harassment and bullying. Please join with us on this day to remember our departed friends, loved ones, and community members.
This year the event will benefit both the Transgender Emergency Fund and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program’s Transgender Clinic Fund. Sponsors needed, more info at http://groups.yahoo.com/
Worcester Trans Day of Remembrance
7 pm at All Saints Episcopal Church, 10 Irving Street, Worcester MA. Call (508) 752-3766 for info.
Please join local trans community members and allies at this memorial event.
Monday Nov 19, 2012
Virtual Transgender Day of Remembrance with Standing on the Side of Love
8pm EST via website
Standing on the Side of Love & the Church of the Larger Fellowship are hosting a special interfaith vigil commemorating the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Monday, November 19 at 8:00pm ET that can be attended by anyone with a computer and internet access. Together, we will mourn those are no longer with us, while also offering hope, beauty, and a celebration of the living. Here is the link to the Facebook event page: www.facebook.com/events/
Speakers will include Rev. Sean Parker Dennison, minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in McHenry, IL; Rev. Meg Riley, minister of the Church of the Larger Fellowship; Rev. David Weekley, the only openly transgender clergy serving the United Methodist Church; and Alex McNeill, candidate for Presbyterian ministry and the first openly transgender ministry candidate in his conservative Presbyterian region in western North Carolina. Music will be contributed from Pauline Park, activist and musician and chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy and president of the board and executive director of Queens Pride House; Namoli Bennet; and more. Additionally, we’re looking for submissions to celebrate lives during the “hope” part of the service. We want to honor the living as well as the dead. We need folks to help submit photos of transgender people whose lives you want to celebrate! Photos should be sent to transcourage@gmail.com.
Springfield Transgender Day of Remembrance
7:00 PM in Sleith 100, Western New England University campus.
Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012
Bedford Veterans Hospital Transgender Day of Remembrance
12:15p in the chapel (Bldg 81)
In recognition of those transgender individuals who have died, the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, 200 Springs Road, Bedford, MA will hold a ceremony in the chapel (Bldg 81) at 12:15pm on Tuesday, November 20th. All are welcome. Please contact Laura Johnson at 781-687-2694 for more information.
Hampshire County Transgender Day of Remembrance
5:30 p.m. at Unitarian Society Meeting House, 220 Main Street, Northampton
A candlelight march will proceed to First Churches (129 Main St.) for a speak-out and reception. Sponsored by the UMass Stonewall Center, the LGBT Coalition of Western Mass, the Big Ol’ Gay Committee of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, and the Hampshire County Transgender Day of Remembrance Planning Committee.
Event History:
In late 1998, Boston’s LGBT community recoiled in horror at the discovery of the latest victim of transphobic violence. Rita Hester, a popular figure in the local rock ‘n roll scene, who also happened to be a transsexual, had been found brutally stabbed to death in her Brighton apartment. Like so many killings of gay and transgender persons, the victim was subjected to enough brutality to kill her many times over.
A local community of queer activists, rockers, family, friends and allies — over 250 — held a speak-out and candlelight vigil in Rita’s honor, forming a human stream of light winding its way through Rita’s old Allston stomping grounds.
One year later, a memorial vigil was held in San Francisco; the following year Boston and a few other cities joined in, and this year hundreds of observances will be held in dozens of countries.
Boston’s transgender community remembers local victims Chanelle Pickett, Debra Forte, Monique Thomas, Georgette Hart, Denise Pugliesi, Monique Rogers, Lisa Daniels, Rita Hester, and too many more, mostly uncounted and unnoticed by all but their friends and family.
Victims
Massachusetts Trans Victims
International Transgender Day of Remembrance
Trans Murder Monitoring Project