Transgender People Remembered on International Day

Approximately 30 people, around noon, converged near the Liberty Pole in Downtown Rochester on November 20th to commemorate the 10th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance exists, states the website RememberingOurDead.org, "…to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the "Remembering Our Dead" web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester's murder—like most anti-transgender murder cases—has yet to be solved."

Those gathered read aloud the names of 30 murdered individuals—some transgendered, some perceived to be transgendered: Kellie Telesford (Thornton Heath, UK), Brian McGlothin (Cincinnati, OH), Gabriela Alejandra Albornoz (Santiago, Chile), Patrick Murphy (Albuquerque, NM), Stacy Brown (Baltimore, MD), Adolphus Simmons (Charleston, SC), Fedra (Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia), Ashley Sweeney (Detroit, Michigan), Sanesha (Talib) Stewart (Bronx, NY), Lawrence King (Oxnard, CA), Simmie Williams Jr. (Fort Lauderdale, FL), Luna (no last name reported) (Lisbon, Portugal), Lloyd Nixon (West Palm Beach, FL), Felicia Melton-Smyth (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico), Silvana Berisha (Hamburg, Germany), Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker (Memphis, TN), Rosa Pazos (Sevilla, Spain), Juan Carlos Aucalle Coronel (Lombardi, Italy), Angie Zapata (Greeley, CO), Jaylynn L. Namauu (Makiki Honolulu, HI), Samantha Rangel Brandau (Milan, Italy), Nakhia (Nikki) Williams (Louisville, KY), Ruby Molina (Sacramento, CA), Aimee Wilcoxson (Aurora, CO), Duanna Johnson (Memphis, TN), Dilek Ince (Ankara, Turkey), Teish (Moses) Cannon (Syracuse, NY), Ali (Iraq), unidentified transgender woman (Iraq), unidentified transgendered woman (Iraq).

The vigil was not the only event scheduled for the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley hosted an evening of spoken word poetry and artwork from local transgendered individuals. Anya Turnquist, one of the organizers for the vigil, has also organized a panel and discussion around the building of a transgender movement as well as preventative strategies to transphobic violence. The panel and discussion will take place at Equal = Grounds (750 South Ave.) coffee shop at 3pm on Saturday, November 22nd.