By a recent count, at least twenty-five transgender or gender variant lives have been lost in the United States since this time last year. Those are just the murders that have been made known, and in the context of the anti-trans focus of the current administration, we know that underreporting is a fact. Many victims of transphobic violence never have their deaths publicly acknowledged. With the recent bombardment of anti-trans legislation aimed to suppress the trans and gender variant community in this country, the acknowledgement of these tragic deaths is all the more critical. Now, more than ever, it is important to speak their names and honor their memories. To this end, local churches and nonprofit organizations are joining together to host a Transgender Day of Remembrance gathering in Brunswick on Thursday, November 20.  

What is Transgender Day of Remembrance? 

Transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith began Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) in 1999. TDOR began as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in Alliston, Massachusetts in 1998. The vigil also commemorated all the transgender and gender variant lives lost to anti-Trans violence in the time following Rita Hester's murder. Thus began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance observed throughout the world on November 20th.  

TDOR founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith says, "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." 

How can I get involved in the Transgender Day of Remembrance? 

Join organizers from the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick; First Universalist Church of Yarmouth; Beth Israel Congregation of Bath; First Parish Church in Brunswick; the Sexuality, Women, and Gender Center from Bowdoin College and the Brunswick Pride Committee in a service to honor the transgender and gender variant lives lost this year to transphobic violence.  

This Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil will be held at 7:00 pm on Thursday, November 20 at the UU Church of Brunswick located at 1 Middle St. in Brunswick.  

While this vigil is being held at a church, it is led and supported by both religious leaders and community members. This TDOR vigil is open to all who support the transgender and gender variant community.