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Transgender Day of Remembrance 2009

Cara

Image of a tombstone, overlaid with the transgender symbol and text reading 'Eleventh International Transgender Day of Remembrance November 20, 2009'Today is the Eleventh Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. Today is a day to remember the transgender people (or people perceived by their killers to be trans) who have died as a result of hatred and violence, and as a result of the hateful and violent cultures that support the perpetrators. Today is a day to remember those whose deaths authorities and media attempt to sweep under the rug, whose identities are devalued and erased once they are gone, whose murders usually go unsolved. Today is a day to read their names, and not forget.

Here is a list of the 162 known trans people who were killed from November 20, 2008 to November 12, 2009. Most were women. Most were black or Latina. A disproportionate number were sex workers. Several were still only teenagers.

Many of the people listed have had their names, ages, and/or locations recorded; for others, we only know the details of their murders. More still are not listed here at all, because their deaths and the reasons behind them are still unknown to anyone outside of their closest friends and family.

Whoever they were, wherever they were from, and whatever we know or do not know about them, they all need to be remembered, and they need to be remembered equally — along with the reasons why they aren’t here anymore.

Further Reading:

What Does Transgender Day of Remembrance Mean to You? by Monica at Transgriot

International Transgender Day of Remembrance 2009 by kaninchenzero at FWD/Forward

International Transgender Day of Remembrance, 20th November 2009 by Helen G at bird of paradox

the drowned and the saved by Queen Emily at Questioning Transphobia

TDOR 2009 by Chally at Zero at the Bone

Events are being held today in many nations and cities all over the world. Find out if there is one near you.

cross-posted at The Curvature

4 thoughts on Transgender Day of Remembrance 2009

  3. What especially bothers me with this year’s TDoR is how so many memorials are being planned concerning the Lopez-Mercado murder in Puerto Rico, and virtually all of them are identifying Lopez-Mercado as a gay man and the victim of homophobia. The reality of the murder as I understand it is she (I’m going to call her that until I definitively hear otherwise) was totally presenting as female when the accused murderer attacked her. This totally puts the crime into a category of transphobic crime. Moreover, the pattern of dismemberment and the barbaric nature of the mutilation is far more in keeping with attacks against transwomen rather than murders of gay men. So, for all the people holding memorials tomorrow for Ms. Lopez-Mercado… kindly don’t refer to her as a gay man (as people initially did for Gwen Araujo, Angie Zapata and Lateisha Green), don’t use male pronouns unless you’re positive that’s how the victim identified and don’t go on about how this was an anti-gay crime, because the accused murderer has already gone on record saying he thought the victim was female when he approached her. Don’t you dare, again, erase a victim’s trans identity to use her as a rallying cry for the gay community (as was done with Lawrence King, who extensively cross-dressed before being murdered). Let’s see, a lot of GLB orgs don’t like the TDoR because it’s such a ‘downer’ but they do want to protest the murder of yet another transwoman of color but only if she’s identified as a gay male? Interesting.

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