transgender day of remembrance 2021 names

How do we change something that we become more numb to each passing year out of necessity?įirst, we can look at the reason behind the recent dramatic increase in the number of victims. When faced with such a daunting task, I could do little but turn away when all I wanted was to open my eyes. Moreover, I could no longer subject myself to the trauma of reading, verifying, summarizing, and reciting the records of hate, cruelty, and destruction that were heaped upon these people before – and often after – their deaths. The sheer number of victims couldn’t be packed into a single evening, not while also showing their photographs and the details surrounding their deaths. In only two short years, it was no longer possible – let alone practical – to honor the dead as I had originally established. But then I began organizing TDOR observances in Honolulu and saw the number of victims triple from 2015 to 2016, before increasing again from 2016 to 2017. The number got a little bit smaller every year and I would tell myself things were getting better, and – to me – they were.

A simple list of only those who had died within the past year. In the beginning, there were about 100 victims to remember at my local TDOR memorial. Those whose violent deaths resulted from nothing more than intolerance of their identity? Names of friends, of loved ones, of those we’ve never met but whose stories mirror our own. But how do we get to a world where we no longer spend an evening in silence or crying softly while listening to an ever-growing list of names. With each event, the same sentiment appears: we look forward to a time when we no longer need to have these events. With each passing year, the day becomes both more critical than ever and difficult to endure. Since TDOR’s inception in 1999 to memorialize the murder of Rita Hester the day has undergone a huge evolution and gained international recognition. The mere fact that the day honors the memory of those lost to violence instead of rejoicing in their inclusion in society is a strong statement against the treatment of the gender diverse today. The first widely recognized event acknowledging trans and gender diverse individuals – the 22nd annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) – happens this Saturday. ‍ TDOR is here again, but it is far from a day of celebration.

Transgender day of remembrance 2021 names