Transgender Day of Remembrance


A Transgender Pride flag on the British Foreign Office, 2018

Observed by: Transgender community and supporters
Celebrations: Typically, a TDoR memorial includes a reading of the names of those who died from November 20 of the former year to November 20 of the current year, and may include other actions, such as candlelight vigils, dedicated church services, marches, art shows, food drives and film screenings
Date: November 20
Frequency: Annual
First time: 1999; 25 years ago
Related to: Transgender Awareness Week, International Transgender Day of Visibility

The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, has been observed annually from its inception on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia. The day was founded to draw attention to the continued violence directed toward transgender people.

Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 by a small group, including Gwendolyn Ann Smith, Nancy Nangeroni, and Jahaira DeAlto, to memorialize the murders of Black transgender women Rita Hester in Allston, Massachusetts, and Chanelle Pickett in Watertown, Massachusetts. After Hester's death in 1998, Smith was surprised to realize that none of her friends remembered Pickett or her murder three years prior, saying "It really surprised me that it had already, in a short period of time, been forgotten, and here we were with another murder at the same site.” The first TDoR took place in November 1999 in Boston and San Francisco, as both Hester and Pickett's deaths occurred in November. TDoR continued to be observed annually on November 20, the anniversary of Pickett's murder. In 2010, TDoR was observed in over 185 cities throughout more than 20 countries.

Typically, a TDoR memorial includes a reading of the names of those who died from October 1 of the former year to September 30th of the current year, and may include other actions, such as candlelight vigils, dedicated church services, marches, art shows, food drives, and film screenings. GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has extensively covered TDoR, interviewed numerous transgender advocates (including actress Candis Cayne), profiled an event at the New York City LGBT Community Center, and discussed media coverage of TDoR.

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