From the January-February 2016 issue of News and Letters

New York City—On Nov. 18, the Audre Lorde Project organized the first event in New York honoring Transgender women murdered in the last year. Affirmations of solidarity with Trans and Gender Non-conforming people around the world included immigrants and people in prison. Everyone recited a collective affirmation. A slideshow with the faces of Trans women and men from around the world emphasized that the oppression and murder of Trans people is a global phenomenon.

TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

On Nov. 20, over 50 people attended a ceremony at Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE). A moment of silence honored the dead before a history of the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). The names and personal details of murdered women were read aloud. People sang “Amazing Grace” and shared memories of Trans people who died in the past. All were touched by the somberness of the event.

The same day, over 380 people at the 13th Street LGBT Center heard the names of murdered women from around the country read aloud. Speeches advocated a more vigorous campaign against violence directed at the Transgender community. There was a solemn prayer for those who had died in the last year.

That night, about 75 people gathered with candles on the steps of City Hall to commemorate TDOR in an event sponsored by the LGBT Caucus of the City Council. Islan Nettles, the mother of a Trans woman murdered more than two years ago in Harlem, was given a proclamation in her daughter’s memory by City Council members Carlos Menchaca and Corey Johnson, two out Gay men who identify as Trans allies.

—Natalia Spiegel