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Thursday’s Tenth Annual Tribute To Our DeadBy Jacob Anderson-Minshall
This weekend, as people filled streets across America to protest the
passage of numerous anti-gay marriage measures, one could easily
conclude that the ban on same-sex marriages is currently the single
greatest affront to LGBT civil liberties.
And yet, many individuals are still being violently attacked and
sometimes killed simply for being queer or transgender. Last month, in
little over one week, three Washington State University students were
assaulted on campus; two were FTM-spectrum trans individuals affiliated
with the school’s LGBT association, while the other was an openly gay
student so brutally assaulted by three assailants that he was taken to
the hospital with a collapsed lung.
This weekend, as people filled streets across America to protest the
passage of numerous anti-gay marriage measures, one could easily
conclude that the ban on same-sex marriages is currently the single
greatest affront to LGBT civil liberties.
And yet, many individuals are still being violently attacked and
sometimes killed simply for being queer or transgender. Last month, in
little over one week, three Washington State University students were
assaulted on campus; two were FTM-spectrum trans individuals affiliated
with the school’s LGBT association, while the other was an openly gay
student so brutally assaulted by three assailants that he was taken to
the hospital with a collapsed lung.
These attacks are not isolated incidents. According to the FBI, which
released its annual Hate Crime statistics a few weeks ago, while racial
and religious-based attacks were down between 2006 and 2007, crimes
against gays and lesbians increased by six percent. And that might only
be the tip of the iceberg.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP)—which collects
its own statistics—argues that the FBI consistently underestimates the
number of attacks on queer and trans individuals.
First, the FBI relies solely on law enforcement data on reported hate
crimes, rather than including reports to victim service organizations.
Second, the FBI doesn’t include statistics about violence against trans
or gender variant individuals.
In contrast with the six percent increase the FBI describes, NCAVP
reported an alarming 24 percent increase in the number of victims
reporting incidents of anti-LGBT violence last year. With some
indication that violence against the LGBT community erupts during
anti-gay campaigns, those numbers may be set to rise even higher in
2008, a year that saw multiple anti-marriage ballot measures; and in
which $75 million dollars was spent on California’s anti-gay
Proposition 8 alone.
Hate crimes, argues Richard Juang—who contributed to the National
Center for Transgender Equality’s Responding to Hate Crimes—are more
than just phobic responses to an individual. Juang, who identifies as a
genderqueer, Taiwanese-American, femme born male with no plans to
transition, contends that these violent acts are meant to relay a
message to the entire community that “our existence is deviant and of
no value.”
In Los Angeles, protests against Prop 8 this past week featured
celebrities like Drew Barrymore and New Adventures of Old Christine’s
Wanda Sykes, undoubtedly overshadowing that city’s tenth annual
Transgender Day of Remembrance tribute.
The annual day for remembering those who’ve been killed by anti-trans
violence is Thursday, November 20. Vigils will be held around the world
honoring this year’s dead, including 15-year-old Lawrence King from
Oxnard, California who was allegedly shot to death by a classmate in
part because he liked to wear girl’s clothing.
In addition to King, at least fifteen other Americans were killed in
the past year (and 400 since 1970) for their non-conforming gender
expression or identity. As violence against the trans population goes
woefully under-investigated, many of their murders will never be
solved.
The Day of Remembrance was started by Bay Area Reporter columnist Gwen
Smith to remember the murder of Rita Hester, a highly visible
transgender activist in Boston, who was stabbed to death Saturday,
November 28, 1998. A decade later her murder remains unsolved.
After Smith, who founded the organization Remember Our Dead to
memorialize all who were murdered as a result of anti-trans violence,
went on hiatus; TransFM’s Ethan St. Pierre co-founded The International
Transgender Day of Remembrance and developed a new website
(transgenerdor.org) to take over where Smith let off.
“I can’t tell you enough about the work that [Gwen]’s done on our
behalf;” contends St. Pierre, who says it’s a difficult job. “I work on
that website for half a day and I’m bawling my eyes out. These young
people with all the promise in the world and their lives were just
snuffed out for no other reason than they’re trans or different. We’re
being murdered at an enormous rate.”
While some communities, like Chicago, Ill. and Oakland, Calif. hosted
Trans Remembrance events this past weekend, Columbus, Ohio honored the
dead Wednesday and still others will do so this Thursday and Friday.
These include:
In San Francisco the observance is scheduled to start Thursday at 6 pm
at 815 Hyde Street in the offices of Trans: Thrive
(transthrive.org)—the city’s Transgender Resource and Neighborhood
Space and Transgender Health & Resource Initiative for Vital
Empowerment. The San Francisco event will feature community speakers, a
reading of names of known 2008 victims and concludes with a march to
City Hall. Special tribute will be paid to King and Sacramento area
trans woman, Ruby Molina, whose body was found floating in the American
River this September.
Friday, November 21 at 7:30 PM San Francisco’s Congregation Sha’ar
Zahav (shaarzahav.org) will hold a Transgender Day of Remembrance
Shabbat with special liturgy, music, sermon and reading of names.
In Denver the Gender Identity Center of Colorado (303-202-6460) will be
holding a service Thursday at the Washington Park United Church of
Christ from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.
In Portland, Oregon a candlelight vigil will be held Thursday
6:30pm-7:30 pm in the Park Blocks and will feature speeches by Lambda
Literary award nominated trans author Reid Vanderburg, Spirit of Pride
award winner Laura Calvo and Executive Director of TransActive, Jenn
Burleton.
A show by award winning trans performing artist Scott Turner Schofield
(Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps) follows the vigil from 8-9:00 pm in
the Portland State University Smith Memorial Center Ballroom.
New York City’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community
Center (gaycenter.org) will be hosting an event 7:00-8:30 pm Thursday,
featuring a candlelight vigil, speeches from community leaders and
trans advocates; and a display of quilts, collages and other meaningful
items honoring the dead.
In tribute of the tenth anniversary of Rita Hester’s death, Boston will
hold a candlelight vigil Thursday night, retracing the original route
past Hester’s home. There will also be a reception at Saint Luke’s and
Saint Margaret’s Church (masstpc.org/dor) at 7 pm, where community
members are invited to share their feelings at an open mic.