Transgender Day of Remembrance

Almost 10 percent of transgender people will be murdered, compared to 0.0055 percent of the general population.
In addition, 60 percent of all transgender people become victims of hate crimes.
The US statistics, provided by Gender Evolve, form the basis of an online petition to the United Nations calling for equal human rights for transgender people.
While Australian statistics are limited, a La Trobe University study of almost 6,000 GLBTI people in 2006 found 46.9 percent of trans-females and 29.4 percent of trans-men had been threatened with violence.
Transgender people and their friends will gather this November for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, to remember those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred.
The event was initiated to commemorate the life of Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 triggered a candlelight vigil in San Francisco, and the Remembering Our Dead website, which lists the names of those killed by transgender prejudice.
Eleanor Ashley Lister, who is on the organising committee of the Sydney Transgender Day of Remembrance, said the event has since grown, and is now held in cities around the world.
“It’s an important day because it emphasises the dangers and differences of being transgender, and it pulls us together as a community by honouring our dead,” Lister said.
“At the same time it is a kind of moral justification for our activism. Even if you thought we were insane, we still have the right not to be murdered.”
The Sydney event will include talks by transgender individuals, a film screening, and a discussion panel, featuring Greens Senator Kerry Nettle and Labor MP Penny Sharpe. Community representatives will also be there.
Senator Nettle said the day was important for raising awareness about the level of violence that people in the transgender community experience.
“While there is discussion about homophobic discrimination and violence, the discrimination that transgender individuals experience is heightened,” she said.
“It is really important to have a discussion about what the experiences in life are like for transgender people.”
The Sydney Transgender Day of Remembrance will be held at 1pm on Sunday 18 November at Bar Me, 154 Brougham St, Kings Cross. Details: www.webspinning.org/tdor2007.