Amid a historic high murder rate of transgender people, today’s Transgender Day of Remembrance takes on even greater importance.
This year, at least 21 transgender people have been murdered. That’s more than any other year ever, on record. This year, between January and June more transgender people were murdered than in all of 2014. The vast, vast majority of victims of these murders have been trans women of color.
Keep in mind, too, that many murders of transgender people are not recorded as murders of transgender people. In some areas, police refuse to ID the victims as transgender. In some, the police – or even their families – may not even know the victims are transgender.Â
Let’s take a moment to think about all the transgender people who have been murdered this year, and all those before them.
And let’s take a look at some of the ways people today are honoring those killed.
On Twitter, members of the Anti-Violence Project are posting photos of themselves holding plaques with the names of those we’ve lost, promising to remember them, like these:
Janet Mock posted this photo to Instagram, saying, “We speak their names often only when they can no longer speak back. Today as many recognize #TransDayofRemembrance, let’s interrogate why it takes severe instances of trauma (death, murder, killing, sexual assault and/or arrest) of trans women of color to actually recognize and #sayhername. #girlslikeus #tdor“
Also on Instagram, Laverne Cox posted this image, saying, “Today is Transgender day of Remembrance #TDOR. Today we remember the trans folks we have lost to anti trans violence. Their lives mattered. #TransLivesMatter. We must end the structural violence which takes far too many trans lives, 22 trans women this year in the U.S. alone the deadliest year for trans people on record, probably because of better reporting on who these folks really were. We must say their names. We must continue the work to end the intersectional structural violence which took their lives. #NotOneMore #TransIsBeautiful“
Some others:
#RIP.
Â
Image by Seta ry via Flickr and a CC license