Coventry Commemorates Transgender Day of Remembrance
A solemn end to Transgender Awareness Week
Credit: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual event held on the 20th November to honour transgender people who have died in acts of transphobic violence.
Vigils are being held around the country with events in Coventry taking place at The Yard, and Warwick University is hosting an event for students.
The event is being organised by Coventry Transgender Social club. Ms Chery Julie, co-founder of the group said: “Transgender day of remembrance is really important for the community, it’s about remembering our ancestors and those who have lost their lives. It’s a sad day for most of us.”
The first TDOR vigil was held in 1999 to commemorate Rita Hester, a 34-year-old trans woman who was murdered in Boston the previous year. The case was mishandled by the press and led her family and friends to seek a day that would respectfully remember her and others who had died in similar tragic circumstances.
Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses faced due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. In a statement to LGBTQ charity GLAAD, Gwendolyn Ann Smith, founder of TDOR said: “I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost.
With so many seeking to erase transgender people — sometimes in the most brutal ways possible — it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.”
Globally, 321 transgender and gender diverse people were murdered in the last year, most of these victims were trans women or trans feminine. In the UK hate crimes against trans people have risen by 11% since March 2022 and 186% in the past five years.
In an annual report that measures levels of hate in the UK, the Home Office wrote: ‘Transgender issues have been heavily discussed by politicians, the media and on social media over the last year, which may have led to an increase in these offences”.
Alex, a committee member for the LBTQIA+ society at Coventry University said: “TDOR is a time for the community to come together and remember the community. Those who are still with us now and people who have come before us who have lost their lives before they should have because they were a transgender person.”