What would the world be like if the dead could talk to us? What if they could give us advice or guide us? I sometimes wish they could. While the dead can’t talk to us, we can still look to them for inspiration. That’s really why we honor our dead. That’s why we revisit our history, read biographies and hold hold services for those people we admire who are long past. That’s also why things like Transgender Day of Remembrance exists.
The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999.
Also:
The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgendered people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgendered people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.
Prejudices of our society is still a problem to be reckoned with. Every minority group needs a voice and every voice that cries out for help to save them from hatred deserves to be heard. I’d like to see the popularity of the Transgender Day of Remembrance increase. If I may repeat myself from before, on my blog:
It is a call to the World to raise awareness about the plight of transgender people. In mourning their loss, there is a hope that one can plant the seeds of social growth that may lead to change. There is opportunity, in this day, to teach people that transgender people, or anyone in the GBLT community, deserves to have a life free of hatred; to be treated as equal and just as worthy as anyone to have a normal life. This day is meant for the World to work toward a goal of a future where losing people to hate-driven violence is a sad echo of the past and not a modern danger.
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