Friday, November 18, 2011

Transgender Day of Remembrance

November 20th, the Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to remember Rita Hester, who was murder on November 28th, 1998.

Friday, I was watching the Today show and they had a parent on the show whose daughter committed suicide because of being bullied in elementary school. She was called fagot and gay, we do not know if that was true or not. But that is not important, what is important is that she was bullied to the point that she felt her only option was to committed suicide. There so many people who have committed or tried to commit suicide that we never really know the cause of their actions. Before I came out of the closet I never knew anyone who tried or succeeded in suicide, now I know more than I can count. Let us all work together to end bullying and harassment and bring about a social change where all people are accepted and valued.

This year’s roll call of those who were murdered by senseless violence…


Idania Roberta Sevilla Raudales
Location: Comayaguela City, Honduras
Cause of Death: slit throat
Date of Death: November 29, 2010
Idania was 58 years old.

Luisa Alvarado Hernández
Location: Comayagüela City, Honduras
Cause of Death: Stoned, beaten and burned
Date of Death: December 22, 2010
Luisa was 23 years old.

Lady Óscar Martínez Salgado
Location: Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Cause of Death: Burned and stabbed
Date of Death: December 22, 2010
Oscar was 43 years old.

Reana ‘Cheo’ Bustamente
Location: Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Cause of Death: Multiple stab wounds to the chest
Date of Death: January 2, 2011
No age reported

Génesis Briget Makaligton
Location: Comayagüela City, Honduras
Cause of Death: Strangulation
Date of Death: January 7, 2011
Génesis was approximately 23-27 years old.

Krissy Bates
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cause of Death: Stabbed
Date of Death: January 10, 2011
Krissy was 45 years old.

Fergie Alice Ferg
Location: San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Cause of Death: Shot multiple times in the head and chest
Date of Death: January 18, 2011
No age reported.

Tyra Trent
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Cause of Death: Strangled
Date of Death: February 19, 2011
Tyra was 25 years old.

Priscila Brandão
Location: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Cause of Death: shot in the head
Date of Death: March 2, 2011
Priscila was 22 years old.

Marcal Camero Tye
Location: Forrest City, Arkansas
Cause of Death: Shot and dragged
Date of Death: March 8, 2011
Marcal was 25 years old.

Shakira Harahap
Location: Taman Lawang, Jakarta, Indonesia
Cause of Death: shot
Date of Death: March 10, 2011
Shakira was 28 years old.

Miss Nate Nate (or Née) Eugene Davis
Location: Houston, Texas
Cause of Death: shot
Date of Death: June 13, 2011
Née was 44 years old.

Lashai Mclean
Location: Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: Shot
Date of Death: July 20, 2011
Lashai was 23 years old.

Didem
Location: Findikzade, Istanbul
Cause of Death: Slit throat
Date of Death: July 31, 2011
Didem was 26 years old.

Camila Guzman
Location: New York, New York
Cause of Death: Stabbed several times in the back and neck.
Date of Death: August 1, 2011
Camila was 38 years old.

Gaby
Location: Jalisco, Mexico
Cause of Death: Beaten and burned.
Date of Death: August 6, 2011
No age has been reported.

unidentified male dressed in women’s clothes
Location: Paris, France
Cause of Death: Stabbed
Date of Death: August 24, 2011
She is estimated to be about 30 years old.

Gaurav Gopalan
Location: Washington, D.C.
Cause of Death: subarachnoid hemorrhage due to blunt-impact head trauma
Date of Death: September 10, 2011
Gaurav was 35 years old.

Ramazan Çetin
Location: Gaziantep, Turkey
Cause of Death: Shot to death by her brother.
Date of Death: October 6, 2011
She was 24 years old.
Note: The transwoman had an accident and was seeking treatment at the local hospital.
Her brother found out about the accident and went to the hospital and shot her to death in front of witnesses. Upon leaving the hospital he calmly said to the police, “I killed my brother as he was a transvestite. I cleaned my honour!”

Shelley Hilliard
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Cause of Death: murdered, her body was decapitated and dismembered then burned.
Date of Death: October 23, 2011
Shelley was 19 years old.
Note: Her mother had to identify her torso at the medical examiner’s office on November 10, 2011..

Jessica Rollon
Location: Bergamo, Italy
Cause of Death: Strangled
Date of Death: October 30, 2011
Jessica was 32 years old.
Note: Her body had been dumped on the side of the road and was not discovered for 3 days.
As with most cases,the local news continues to disrespect her by using male pronouns and a male name.

Astrid Carolina López Cruz
Location: Madrid, Spain
Cause of Death: Beaten and stabbed
Date of Death: November 4, 2011
Astrid was 30 years old.

Cassidy Nathan Vickers
Location: Hollywood, California
Cause of Death: Gunshot wound to the chest
Date of Death: November 17, 2011
Cassidy was 32 years old.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Hartford’s Transgender Day of Remembrance
Sunday, November 20, 2011
5:15 PM Gathering at Charter Oak Cultural Center, 21 Charter Oak Ave, Hartford
Vigil walk from Charter Oak to the Hartford Public Library
5:45 PM Vigil at the (front steps) Hartford Public Library - to listen to speakers discussing the importance of this day, the interrelationship between the DOR, discrimination, suicide and our recent legislative victory, followed by a reading of the names of those murdered over the last year because of their gender identity and/or expression.
7:00 PM Transgender Day of Remembrance Service at MCC Hartford, 155 Wyllys Street, Hartford - Welcoming by Rev. Aaron Miller, MCC/Hartford Interim Pastor, Speakers and Remembrance of names. Remembrance will be followed by Reception and Food.

You do not have to be trans to attend, all are welcome.
For a list TDOR Events around the world, click here.

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