Remembering victims of violence

[Ian David]

Remembering victims of violence
by Ethan Jacobs
Bay Windows
Thursday Nov 15, 2007

Members of Boston’s transgender community and their allies will celebrate the ninth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize members of the transgender community who have been murdered and whose murders were motivated by anti-trans hatred, on Nov. 18. Boston will mark the Day of Remembrance with a service and candlelight vigil, preceded by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) annual town hall meeting. Other cities throughout the state will hold their own Day of Remembrance events next week.

The Day of Remembrance was founded in San Francisco, but has its roots in Boston. In 1998 an unknown assailant stabbed Allston transwoman Rita Hester to death in her apartment, and the following year activists in San Francisco held the first Day of Remembrance on the anniversary of her death to memorialize victims of anti-trans murders. Since at least 2000 Boston has joined trans communities around the country to mark the Day of Remembrance. Nancy Nangeroni, who has helped organize the Boston event nearly every year since its founding, said she does not know whether there was a vigil held in 1999.

This year’s Boston event will take place at Arlington Street Church, where speakers will talk about the impact of violence on the transgender community. Nangeroni said that while much of the event will focus on murder victims, there will be a broader focus on anti-trans violence as well. She said in addition to the planned speakers there will also be portion of the program that will give members of the community the opportunity to share their stories.

Following the speak-out, attendees will go to Copley Square for a candlelight vigil where participants will read off the names of transgender murder victims from around the globe who were killed over the past year, as well as the names of the seven known transgender hate crime murder victims from Massachusetts who were killed in prior years. According to MTPC the last murder in Massachusetts involved a woman identified as Lisa D., who was shot to death in Dorchester in 2005.

<snip>

The MTPC town hall will take place at Arlington Street Church on Nov. 18 from 3-5 p.m. The Day of Remembrance will also take place at the church and begins at 7 p.m. For more information contact [email protected] or call 617.983.0219.

More:
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=52520