Transgender Day of Remembrance observed worldwide

22 November, 2012

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDR) was held in the capital city Dublin in Ireland, as a celebration of trans lives. According to local Trans Education and Advocacy (TEA) group, the observance is a poignant reminder of the hatred, violence and discrimination experienced by trans-people across the world.

CURRENTLY, TDR is observed in around 200 cities of the world each year. Founded in 1998 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, the Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed on November 20 every year.

According to the founder of the observance, the day is meant to memorialize those who have been killed as a result of transphobia, or the hatred or fear of transgender and gender non-conforming people, and acts to bring attention to the continued violence endured by the transgender community.

When observed for the first time in 1998, as a web-based project started by Smith, it memorialized the murder of a transgender named Rita Hester in Allston, Massachusetts, US. Now, the observance is held in a few hundred cities by the transgender communities and their sympathizers and social activists.

Psychologists regard transgender as the mental state of one's gender identity or self-identification, which does not match to their biologically assigned sex or identification by others as male, female or intersex.

The incidents of trans-bashing - the act of victimizing a person physically, sexually, or verbally because they are transgender or transsexual - are on the increase because of their social discrimination, and negative stereotyping.

According to study by Frye, Phyllis in 2000, in every 3 days a trans-person is murdered and inaction by police or other government officials leads to the untimely deaths of transgender victims due to due to apathy towards them.