Transgender activists Day of Remembrance on Tuesday


by Newswire    
9:00 pm - November 18th 2012

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On Tuesday 20 November thousands of members of the Trans community and their supporters will gather together at locations around the globe for the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR).

They will do so to commemorate the hundreds of individuals murdered each year simply for being transgender.

In the UK, events are scheduled to take place in venues across the country, including London, Southampton, Cambridge, Liverpool and Edinburgh.

International statistics compiled by the Trans Respect Monitoring Project identified at least 265 trans people murdered in the last 12 months, an increase of approx 20% on the previous year.

The actual number is likely to be much greater than that reported. In some areas, including many African countries, trans victims are frequently recorded as Lesbian or Gay. Other areas where significant under-reporting is widely believed to occur include Russia, parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

While individual perpetrators claim a variety of reasons for their actions – with religion high on the list – state policy, both official and unofficial, often plays an even greater role.

A small number of countries (in Africa and the Middle East) retain the death penalty for homosexuality: a much larger number regard homosexuality as a criminal act or a disorder to be “cured”. While these laws are rarely targeted against the trans community, little distinction is drawn between trans and gay individuals, with the former often far more obviously identifiable. When states communicate the undesirability of trans individuals, this rapidly translates into violence by vigilante groups, with police and security forces either turning a blind eye or actively colluding.

In early 2012, Sweden rejected an asylum application from a young Russian trans woman, “Lita”, who had previously been attacked and beaten by Russian police and feared death if forced to return to Russia. Lita has since gone into hiding.

In summer 2012, Denmark initially rejected an asylum claim by trans activist, Fernanda Milan, despite the concern expressed by international observers that she was unlikely to survive more than a few days if forced to return to Guatemala.

The TDoR event is held on 20 November each year to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 was inspiration for the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999.

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Story Filed Under: Equality ,News


6 Comments || Add yours below

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Reader comments


1. Barney Thomson

This a great initiative but WTF has CND got to do with it?

Redraw the hand, please -

http://www.gendertalk.com/info/tgsymbol.shtml#art

2. Natacha

The London International Transgender Day of Remembrance is on Tue at 7.00pm at ULU in Malet Street;

https://www.facebook.com/events/245831835539847/

All welcome to a respectful event.


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. TG World News

    RT @libcon: Transgender activists to hold Day of Remembrance on Tuesday http://t.co/SvWEIEuf http://t.co/7AmFE990

  2. Emet Tauber

    RT @libcon: Transgender activists to hold Day of Remembrance on Tuesday http://t.co/SvWEIEuf http://t.co/7AmFE990

  3. Jason Brickley

    Transgender activists to hold Day of Remembrance on Tuesday http://t.co/wmi5cwsh

  4. leftlinks

    Liberal Conspiracy – Transgender activists to hold Day of Remembrance on Tuesday http://t.co/LfCCCHFK





  • We have a tight comments policy aimed at fostering constructive debate.
  • We believe in free speech but not your right to abuse our space.
  • Abusive, sarcastic or silly comments may be deleted.
  • Misogynist, racist, homophobic and xenophobic comments will be deleted.
  • Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy.