Written by: Ilja Lin Gladkova

Today, November 20th, is International Transgender Day of Remembrance. A time to honor all transgender and non-binary people whose lives have been taken by anti-trans violence fueled by transphobia and hate speech.

Hate speech, which is particularly influential in inciting violence against transgender and non-binary people, has been significantly amplified in recent years by hate campaigns carried out by anti-gender organizations.

From October 2022 to September 2023, at least 320 transgender and non-binary people were brutally murdered. The real number is higher, and unfortunately, it is impossible to estimate or determine exactly.

According to the Project for Monitoring Murders of Trans People – TMM:

This figure of 320 violently taken lives does not include all the murders of transgender and non-binary people in the world. The data refer only to reported murders that can be found online, and those that were documented directly for the TMM project.

A certain number of killed victims are unreported and undocumented. A significant problem and obstacle to determining the true number is the fact that the gender of many trans and non-binary people who have been killed has been misidentified by the police and the media.

Another problem that makes it difficult to determine the real number of victims are language barriers, such as the different terms used to denote different genders.

TRANS WOMEN ARE THE MAIN TARGET

94% of those killed are trans women. This is an expected outcome – hate speech as well as anti-gender hate propaganda is almost entirely directed at trans women.

Almost half (48%) of the victims whose profession is known were sex workers. Many transgender people are forced to work in this profession, because the majority of employers in all other professions refuse to hire a transgender person due to transphobia.

80% of murdered transgender and non-binary people are those affected by racism, while 45% of victims in Europe whose migration history is known were migrants or refugees.

All these data indicate a worrying trend when it comes to the intersectionality of misogyny, racism, xenophobia and whorefobia (fear or disgust of and hatred of sex workers) as intertwined factors that feed transphobia and anti-trans violence.

The largest number of murdered transgender and non-binary people are young people aged 19 to 25. People who have just, from children, become adults, people whose life was brutally taken away at the very beginning.

Almost half of the victims were shot, the other half were killed in a brutal and gruesome manner, including strangulation, stoning, beating to death, torture.

According to data from the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, at least 4,689 transgender and non-binary people have been brutally killed between 2008 and September 2022.

These are not just numbers, these are real people – friends, relatives, partners, spouses, parents, children. Each of these 4689 people had rich and fulfilling lives. Lives that in no way deserved to be cut short.

THE ERASED HISTORY OF TRANSGENDER PEOPLE

Transgender Day of Remembrance was first observed on November 28, 1999, in the United States by trans activists Gwendolyn Ann Smith and Penny Ash Matz, one year after the gruesome murder of Rita Hester, a black trans woman whose killer has never been found.

Rita was not the only transgender victim that year, but she was respected and loved by her family and by a large number of people, both within the trans community itself and in the wider community. Many people were outraged by the shameful and humiliating coverage of her murder by the gay and lesbian magazine Bay Windows, which repeatedly used Rita’s dead name (her birth name) and referred to her as a “cross-dresser”. clothing).

For trans activists, this was the culmination of years of undermining treatment of trans people in the gay rights movement. Ricky Wilchins, a non-binary trans activist, told The Advocate: “When a gay man is killed, the straight and queer media and the Human Rights Campaign only talk about it – unless it turns out the man was wearing women’s clothing. That story has been hushed up.”

Gwendolyn Ann Smith, speaking to trans friends about Rita’s death, noted that no one remembered the murder of another trans woman, Chanel Pickett. Although the trial for Chanel’s murder took place only three months after Rita’s murder, it received publicity because the defendant got away with only a conviction for assault, but not murder, after mounting a successful defense by inducing “trance panic”. Affected by this lost memory, Gwendolyn Ann Smith says, “Remembering Rita Hester and the other thousands of untold trans people killed is a daily battle with unbearable grief as we the living try to hang on to each of their names.”

Gwendolyn Anne Smith established the tradition of ceremonially reading the names of murdered transgender and non-binary people at the end of each year.

Unfortunately, today when violence against transgender and non-binary people is more widespread than it was in Rita Hester’s time, it is questionable how much this tradition actually helps to remember the trans and non-binary lives taken. The fact that the “official” International Day of Remembrance for Transgender People has been moved from November 28 to November 20 is also quite disturbing, just so as not to interfere with the celebration of Thanksgiving (a US holiday that takes place from November 22 to 28).

This just speaks to the wastefulness of transgender and non-binary people’s lives. The marginalization of the gender diverse does not end with death, and only a handful of stories about the lives of murdered transgender and nonbinary people will reach the media and the general public, thus erasing their history.

WHAT CAN YOU DO

Be a good ally to transgender and non-binary people, support those who are transitioning.

Educate yourself about trans history. Transgender and non-binary people have been around for as long as humanity has existed. There are many historical records of transgender and non-binary people, including rulers.

Don’t forget to learn about modern history, such as the Stonewall protests, started by trans women. Transgender history is rich with examples of resilience, struggle and authentic living.

Learn the difference between gender, gender identity, gender expression and sexuality. It’s not that hard.

Don’t forget to pass on the knowledge to your friends and relatives.

Get informed about the challenges that transgender people face.

Don’t shut up transphobic and hate speech. Ridicule, insults and violence are everyday for transgender people from an early age. This has to stop! Do not allow the normalization of a language that allows this treatment.

Ensure that public women’s spaces (eg public toilets) are open and safe for trans women. Feminism that actively excludes trans women is not feminism, and does nothing good for cis women.

Don’t forget, address people the way they want to be addressed. Interpersonal respect never hurts, it is good and beneficial for all people.

Support and participate in events that celebrate transgender and non-binary identities. Visibility Day is celebrated every year on March 31, come out to the March for Visibility, because physical support is important.

Help sustain trans history. In keeping with the tradition of reading the names of murdered trans and non-binary people, on International Transgender Day of Remembrance read the names of all 320 transgender and non-binary homicide victims reported in this year’s report –

https://transrespect.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/TvT_TMM_TDoR2023_Namelist.pdf

Pay tribute to murdered transgender and non-binary people with the slogan:

Rest in power!