Since 1999, the Transgender Day of Remembrance has been observed annually on November 20, following the murder of Rita Hester.
Rita Hester was a Black transgender woman from Massachusetts who was killed in 1998 in her own apartment. Her case remains unsolved. The lack of media attention over her murder highlighted the disproportionate ways in which the death of Black, queer, and trans people are taken up in public discourse.
As a result, an outpouring of grief and anger sparked a movement and an annual vigil that honours Rita Hester and the lives of transgender people. Known as the Transgender Day of Remembrance, the day seeks to commemorate the trans, two-spirit, and non-binary people who have lost their lives to violence and transphobia.
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