_Candlelight Vigil, followed by speakers at Cleveland City Hall, and recognition of local individuals.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is held annually as a memorial to trans-identified and gender variant individuals who are murdered each year due to hate, transphobia and our strict adherence to the gender binary. This event aims to raise awareness and educate the larger community in order to effect change in this horrifying trend.
 
The Cleveland event will begin at 5:45pm at the Free Stamp on the corner of East 9th and Lakeside in downtown Cleveland where we will hold a candlelight vigil as a memorial for those we have lost.
 
Following the candlelight vigil, the program will continue at Cleveland City Hall where we will hear from local leaders about ways in which they and the community at large can get engaged in the movement for change. In addition, individuals who have been working tirelessly within the Greater Cleveland area for full inclusion and the protections of this community will be honored.
 
Following the program, people are invited to congregate at Bounce/Union Station in order to network, socialize, and celebrate how far we have come as a community.

The Center is proud to be co-sponsoring this event with the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio

Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved. Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgendered — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgendered people.

We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes.

• It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgendered people, an action that current media doesn’t perform.
• Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten.
• Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred.
• Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgendered people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers.
• Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.

_The National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce released “Injustice at Ever Turn,”  a massive study of 6,450 respondents.

Sixty-three percent (63 %) of all respondents reported a serious act of discrimination because of their gender identity or gender presentation and expression. Twenty-three percent (23%) experienced a “catastrophic level of discrimination”...
Read or download the report from the National Center for Transgender Equality: http://transequality.org/

_Explore this resource and information-rich site. Resources include reports, survey results, teaching guides and more.

Visit their LINKS page for more resources on Legislation, Health and Healthcare, Legal Matters, Support Groups and Spirituality.