Transgender Day of Remembrance honours trans lives

The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) takes place annually on Nov. 20 and honours lives that have been lost because of anti-trans bigotry and violence.

Established in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith, TDoR began as a vigil for Rita Hester, a trans woman who was brutally murdered in her apartment in 1998. Her case remains unsolved. Today, people around the world gather to remember and honour the lives of Hester and all trans, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse individuals taken by such violence, and to acknowledge the ongoing work to advance equity, safety and the well-being of transgender people.

Since TDoR’s inception, 5,474 lives have been lost worldwide to anti-transgender violence and discrimination, with 406 deaths occurring in the past year alone. It is a day of mourning for those who might otherwise be forgotten and a call to stand against discrimination based on gender identity and expression, including racism affecting Black, Indigenous, and racialized Trans and gender-diverse individuals.

Trans people commemorate the day in different ways personal to them, with some choosing to attend vigils and other events and some choosing to spend the day alone, with family or with close friends in mourning, says Dr. Tonya Callaghan, BA’90, BEd’96, PhD, director of equity, inclusion and intersectionality for the LGBTQ2S+ campus community in the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

“It can be re-traumatizing for some trans people and, for others, it may be recognition or affirmation that allies and other supporters understand what transgender people are up against, and so it could be a form of community for some people,” says Callaghan.

The University of Calgary has been taking steps to become more trans-inclusive, says Dr. Malinda Smith, PhD, vice-provost of equity, diversity and inclusion and associate vice-president of research (EDI). This includes education programs to raise awareness around inclusive language and pronouns, initiatives during Pride and Trans Weeks, the creation of inclusive spaces on campus like the Q Centre, gender-inclusive washrooms, collaborations to support gender affirming surgery, initiatives to make changes to non-affirming names, and on intersections with racialized, Indigiqueer and disability research.

Despite these steps, Smith recognizes the need to do more to ensure all members of the campus are seen, heard and meaningfully included. “These initiatives are necessary, but we also know they are not sufficient to ensure equity and fairness for trans people in the classroom, in the research ecosystem, and in the wider community,” says Smith. “Trans people need those of us who are allies to work together with them to ensure a campus that is trans-inclusive and affirming, in which they can be their authentic selves and thrive in their chosen pursuits.”

Callaghan says allies can support trans communities by acknowledging their suffering and being there for them on the day — and any day. 

“They should be protected and supported rather than vilified and demeaned,” says Callaghan. “The numbers are staggering as far as violence inflicted upon those who identify as transgender … violence of all kinds up to and including murder and making their lives so difficult that some of them end up dying by suicide, so these are very serious matters. It’s hard to think about this, so these are one of the things we are drawing attention to on the Transgender Day of Remembrance.”

Jamie Anderson, a Werklund School of Education doctoral candidate who identifies as trans, says the day is about letting the trans community know they matter in life and not only in their death. “It’s about making sure that all members of our diverse trans community have agency, safety, love, health care and access to means of flourishing so that we can live full lives in ways that we want to,” says Anderson.

Anderson says every trans person will need a little something different from friends and family members, but the place to start in being an ally for trans friends is reaching out, offering your love and getting active in your support of trans rights.  

“For me, it’s a reminder of the layers of privilege that I have, the layers of institutional access and interpersonal support that I have that have kept me alive," says Anderson. "I think reminding people that they are loved, showing trans people that you care about their lives and livelihoods, that they inherently matter all the time ... I think that’s important because it is a really challenging time of anti-trans legislation, hate and violence.”  

A flag-raising ceremony will take place on Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. at the Rosza Centre flag poles, with a sharing circle to follow in the White Buffalo Room on the third floor of the Education Tower. The event is in collaboration with the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA^2), a subcommittee of the Graduate Students' Association that aims to enrich the lives and graduate school experiences of LGBTQ2S+ members through various events. GSA^2 also strives to amplify the voices of queer and gender-diverse folks within the university and broader community through advocacy. To learn more and register you can visit the events page.