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(Columbus, Ohio) Vigils, services and a
variety of other events are being held in 250 cities around the world today to
mark Transgender Day of Remembrance - the day set aside to memorialize those who
were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.
The first Transgender Day of Remembrance was
organized by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999 to honor the memory of Rita Hester who
was murdered on November 28th, 1998 in San Francisco.
Smith's candlelight vigil spread nationwide and
then around the world. But Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be
solved.
While there are no official statistics - the FBI
does not keep records of trans killings - the national organization Gender
Education and Advocacy says there have been 234 killings in the United States
based on bias against transgendered people from 1970 to 2004.
More than a dozen transsexuals have been killed
this year alone.
"Sadly, that’s almost surely an undercount of actual
murders," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.
"It doesn’t even touch on the acts of violence and harassment faced
on a daily basis. It’s past time for these lives to be remembered and
honored with dignity and protections under the law."
In September the House of
Representatives passed for the first time ever a bill that would give local
law enforcement vital tools to fight bias crimes against gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender Americans. (story)
The Senate version of the bill excludes the
transgendered from protection. LGBT rights groups are pressing to have the bill
amended to include sexual identity.
“Recent statistics show that transgender people suffer from
11 percent of bias crimes committed against all lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people, a percentage of attacks far in excess of their numbers in
the population, continuing to make the transgender community one of the most
vulnerable in our society,” said Clarence Patton, executive director of the
New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.
Based on data from the 2000 Census, the total number of people
now living in a jurisdiction with a transgender-inclusive, anti-discrimination
law in the United States is 78.9 million people, 28 percent of the nation’s
population.
©365Gay.com 2005
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