Remembering victims of violence

Members of Boston's transgender community and their allies will celebrate the ninth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize members of the transgender community who have been murdered and whose murders were motivated by anti-trans hatred, on Nov. 18. Boston will mark the Day of Remembrance with a service and candlelight vigil, preceded by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) annual town hall meeting. Other cities throughout the state will hold their own Day of Remembrance events next week.

The Day of Remembrance was founded in San Francisco, but has its roots in Boston. In 1998 an unknown assailant stabbed Allston transwoman Rita Hester to death in her apartment, and the following year activists in San Francisco held the first Day of Remembrance on the anniversary of her death to memorialize victims of anti-trans murders. Since at least 2000 Boston has joined trans communities around the country to mark the Day of Remembrance. Nancy Nangeroni, who has helped organize the Boston event nearly every year since its founding, said she does not know whether there was a vigil held in 1999.

This year's Boston event will take place at Arlington Street Church, where speakers will talk about the impact of violence on the transgender community. Nangeroni said that while much of the event will focus on murder victims, there will be a broader focus on anti-trans violence as well. She said in addition to the planned speakers there will also be portion of the program that will give members of the community the opportunity to share their stories.

"There will be a community speak-out, so everyone who attends can have a chance, if they want to, to step up to the microphone and say a few words," said Nangeroni.

Following the speak-out, attendees will go to Copley Square for a candlelight vigil where participants will read off the names of transgender murder victims from around the globe who were killed over the past year, as well as the names of the seven known transgender hate crime murder victims from Massachusetts who were killed in prior years. According to MTPC the last murder in Massachusetts involved a woman identified as Lisa D., who was shot to death in Dorchester in 2005.

Following the vigil, attendees will go back to Arlington Street Church for a reception held by Transcend, a trans-focused program of Cambridge Cares About AIDS that focuses on HIV prevention and advocating against discrimination.

Earlier in the day MTPC will hold its annual town hall meeting, and the focus of the meeting will be House Bill 1722, MTPC's legislation to add gender identity and expression to the state's non-discrimination and hate crimes laws. State Rep. Carl Sciortino (D-Somerville), one of the lead sponsors of H.B. 1722, will deliver a keynote address talking about the current outlook for the legislation. Charles Wagner, co-chair of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association (MLGBA), will talk about the collaboration between MTPC and MLGBA to write the legislation.

MTPC will also provide an update on the effort to pass the bill, which MTPC co-chair Gunner Scott said will likely come before the Judiciary Committee in January or early February.

"We're going to do a general update on where the bill is. We'll also do a short training on how to lobby and how to testify. It's basically how to talk to a legislator about the bill," said Scott.

The meeting will also include discussion of other MTPC initiatives as well as an update on local advocacy efforts around the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which passed the House of Representatives Nov. 6 after lawmakers stripped it of gender identity language. Scott said MTPC will update supporters on how to educate members of Congress about passing a trans-inclusive ENDA bill as well as discuss the prospect of an ENDA bill being introduced in the Senate.

Scott said MTPC hopes to attract not only members of the trans community but allies who are willing to work in support of H.B. 1722, "just as people came out for stuff around marriage."

While the Boston Day of Remembrance is planned by a committee of community volunteers, over the past several years Nangeroni said MTPC has stepped in to help plan some of the logistics of the event. She said MTPC's involvement has made a dramatic difference in terms of attendance at organizing meetings. In one particularly slow year Nangeroni said only two people came to the meetings, but MTPC has helped the event committee attract more volunteers.

"When MTPC started participating the attendees at organizing meetings went up dramatically," said Nangeroni.

She added that holding the MTPC town hall meeting and the Day of Remembrance back to back is also a plus for members of the trans community traveling to Boston for the event.

"It becomes a good day thing for trans folks here in Boston, and there's a good synergy between the town hall and the remembrance event," said Nangeroni.

The MTPC town hall will take place at Arlington Street Church on Nov. 18 from 3-5 p.m. The Day of Remembrance will also take place at the church and begins at 7 p.m. For more information contact [email protected] or call 617.983.0219.