Honoring Their Lives Through The Transgender Day of Remembrance at Bellevue College

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999, in response to the murder of two Black trans women, Chanel Pickett and Rita Hester. Since then, the day has been observed every year on Nov. 20 to continue bringing awareness to the violence faced by the transgender community, and especially of Black and Indigenous transgender women.

Recently, the second annual Transgender Day of Remembrance was hosted by the Bellevue College Queer and Trans Resource Center, formally as the LGBTQ+ Resource Center. Many attended the beautiful and emotional ceremony at the U-building ballroom with Keynote speaker Midori Monet talking about self-love and acceptance. “Your life is not just about your successes; it’s about the struggles you’ve had to get where you are today,” she stated.

28 people were honored at the BC vigil. Of those 28 lives lost this year, 21 of the 28 lives (75%) were people of color, and 14 of the 28 lives (50%) were specifically Black transgender women. It has become a grim reality that Black transgender women are disproportionately more likely to be killed by trans violence throughout history.

Although the list is not complete, it can be due to the fact that some trans identities are not accepted by a person’s family, which can cause their identity to be hidden or they may have been misgendered by police investigators. As a result, we can never truly know how many trans lives were lost this year. 

The following names were read aloud at the vigil: 

For more information and resources, check out the Bellevue College Queer and Trans Resource Center’s Instagram.