For generations, the transgender population has suffered various forms of abuse (and even death) for challenging the views, notions, and stereotypes around “male” and “female” identity. Every year we set aside November 20 as a Transgender Day of Remembrance. This holiday is meant to honor, commemorate, and memorialize those who face discrimination and stigma (often on a daily basis) across the nation. This holiday is also meant to advocate for transgender people’s rights as well as focus on the persistent struggles they face in their everyday lives, and how others can share their love, support, and hope.

Transgender Day of Remembrance encourages us to stop and reflect on the transgender community — specifically the abuse many of them face as they attempt to lead their everyday lives. It's also meant to help spark transgender advocacy, support, and change across the U.S. This day offers the opportunity for others to better understand the stigma, discrimination and barriers that many transgender people face. This understanding can lead to deeper empathy, and can remind us that we are all more alike than we are different. It is an invitation for communities to come together and unify against the powers of hate and fear.

“Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people — sometimes in the most brutal ways possible — it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.” –Transgender Day of Remembrance founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith

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