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Transgender Day of Remembrance

In November 1998, Rita Hester was murdered for being transgender. Her murder has yet to be solved. A year later in the city of San Francisco, a candlelight vigil marked Rita’s death and others who had died for simply being or being seen as transgender.

Now we have the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, which will be held this year on November 20th, with events happening around the country.

In many Unitarian Universalist congregations, a moment during a Sunday worship service has been set aside to remember that violence and hatred still exist, and to grieve the lives changed and lost due to this violence.

In the Related Content box on the top right of this page, you will find various resources for the Transgender Day of Remembrance. These include information from Standing on the Side of Love on hosting a Transgender Day of Remembrance event; resources on Transgender Identity and Welcome from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Ministries; a website dedicated to this annual event, which contains a list of people known to have died in the past year; and the resolution that was passed at General Assembly (GA) in Portland, OR, in 2007 in support of transgender people and education for non-trans folks (cisgender folks).

Below you will find a reading/candle lighting and roll call (find up-to-date lists of events from the Transgender Day of Remembrance website) for use in an upcoming service. While the Sunday closest to November 20th is ideal, it is more important to find an appropriate time regardless of when it is—to grieve, honor, and remember those who have died.

Reading and Roll Call for Transgender Day of Remembrance

When Matthew Shepard was killed, the Catholic priest in Laramie, WY, is reported to have said that Matthew would be our teacher, now after death.

What can we learn from hate and misunderstanding?

Why must it take death for us to realize someone has humanity?

Every person has something to teach us.

This past year, all too many people who we would identify as transgender were attacked simply for seeming to be different.

In many cultures, transgender people have been celebrated as people with insights about humanity, as people who understand gender more so than others, as healers.

Our Unitarian Universalist faith celebrates the humanity, the inherent worth and dignity, of all people.

We have much to learn about transgender people and much we can learn.

May our congregation be a place where all are welcomed, where all can learn and all can be teachers. May our congregation be a place where all are safe. May our congregation be a place where people can seek and experience wholeness.

November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance. This is a day to remember those whose lives were taken needlessly by violence.

Let us take a moment to remember those lives who have been affected by violence and grieve for the loss of life at the hands of violence. Parents have lost children, spouses have lost loved ones, and we all lose when someone dies too soon.

(Here you may insert or omit the list from the website of the names of transgender people who have died in the past year).

May we remember and honor those who have died and work toward a world where the violence is no more. May we learn from others in life what they have to teach us.

For more information contact obgltc @ uua.org.

This work is made possible by the generosity of individual donors and congregations. Please consider making a donation today.

Last updated on Tuesday, August 21, 2012.

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