Today—November 20, 2020—marks the 21st Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). 

Also known as the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, TDoR started in 1999 when advocate and writer Gwendolyn Ann Smith organized a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered in 1998 in her apartment in Boston. The vigil also commemorated all transgender people who were lost to suicide and violence and TDoR had since then been an annual observance. 

To know more about Rita, the woman whose death sparked an international movement, read here.


Adam4Adam readers, let us mourn, pray, and remember together our transgender brothers and sisters who we have lost to violence this year. 

According to Forbes, at least 350 transgender people were killed this 2020 so far as opposed to last year’s 331. The youngest victim, they said, was just 15 while their average age was 31. Further, the study revealed that a fifth or 22% of the murdered victims were killed inside their own homes.

In the U.S. alone, Human Rights Campaign reported at least 37 transgender or gender non-conforming people—most of whom were Black and Latinx transgender women—who died violently for being who they are. You can read HRC’s complete report here.

Brazil, on the other hand, reported the most number of transgender people who died from violence (152 in total), accounting for 43% of the global deaths. The number rose to 70% from last year, making Brazil the deadliest country in the world for the transgender community, a new survey showed.

Mexico, on the other hand, is the second deadliest country with 57 transgender people who were murdered because of their gender identity this year. 


Now, more than ever, it is important that we remember and honor the memory of our transgender brothers and sisters around the world who lost their lives due to acts of anti-transgender violence.

Adam4Adam users who wish to make a charitable donation to a transgender rights organization can choose among the following: Trans Lifeline, Transgender Law Center, The Sylvia Rivera Law Project, to name a few.  



To know more about Transgender Day of Remembrance, read here.

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