Transgender Day of Remembrance Committee 2017
Press Release
DATE: November 16, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Earline Budd, TDOR2017 Coordinator
(202) 517-0544 Office
Email: earline_budd@yahoo.com
The Transgender Day of Remembrance 2017 Committee announces that the local observance of the 2017 Transgender Day of Remembrance will be held on Monday, November 20th, at 6:00 p.m. (doors open at 5:00 pm for volunteers and participants) at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, DC. The location is 474 Ridge Street N.W. (just north of the M Street Mount Vernon Square Green and Yellow Metro Stations). Organizers are welcoming the public to attend this once-a-year event. . This year, we have several special guests including: Mayor Muriel Bowser; MPD Chief Peter Newsham; Councilmember David Grosso; and many community-based organization representatives.
Nationally, this is the 17th annual observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which commemorates those who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred. The 1998 murder of Rita Hester, a Boston transgender woman, sparked the Remembering Our Dead web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved. As of this date, there have been 265 reported murders of transgender people across the world in 2017, including 25 in the United States.
This year, the District of Columbia has not had any reported murders of transgender people. However, there has been a spike in assaults (including sexual assaults and robberies) throughout the summer and early fall. The TDOR2017 Committee members continue to join community activists in calling for the Metropolitan Police Department to bring the perpetrators of anti-transgender hate violence to justice. This year, we highlight pictures (above) of the 12 victims dating back to year 2000, where the killing of Tyra Henderson was the first case noted. Of the 12 murders, eight remain unsolved to this date. We continue to urge the DC MPD and US Attorney’s Office to bring some of these cold cases back to the community for information.
