A New Report Details the Grave Realities of Trans Day of Remembrance

 Content Warning: This article discusses violence against transgender people.

November 20 marks the 20th observance of Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR), an occasion acknowledging both the ongoing epidemic of transphobic violence and our trans siblings who have been ripped from us by this crisis. Besides honoring the lives of those we’ve lost, TDoR strives to fuel greater global awareness about the unique and countless precarities of living as a trans person, particularly for Black trans women and other trans women of color.

Each year since it was founded in 2009, the Trans Murder Monitoring Project (TMMP) has studied the extent of global violence against trans and gender-nonconforming folx. Today, Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide, the organization that has coordinated the TMMP over the last decade, released its most recent report. Its findings are deeply distressing — and should represent a powerful call to action for each of us to work toward curbing this international crisis.

According to the report, a total of 331 TGNC people were reported killed between October 1st, 2018 and September 30th, 2019. The report shows the international nature of the epidemic, with the majority of recorded murders occurring in Brazil (130), Mexico (63), and the US (31), followed by Argentina (13), Malaysia (4), India (11), and Italy (1), along with 22 other nations.

More broadly, the report also estimates that since the TMMP first started collecting data in 2008, an estimated 3,314 TGNC folks have died at the hands of transphobic violence. These murders have occurred on every continent (except Antarctica) and in 74 countries. They’ve been carried out via shooting (1,252), stabbing (653), and beating (334). 61% of murders recorded by the TMMP involved sex workers. Perhaps most importantly, the report underscores that these numbers represent only an estimate of all murders committed against TGNC; the true figure is likely much higher as many nations do not recognize murders of TGNC people as distinct from those of anyone else.

These statistics are as terrifying as they are demoralizing. But that is not to say that trans folks are simply terrified and demoralized. So too, we (they) are emboldened. We (they) are resilient. (These parenthetical distinctions are meant to convey that while I consider myself a member of the trans community, I am statistically far less likely to experience the same level of danger or marginalization as my trans siblings of color; my capacity to be emboldened and for resilience must be recognized relative to this truth.) In fact, every year since 2014, social justice advocacy organization Forward Together has reimagined TDoR as Trans Day of Resilience, a revision intended to call attention to the importance of honoring and celebrating trans folks in life, not just in death.

Other efforts toward mobilizing the pain associated with TDoR into action include “The Trans Obituaries Project,” a recent series of articles from Out magazine; it includes an invaluable 13-step plan, “How We Can End the Violence Against Trans Women of Color”, compiled by trans activist and Out executive editor Raquel Willis. In addition, them. recently published a series of perspectives on combating this epidemic from LGBTQ+ advocates, representing nearly a dozen activist organizations. Both of these important pieces embody not only a productive means of observing Trans Day of Remembrance / Trans Day of Resilience, but also a productive means of beginning the work of ending the global crisis of anti-trans violence.

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