A poignant memorial celebrating the hundreds of trans people whose lives have been cut short in the past year - including tragic schoolgirl Brianna Ghey - was held at the Museum of Liverpool.
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), which takes place each year on November 20, pays tribute to members of the trans community whose lives have been lost to violence and self harm. The annual event began in 1999 as a vigil to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman killed in Boston, USA, the previous year.
Trans people and their loved ones gathered at the museum yesterday, Sunday November 19, to pay tribute to the 392 trans people reported to have died in tragic circumstances in the past year, including 16-year-old Brianna Ghey from Birchwood, who was found stabbed to death in Culcheth Linear Park on February 11.
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The Birchwood Community High School pupil's death gained international attention, with tributes pouring in from LGBTQ+ charities, politicians, activists, and musicians. Candlelight vigils were held across the UK, including in Liverpool, where huge crowds gathered outside St George's Hall in blue, pink and white, the colours of the transgender flag.
Two teenagers, a 16-year-old girl from Warrington and a 16-year-old boy from Leigh, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are due to stand trial at Manchester Crown Court on November 27. Both have denied murder.
Following the TDOR meeting yesterday, organiser Jess Shannon said: "I'm always pleased to see a roomful of people, but I always wish there were more people from the wider community. There's always a lot of trans people coming together, but we really want the rest of the non-trans community to see this.
"This year was 392. Last year we had about 360 names. There's so many other people that are not known, so there may be lives lost from people who could not even come out. Remembering the 392 names we know is something we can do for those people, but we're also thinking about all the other people whose names will never be known."
Kate Sanders, a member of Spirit Level, a transgender support group, said: "Today we came together, as we always do, as one community, one identity, one people united in sadness and grief, but also in determination to live our lives as trans and non-binary people no matter what society and the world thinks about us.
"The tragic consequences of hate crime in its most extreme form is what is remembered today. But the world needs to remember there are people with trans and non-binary identities who live damaged, unfulfilled, fearful lives, whose own identities are never celebrated and whose lives are never remembered. The 392 recorded this year are a powerful call to arms and an inditement of society. But there are millions more still-living people we need to be caring of, who we need to give life to who otherwise would not have a life."
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