The Wilkes University Gender and Sexuality Alliance is honored to once again host the community Transgender Day of Remembrance Candlelight Vigil on November 20th at 7 pm in the Jean and Paul Adams Commons (JPAC) on the second floor of the Henry Student Center. The vigil, as always, is free, open to the public, and intended for the entire community to be able to come together in solidarity to mourn and honor the lives that we have lost while we stand strong in our support for our trans community members. The event is co-sponsored by the Wilkes GSA, Queer NEPA, Rainbow Alliance, Eastern PA Trans Equity Project, and NEPA Stands Up.
The first Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil was observed on November 20th 1999 to memorialize Rita Hester, an out Black trans woman who was murdered in her own home in Boston in November of 1998 during a time of rising violence against LGBTQ+ individuals. Transgender Day of Remembrance vigils are now held annually all across the United States and the world on November 20th, the anniversary of the death of another Black trans woman who was murdered in the Boston area in 1995, Chanelle Pickett. According to the Trans Remembrance Project, “the purpose of TDOR is to ensure that the lives and deaths of trans people would be honored and recognized with dignity and respect.”