As we mark this Transgender Day of Remembrance, it is important that we put the 36 documented murders of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people since the last commemoration into a larger context. The loss of each of these individuals to violence is tragic and outrageous. Each of them deserved the chance to live a rich, full, dignified life, and that chance was taken from them all.

We must reckon with the reality that here in the U.S. we have just experienced an election in which the Associated Press, PBS, and many other reputable news sources note that tens of millions of dollars were spent on political ads that targeted transgender people. These ads stoked fear, anger, and hatred. They dehumanized one of the smallest and most vulnerable segments of our population. They all but guaranteed that there will be a new tidal wave of measures to restrict civil rights, access to health care, and parents’ ability to advocate for their transgender children across many parts of our country.

Those we mourn are victims of systemic injustice. They are people whose lives are considered less precious, whose truths are denied, whose rights are violated with few repercussions. The fact that year after year the vast majority of those killed are transgender women of color—more specifically Black trans women—reflects the oppressive realities of unchecked misogyny and racism in our culture. The fact that politicians can be rewarded for pretending that a tiny portion of our population is a threat to society reveals the most immoral aspects of our electoral system.

Nearly all the transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people I know, including my own son, have acknowledged situations of being personally subjected to vile verbal attacks, threats to their safety, being spat at, rejected by at least some family members, refused or terminated from employment, and having to make choices to hide their identities in situations that felt unsafe. For them, Transgender Day of Remembrance is often a “that could be me” moment.

For those of us who are allies, honoring this day must mean more than reading the names and the stories of their too-short lives. It requires more of us than lighting a candle and praying for their souls and their loved ones. Yes, bring their names and their lives to mind. Say prayers of remembrance and consolation, and light a vigil candle. But let that flame burn in your soul. Find a way you can work to dismantle the conditions that enabled their murders.

Remembrance must spur us to radical action. Tragedy must become a springboard for hope. Those we have lost are still with us. They continue on through the lives of their loved ones and in God’s presence which suffuses all things. So let your love be an act of defiance which saves someone’s life. We all know what Jesus taught about how we are to be in the world. Now is the time to open our hearts and really, truly live it.

Human Rights Campaign has identified the following as people who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence since the last Transgender Day of Remembrance. You can click on their names to learn more about their lives:

Quanesha Shantel "Cocoa", San Coleman, Honee Daniels, Kassim Omar, Redd (Barbie), Vanity Williams, Tai’Vion Lathan, Dylan Gurley, Monique Brooks, Kenji Spurgeon, Shannon Boswell, Pauly Likens, Liara Tsai, Jazlynn Johnson, Yella (Robert) Clark Jr., Michelle Henry, Brandon “Tayy Dior” Thomas, Reyna Hernandez, Kita Bee, Starr Brown, Sasha Williams, Andrea Doria Dos Passos, River Nevaeh Goddard, Tee “Lagend Billions” Arnold, Africa Parrilla Garcia, Meraxes Medina, Alex Taylor Franco, Diamond Brigman, Righteous TK “Chevy” Hill, and Kitty Monroe.

May they rest eternally in Christ's peace.

Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director

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