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Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
-Description from GLAAD
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The murder cases are often discussed in small local papers, and make no major headlines. They often see the local police refusing to classify the murders as hate crimes, and the murder victims are very often Black/Indigenous/women of color.
I live with a woman who makes sure the door is locked every night and panics every time someone knocks on the door because she has a fairly rational fear that her father might track her down to kill her, despite living several states away, not knowing where she's moved to, and not yet knowing she's trans (though he's made threats about if she were to come out to him). We've discussed contingencies for if that happens. It's not likely, but I'm pretty sure she won't be able to breathe easy until he's dead and in the ground.
I had another friend who fled her homestate essentially in the dead of night because she was worried her family would murder her if they found out she was a woman.
Back when I was in college, when the alt-right held a "free speech rally" by my campus, I went for my regular walks at night wearing denim jeans for a week after--to the raised eyebrows and confused stares of my cis hallmates, who had never seen me wear anything other than colorful skirts. This was in part because a self-declared "journalist" named Andy Ngo had spent the rally taking photos of counterprotesters, singling out visibly trans protesters in particular, to encourage his followers to dox and target us. During the protest, a trans friend of mine had a door get "accidentally" slammed into him hard enough to bruise. Other trans people I knew traveled in groups, or minimized late-night walks, period.
The latter is the smallest example of these three, but it's an example of how actual violence isn't always necessary if the culture of violence is in place. Implied threats can be more than enough to change trans people's behavior. Jokes and rhetoric have consequences further down the line. It builds on a culture that ultimately encourages and rewards violence. It's another brick in the wall.
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Every day that we continue to live is a victory over those who would see us stomped out. Solidarity and love to my transgender siblings; I’m proud of us all.
