You are invited:
Pride Community Center and our partners invite you to participate in this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance by holding vigil with us at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Brazos Valley from 630 to 830pm. This is a solemn event wherein we hold vigil and honor those who have passed due to anti-transgender violence in the past year. In the Brazos Valley we have held this vigil annually for the past decade and a half in one form or another, often partnering with other local organizations and even Texas A&M to remember this community and think on what can be done to address this violence.
It is a time of reflection on the intersections of being a gender minority in the world and our other identities such as race, ethnicity, and more.
It is a time in which we invite those who have gone before us to join us in spirit as we honor their lives.
Hot cocoa or cider will be provided afterwards.
Readers of names are invited to sign up at: https://bit.ly/2024BVTDOR_Volunteer
Funds raised during this event will go towards the charities listed below.
What is Transgender Day of Remembrance?
source: GLAAD
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.
“Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people — sometimes in the most brutal ways possible — it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.”
– Transgender Day of Remembrance founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Program
| Host Welcome | Rev Kiya Heartwood | She/They |
| Thank you, Welcome, Invitation of ancestors | Katrina Stewart | She / Her |
| Speaker: River Martinez, Pride Community Center | He / Him | |
| Speaker: Emily Maddox, Pride Community Center | She / Her | |
| Speaker: Brianna McCain, Transcend and Friends Congregational Church | She/They | |
| MaMuse “We Shall Be Known” | Love and Joy Choir | |
| Acknowledgement of impact on our community and our BIPOC family | Student Representative | |
| Reading of Names | Volunteers | Them |
| Open Microphone | Public | |
| Thank you to ancestors. Closing the loop | Katrina Stewart | She / Her |
| Next Steps | River Martinez | He / Him |
| Blessing and Musical Benediction | Rev Kiya Heartwood Rev Dr. Dan De Leon | She/They He / Him |
Fundraising
At this 2024 vigil, Pride Community Center and co-sponsors would like to give the opportunity to pay-it-forward. Pride Community Center has established a fund for Texas A&M students who have had gender affirming care, once supplied by the university, taken away because of political machinations at the policy level.
Donations collected on November 20th, 2024 will be part of funds disbursed at the end of the first quarter of 2025. To contribute, please visit https://bit.ly/PCC_GACFund
Also consider the following charities serving the transgender community to patronize:
The Trevor Project
Supporting LGBTQ+ young people for 25+ years
39% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. We’re responding to the public health crisis of suicide among LGBTQ+ young people by building a safer, more inclusive world.
GLAAD
Founded in 1985, GLAAD is a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. GLAAD works to ensure fair, accurate, and inclusive representation and creates national and local programs that advance LGBTQ acceptance.
Trans Lifeline
Trans Lifeline is a grassroots hotline and microgrants 501(c)(3) non-profit organization offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis – for the trans community, by the trans community.
References:
HRC Foundation. (2024). Fatal Violence Against the Transgender and Gender-Expansive Community…. https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-expansive-community-in-2024
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). (2024). [NonProfit]. GLAAD. https://glaad.org/tdor/
TransLivesMatter. (2024). Remembering Our Dead—Reports. Remembering Our Dead. https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports
Author: Pride Community Center, Inc
Date: November 2024