Honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance

What is Transgender Day of Remembrance?  

Transgender Day of Remembrance began in 1999 as a vigil in the Castro district of San Francisco to honor the memories of Rita Hester who was killed in 1998 and Chanelle Pickett who was killed three years earlier.  Both Rita and Chanelle were Black transgender women who lived in Massachusetts. 

Remembering Rita Hester, Who Changed What It Means to Remember Trans Lives | Them

Since then, Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) has become an international movement marked by annual gatherings on November 20th to memorialize all transgender people lost to violence.  

The founder of TDOR, Gwendolyn Ann Smith, says, “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 | GLAAD 

At AC Library, we take time to remember transgender people who were lost to violence as well as celebrate the lives and history of transgender and nonbinary people in the Bay Area.  We are working to go beyond mere acceptance and inclusion to make the library a place of belonging for its LGBTQIA+ members.  

  • Booklist 

Learn more about LGBTQIA+ history and transgender identity from ‘own voices’ authors with this booklist for teens and adults. 

This collection is made up of nonfiction books about the history and experiences of transgender people, memoirs by transgender authors or cisgender parents of transgender children, and articles about Transgender Day of Remembrance.

View Full List


LGBTQIA+ Resources in Alameda County 

Connect with these organizations in Alameda County that offer programs serving transgender youth and adults.  

  • Brown Boi Project

The Brown Boi Project is a community of masculine of center womyn, men, two-spirit people, transmen,
​and our allies committed to changing the way that communities of color talk about gender.

The Brown Boi Project - Home

  • Kaiser Permanente Transgender Care

This department partners with transgender members to provide affirming health care services for the transgender and gender-diverse communities.

East Bay Gender-Affirming Care - Kaiser Permanente

  • Oakland LGBTQ Community Center

The Oakland LGBTQ Community Center's model of service delivery is "Wellness First" and includes social, educational, and holistic-health related programs, services and activities. 

Oakland LGBTQ Community Center | Oakland, CA (oaklandlgbtqcenter.org)

Transgender Support | oaklandlgbtqcenter

  • Pacific Center

Founded in 1973, Pacific Center for Human Growth is the oldest LGBTQIA+ center in the Bay Area, the third oldest in the nation, and operates the only sliding scale mental health clinic for LGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC people and their families in Alameda County.

Home | LGBTQ+ Services | Berkeley | Pacific Center for Human Growth

  • RYSE Center- Health Justice Programs

The Alphabet Group, a part of Health Justice Programs, is a safe space for LGBTQQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer, Questioning, Intersex) youth to dialogue about their experiences and identity.

Health Justice — RYSE Center

  • Side By Side/Our Space

As the only LGBTQIA+ provider in South Alameda County, Our Space serves over 400 queer and trans East Bay youth each year, with a focus on disconnected LGBTQIA+ youth in the foster system that are at high risk of further isolation and possible homelessness because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression (SOGIE). Approximately 75% of Our Space members are youth of color.

Our Space | Side by Side (sidebysideyouth.org)

  • Somos Familia

Somos Familia builds leadership in our Latinx families and communities to create a culture where people of diverse genders and sexual orientations can thrive. 

About Us – Somos Familia (somosfamiliabay.org)


In Memoriam 

These are the names of transgender individuals who were killed in 2022:  

Regina ‘Mya’ Allen  

Semaj Billingslea  

Cherry Bush  

Hayden Davis  

Fern Feather  

Chanelika Y’Ella Dior Hemingway  

Maddie Hofmann  

Brazil Johnson  

Tatianna LaBelle  

Amarey Lej  

Aaron Lynch  

Sasha Mason  

Shawmayne’ Giselle Marie McClam  

Ariyanna Mitchell  

Kitty Monroe  

Nedra Sequence Morris  

Acey D. Morrison  

Ray Muscat  

Kathryn Newhouse  

Miia Love Parker  

Duval Princess  

Cypress Ramos  

Kandii Redd  

Martasia Richmond  

Dede Ricks  

Naomi Skinner  

Matthew Spampinato  

Paloma Vasquez  

Kesha Webster 

Here Are the Trans Americans Killed in 2022 So Far (advocate.com), opens a new window