Remembering Our Family
Victims of Anti-Transgender Murder
Victims of Anti-Transgender Murder
Nakia Ladelle Baker
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma to the head
Date of Death: January 7, 2007
Keittirat Longnawa
Location: Rassada, Thailand
Cause of Death: Beaten by 9 Youths who then slit her throat
Date of Death: January 31, 2007
Moira Donaire
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile
Cause of Death: Stabbed 5 times by a street vendor
Date of Death: March 5, 2007
Michelle Carrasco “Chela”
Location: Santiago, Chile
Cause of Death: She was found in a pit with her face completely disfigured.
Date of Death: March 16, 2007
Ruby Rodriguez
Location: San Francisco, California
Cause of Death: She had been strangled and was found naked in the street.
Date of Death: March 16, 2007
Erica Keel
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cause of Death: A car repeatedly struck her
Date of Death: March 23, 2007
Bret T. Turner
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Cause of Death: Multiple stab wounds
Date of Death: April 2, 2007
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Observing National Transgender Day of Remembrance
Tuesday November 20, 2007
MTPC would like to thank everyone that came out to Boston's Transgender Day of Remembrance event and Annual Town Hall Meeting this past Sunday. We would like to thank our Town Hall speakers Rep. Carl Sciortino and Chic Wagner, co-chair of MLGBA and all of the community members who spoke at Boston's TDOR including Jennifer Levi, Bliss Tylor, Bunny Caristi, Rev. Laurie Auffant, Synthia, Kit Yan, Ethan St. Pierre , Nancy Nangeroni, and Charito Suarez.
There are four TDOR events happening this evening around Massachusetts and Rhode Island and their locations are listed at the end of this email. MTPC would also like to use this observance to remind legislators and the public of the exclusion of transgender and gender variant people from Massachusetts Hate Crimes law and from local and national reporting of hate/bias motivated crimes statistics.
Yesterday, the FBI released its statistics on hate crimes for 2006. Police department across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005. 15.5 percent were sexual orientation bias crimes, but there are currently no statistics gathered by the FBI or many local police departments, including Massachusetts for bias/hate crimes based on gender identity or gender expression.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs Hate Crimes Report for 2006 estimates a 20% rise in hate crimes against male-to-female transgender women as reported from independent agencies tracking anti-LGBT bias/hate crimes across the country. Fenway's Violence Recovery Program ( http://www.fenwayhealth.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FCHC_srv_services_violence) is the only place in Massachusetts tracking bias motivated crimes against transgender people, but only if victims calls and reports the incident to Violence Recovery Program. In Massachusetts, hate crimes based on gender identity or gender expression are not counted in police reporting statistics because gender identity is currently not included in Massachusetts Hate Crimes law. Some bias/hate crimes against transgender or gender variant people may fall under the category of sexual orientation if anti-gay language is used, but many do not. Therefore, hate crimes against transgender and gender variant people are most likely woefully under-reported in Massachusetts contrary to the accounts and stories reported to MTPC, in transgender support groups, and to family, friends, and allies in our communities.
The pending legislation, HB 1722 "An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes", would add gender identity and gender expression to the state's current Hate Crimes law. Perpetrators of crimes that specifically target a person because of their gender identity or expression would face the same penalties as those who target people because of their race, religion, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation.
Please take a moment and call, email, or visit your Massachusetts State Representative and Senator (visit http://www.masstpc.org or http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php to find out who your elected officials are) and let them know that today is National Transgender Day of Remembrance and here in Massachusetts we are remembering eleven known Massachusetts transgender victims of hate crimes murders: Rita Hester, Monique Rogers, Chanelle Pickett, Debra Forte, Monique Thomas, Unknown person dressed in women's clothing, and Lisa D. and the countless others who have experienced violence, harassment, and abuse for being transgender. Ask them to support HB 1722 and not to let another year go by without inclusion of gender identity and gender expression in the Massachusetts Hate Crimes law, because no one should be a target of violence based on their gender identity or gender expression.
Visit http://www.masstpc.org for more information, lobby materials on HB 1722, or to report the outcome of your phone call, email or visit to your legislator. You can also sign up to volunteer with MTPC working on the campaign to pass HB 1722 on our website.
Transgender Day of Remembrance Events:
UMass Boston Trans Day of Remembrance Event
Please join the Queer Student Center of the University of Massachusetts, Boston for the 9th annual National Transgender Day of Remembrance on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007. Beginning at 5:30 pm in the Campus Center room UL-211, members of the community will be reading their poetry and prose and displaying their art. We will close with a vigil honoring those killed in anti-transgender violence.
Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Time: 5:30pm-7:00pm
Worcester TDOR Observance
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
6:00pm-8:00pm
Please join AIDS Project Worcester in raising awareness about anti- trans violence and ways we can make our city and world safe. This year's event will feature: keynote speakers, reading of the names, candle lighting ceremony, and dinner and fellowship.
Worcester Transgender Day or Remembrance 2007 will have free dinner, annual reading of the names, annual candle lighting ceremony, and a keynote speaker.
Location: 85 Green Street, Worcester, MA 01604
Contact: Joan Anderson or Jesse Pack, (508) 755-3773 or jpack25@yahoo.com
Pioneer Valley TDOR Observance
Tuesday, Nov. 20
7:00 pm
Location: The Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse in Amherst, 121 North Pleasant St., Amherst
To remember individuals who have been killed because of their gender identity/expression with community speakers from MTPC.
Co-sponsored by Stonewall Center and MTPC
Rhode Island Transgender Day of Remembrance
Lifelines Rhode Island, in collaboration with Brown University LGBTQ Resource Center and Youth Pride, Inc., invites you to join us to commemorate Trans Day of Remembrance, an internationally observed day to memorialize people who have been murdered due to anti-trans hatred or prejudice. Trans Day of Remembrance is a time to highlight the daily violence and fear with which many trans people live and to speak out against anti-trans violence.
RI Trans Day of Remembrance will include:
Tuesday Nov 20th, 6pm, Brown University Main Green*
Contact: info@lifelinesri.org or 401.369.9680
Candle light vigil. The vigil opening speakers include Y. Gavriel Ansara, Executive Director of Lifelines Rhode Island and Jodi Glass, Lifelines Board member and coordinator of The RI Commission on Prejudice and Bias (RI-CPB) Hate Crime Training Program. The speeches will be followed by candle lighting and reading of the names to remember, followed by a moment of silence to remember our dead.
Tuesday Nov 20th, 7:30pm, Hourglass Café*
TRANSCEND COFFEE HOUSE. An open mike/speak out hosted by the Brown University LGBTQ Resource Center and the student group, Queer Alliance. It is free and open to the public. Anyone who would like to speak out or perform should contact Yumi_Aikawa@brown.edu. You can share stories, you can share your writing, you can slam, or you can sing, but YOU MAY ONLY SPEAK OUT OR PERFORM ABOUT SUBJECTS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE HEART OF THE EVENT. The featured performer is COYOTE GRACE ( www.coyotegrace.com), a fantasmic folk-rock-blues duo from the west coast, one of whom is an open singer-songwriter of trans experience who has been active in both folk music scene as well as trans activism scene.
*Brown University Main Green can be accessed through the arch on Waterman Street at the intersection of Brown Street, or from the entrances on George Street. Faunce House is the building with the arch. The university is in the East Side of Providence.
Thank you,
Gunner Scott & Holly Ryan
Co-chairs and the steering committte of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
http://www.masstpc.org
thanks for the link! please join in the discussion by leaving a comment with your thoughts!
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