Today, November 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is the day to look back and honor all those who have been harmed or, worse yet, died because of who they were – inside and outside. People like:
- Rita Hester in 1998 she was stabbed to death in Boston in what was, as a police procedural writer my characters would call, over-kill – 20 stab wounds to her chest.
- Brandon Teena, raped and beaten for living as a male, the police refused to arrest the men who did it, questioned Brandon about his own transgendered status and lost the rape kit. Subsequently, when his attackers learned that they’d been reported to the police, they sought Brandon out killed him and two others in a horrific crime…the story became the basis for the movie “Boys Don’t Cry.”
- Teri Benally, Fredrick Watson and Ryan Shey Hoskie, transgendered members of the Navajo Nation, all murdered.
And the list goes on and on. For more information on the day and events around the country visit http://www.transgenderdor.org/