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On Thursday, Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez announced an honorary resolution observing Transgender Day of Remembrance.

“Transgender Day of Remembrance is also observed as Transgender Day of Resilience to celebrate the resilience and power of trans and gender-nonconforming people still living, fighting for their safety and protecting each other,” Chavez said during the council meeting. “Transgender and gender-nonconforming people deserve the resources and protections necessary to be celebrated in life, not only death.”

 Transgender Day of Remembrance for the first time in Minnesota. On Nov. 20, Minnesota joins other states and countries in honoring the memory of transgender lives lost to anti-transgender violence.

Why Transgender Day of Remembrance matters

Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in memory of Rita Hester, who was killed in 1998. Since then, it’s been a day to memorialize the transgender and gender-nonconforming people who are murdered every year. Transgender people are far more likely than cisgender people to be the victims of violence. 

at least 32 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been violently killed

“Most of the victims were Black trans women, a tragedy that reflects an appalling trend of violence fueled by racism, toxic masculinity, misogyny and transphobia and the politicization of our lives,” Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, said in 

 from 2020 and 2021 state Minnesota celebrates the lives of transgender, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary Minnesotans. While Minnesota’s proclamation does not specifically name Two-Spirit people among those it honors, the Human Rights Campaign does. Two-Spirit is a traditional Native American third-gender identity.

Notably, Human Rights Campaign tracking shows no transgender people have been killed in Minnesota since at least 2015. Among known transgender people killed in Minnesota is 

 in a downtown Minneapolis apartment in 2011.

Alongside remembrance is the resiliency of the transgender and gender-nonconforming community, which has made headway in Minnesota government and policy. 

Andrea Jenkins made history in 2017 when she was elected to the Minneapolis City Council, becoming the 

first openly transgender Black woman to be elected to public office in the United States

. Since January she has been the council’s president.

Leigh Finke will be the state’s first openly transgender legislator in the Minnesota House of Representatives

. She won state house district 66A this month with 81 percent of the votes.

Another positive for transgender people in Minnesota is the law around legal names. Those in the transgender and gender-nonconforming community can change their name legally in Minnesota on their 

birth certificate and license fairly easily.

The Human Rights Campaign list does not include suicides, but that is another big concern within the community since 

82 percent of transgender people have considered it and 40 percent have attempted, according to data published in 2020.

 specifically for LGBTQ+ people that was established in the 1980s. There is also an 

executive order restricting conversion therapy

conversion therapy greatly increases the odds

 of transgender and gender-nonconforming people attempting suicide.

Many attend vigils on this day, but there’s more that you can do to honor and remember through education, respecting pronouns, and volunteering at transgender organizations such as 

Transgender Day of Remembrance kindles sadness, celebration

Transgender Day of Remembrance events in Minnesota 

Some college and university campuses are holding a vigil early on Nov. 18.

The following vigils will be held on November 20.

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Nov. 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, when people around the world honor the memory of transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people who have been violently killed in the past year.

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Minnesota events will honor transgender people killed this year across U.S.

Nov. 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, when people around the world honor transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people who have been violently killed

Minnesota events will honor transgender people killed this year across U.S.

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