‘She was a perfect sister’: Minneapolis resolution honors Transgender Day of Remembrance
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Quick Read
The Minneapolis City Council recognized Transgender Day of Remembrance with an honorary resolution at Thursday's meeting. The day acknowledges transgender people who have died by violence and will be observed Nov. 20.
Three transgender women who died in the past four years were named in the resolution — Ra'Lasia Wright, Savannah Ryan Williams and Stella Nez Perce.
Stella Nez Perce, 36, was the most recent death. Council President Elliott Payne read from the resolution while holding a framed photograph of her.
“Whereas Stella Nez Perce, a Native trans woman, was killed in Minneapolis in October 2026, and her family has shared that she was gentle, kind, loving and a 'butterfly coming out of a cocoon,'" Payne read.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Jo Nez Perce is Stella Nez Perce's older sister. She said she always had a close relationship with Stella Nez Perce, who came out as a transgender woman months before her death. They had moved to Minnesota for safety and acceptance.
"I brought my sister here to be safe in the state that I thought was gonna be safe for her, that was gonna accept her," Jo Nez Perce said. "She just needed a little bit more time. She would have changed everything. She fought so hard."
The Human Rights Campaign counted in a 2025 national report that at least 399 transgender and gender-expansive people had been killed since 2013, the majority by gun violence. The Minneapolis resolution states “Black, Native and Latina transgender women make up a disproportionate share of those killed.”
Kat Rohn, executive director of OutFront Minnesota, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ Minnesotans, said the city should be safe for all who call Minneapolis home.
" Whether it's our trans communities, our Indigenous communities, our Black communities, our immigrant communities — all of them should be able to feel that promise of welcome in their everyday lives, not just on days where we recognize it, not just in policy words, but in their walks through these streets," Rohn said.
Council member Jason Chavez signed the honorary resolution and called for community members to stand in solidarity at Thursday’s meeting.
“I strongly believe that remembrance is an act of resistance, because you have to remember our neighbors and you have to remember them and then take action to prevent this from happening ever again,” Chavez said.
Jo Nez Perce said she hopes the world will be more kind to those who identify as transgender and two-spirit. Two-spirit is a term for nonbinary definitions of gender and sexuality within Native traditions.
"She was a perfect sister,” Jo Nez Perce said. “My sister was so confident.” She said she could tell her sister everything.
“She opened my eyes to a lot,” she said.
The day of remembrance began in 1999 to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman killed in Massachusetts, and has grown into a worldwide observance.
Gatherings on Nov. 20 will include a Twin Cities Pride 2-mile community walk-run, an OutFront Minnesota community event, and a vigil and march hosted by Minnesota Abortion Action Committee.
Chandra Colvin covers Native American communities in Minnesota for MPR News via Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
