With mixture of sorrow and pride, activists celebrate transgender life, mourn ones lost

Day of Remembrance outside City Hall recalls 29 dead in violent acts.

The tone of the Transgender Day of Remembrance event held outside Austin City Hall on Monday evening was, as always, a bittersweet mix of hope and sadness as organizers and attendees proclaimed their pride to be transgender and mourned the loss of transgender individuals who were killed this year.

For years, Austin has participated in the international event, which seeks to bring attention to violence that is committed against transgender people every year. On Monday, organizers read the names of 29 people who have been killed in the United States since the event was held last November.

“It’s very important to me to do this outside, in public,” said Lisa Scheps, the board chair of the Transgender Education Network of Texas. Holding the event out in the open, Scheps said, reminds elected leaders that transgender people are their constituents and reminds the rest of the world that they are not afraid to stand up to injustices committed against them.

Before reading the 29 names, participants made speeches, sang songs and read poetry. The event had a deeply religious tone at times as participant Mason Vaughan sang a Regina Spektor song about how “no one laughs at God in a hospital, no one laughs at God in a war,” and a rabbi and a Christian minister prayed and gave speeches.

Everyone who spoke at the event stood in front of 29 empty