Day of Remembrance honors trans people

Names read aloud at somber LV event

The candles were lit one by one, as people lined up to read the names of the dozens of transgender and gender nonconforming people who died in the past year.

Most were transgender women of color.

Johana Leon died in June in El Paso, Texas, after being in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

Paris Cameron was a victim in a May triple homicide in Detroit where she and two gay men were allegedly targeted for being LGBTQ.

Dymun Dupree was identified in September after her skull was found in 2016 in Georgia, according to The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada, also called The Center.

The 33 people honored Friday night died between Oct. 1, 2018, and Sept. 30, the Rev. Jamie Sprague-Ballou told the crowd at The Center.

Though National Transgender Day of Remembrance was observed Wednesday, about 80 people gathered Friday to listen to the names of those who have died since the last remembrance ceremony.

“It doesn’t get any easier. In fact, this year the numbers are up,” Sprague-Ballou said.

There were 331 reported deaths of transgender people across the world that the day of remembrance is meant to honor, she told the crowd.

Sprague-Ballou addressed the group dressed in all black, wearing a clerical collar and a pink, blue and white stole — the colors of the transgender pride flag. Sprague-Ballou, who said she has hosted the remembrance events for 13 years, became the first ordained transgender woman in the United Church of Christ about two years ago.

She said the event is held to honor those who may not have been respected before or after their deaths.

“When most of these people are murdered, and then if they do have a funeral, if they do have some kind of remembrance, it’s usually not according to their gender identity,” Sprague-Ballou said. “We give them the dignity that they lost in their deaths.”

Of the 33 names read, 32 people died in the U.S. One woman, Jesusa Reyes, was reportedly kidnapped on May 18 in Veracruz, Mexico, and her decapitated body was found the following day, according to The Center.

One woman cried when reading the name of Claire Legato, a 21-yearold who was shot in Cleveland on May 14. It took more than 15 minutes to get through the long list and read every name, date of death, location and a short description.

Ray Macfarlane, the manager of the Center’s Trans and Gender Diversity Program, told the crowd that more than LGBTQ people need to speak up about violence against transgender people.

“People can’t care if they don’t know, and they don’t know if you don’t tell them,” Macfarlane said.

Las Vegas Review-Journal file At a Transgender Day of Remembrance event in 2017 at Metropolitan Community Church, a candle is held in honor of a trans person who died that year. This year’s remembrance ceremony was held Friday night at The Center.