Allentown readies Transgender Day of Remembrance
‘Get to know our community and the wonderful individuals who make it up’
On Sunday, the names of 47 transgender people who have been killed in the past year due to anti-trans violence — including two from Pennsylvania — will be read out loud. A candle will be lit for each.
“The individuals being honored this week died at the hands of lovers, the hands of strangers and the hands of the police,” said Corinne Goodwin, executive director of the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project. “Others, who will not be named, died by their own hand after suffering from hunger, disease and the neglect of their families.
“They died at the hands of a system that chooses to ignore them. That casts them out — and believes that they need to conform.”
Sunday is observed by many as the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day set aside each year to honor the lives of transgender and nonbinary people victimized by transphobic violence, to spread awareness of that continued violence against trans people, and to foster inclusion and empathy in communities across the country.
“But it is also important — especially during trans awareness week — to tell the stories of trans joy and success and resilience,” Goodwin said. “We urge members of the public to attend our annual TDOR event, not only to honor those we have lost — but more critically — to get to know our community and the wonderful individuals who make it up.”
The Eastern PA Trans Equity Project and Metropolitan Community Church of the Lehigh Valley are hosting an event Sunday in the Lehigh Valley to honor those who have died. It’s set to begin 4 p.m. at Allentown’s Arts Park, 24-32 N. Fifth St.
Two of the almost four dozen people to be memorialized during the ceremony include two Pennsylvania residents.
Amariey Lei, a young Black transgender woman who was also known as Myara, was found fatally shot New Year’s Day in Pittsburgh.
“Her death marks at least the first violent killing of a transgender or gender-nonconforming person in 2022,” according to the Human Rights Campaign. “We say ‘at least’ because too often these deaths go unreported — or misreported.”
Miia Love Parker, 25, a Black transgender woman, was fatally shot April 1 in Chester, Delaware County. About a week after the shooting, CBS Philadelphia reported that charges were filed in the killing, but the alleged shooter had not yet been arrested. In the same report, the outlet said Parker’s surviving family members said, “She knew how to light up a room.”
There have been 205 homicides of transgender individuals in U.S. since January 2017, and 73% were with a gun, according to nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. The vast majority of all transgender gun homicide victims in the U.S. were Black women.
“At the same time, lawmakers in states across the country have put forward record numbers of anti-trans bills along with dangerous gun bills,” the organization argued in a 2020 report dedicated to the 49 people killed in the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting. “It creates an environment ripe for deadly gun violence fueled by hate.
“Anti-trans violence, and specifically anti-trans gun violence, is concentrated against the Black community. While just 13% of the trans population in the United States is estimated to be Black, 73% of known trans homicide victims were Black women.”
Community events like Sunday’s ceremony work not only to draw attention to those in the community who have lost their lives, but also work to end the violence, advocates say.
“Over forty transgender people in the United States — primarily trans women of color — have lost their lives at the hands of others,” said Rev. Elizabeth Goudy of MCCLV. “It is through efforts like this that we can educate the broader community about these issues and ultimately eliminate them.”