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Day of Remembrance for Transgendered Victims of Hate Crimes

by Phoenix
The call is out for assistance for this annual event, remembering murdered sisters, brothers and others in our struggle for gender liberation.
Transgenders United for Equality
1036 Polk Street, Suite 203
San Francisco, CA 94109-6952
(415) 928-2348
Home Page: <A HREF=\"http://members.aol.com/truesf\">
http://members.aol.com/truesf
==================================
CALL FOR
ASSISTANCE & ATTENDANCE
25-11-00 03:26 AM

Candlelight Vigil and Ceremony
Day of Remembrance for
Transgendered Victims of Hate Crime

=== Where will this happen? ===

* UN Plaza, near SF City Hall (Near Larkin and Market, I believe)

=== When will this take place? ===

* Tuesday, the 28th November is the Day of Remembrance. We should gather
around dusk/early evening, around 6pm.

=== Why are we doing this? ===

* So that we can remember our dead and build a sense of community.

* To help build public awareness of violence against transgendered people.


=== What will happen? ===

* A gathering with speakers, including

- Opening speech: Gwen Smith, creator of the Remembering Our Dead website
- Lighting candles
- Speaker: James Green, author of Body Alchemy
- Speaker: Supervisor Mark Leno (SF 8th district)
- Speaker: TRUE Exec. Director Rosalyne S. Montgomery
- Possible other speakers
- A Reading of the names
- Closing prayer or speech

=== How can I help out? ===

* We need the following items. If you can help, *please* let me know:

- Publicity: help get the word out about the event by word of mouth or
whatever. If you can help with copying or distributing the flyer for the
event, let me know as well. We will likely be posting those this Friday,
and could use extra hands.

- Signs: We could use signs at the event, with the names of the victims
since last Day of Remembrance, and maybe a few general signs. If anyone
wants to gather to do these, and can donate equipment for the making of
same (cardboard, markers, etc.), lemme know.

- Candles: Bring your own candle if you can, but if anyone knows a place
to get a large quantity of cheap white tapers, or if you would like to
donate some, please drop a line. Ditto for matches.

- Other Equipment: Anyone know where we can get a microphone and an
amplifier? It would vastly improve the experience. Also (an oddball
request), anyone Know where we can borrow a bell for the evening?
Something like a lower-range handbell would be optimal, of course, but
just about anything will do. And ya, does anyone have access to some
appropriate flowers?

- Speakers: If anyone is interested in speaking on the issues related to
the event, please let us know. Likewise, if you are willing to give a
closing (but please, not religion-specific, as many of us are not
Christians) prayer, drop a line.

- Moolah: If we can\'t get some of the above donated, we may need to
rent/purchase the equipment, and could use financial assistance to make
that happen.


===================>8===================

Day of Remembrance One Week Away

The Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed
due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The date of the event,
November 28th, was chosen to honor Rita Hester, whose murder kicked off
the \"Remembering Our Dead\' web project and a San Francisco candlelight
vigil in 1999. Rita was stabbed to death in her own apartment.

This year, a number of major events are being planned through the United
States to honor these individuals. They include the following:

*Tuscon, Arizona: Their vigil will start at the SE corner of 4th Avenue
and 2nd Street at 6 p.m., followed by a march to the Wingspan Community
Center. Additional information can be found at
http://www.tgnetarizona.org/tgdor.htm

* San Francisco, California: A candlelight vigil will be held at U.N.
Plaza on the 28th, starting around 6pm. Scheduled speakers include James
Green, Gwen Smith, and SF Supervisor Mark Leno. Contact
gwen [at] gwensmith.com for more details. Santa Cruz Trans will also be
sending a contingent up to the SF event, and Joy Hugues
(transcengender [at] yahoo.com) can be contacted for Santa Cruz details.

* Ft. Meyers Beach, Florida: They will be holding a candle vigil with a
reading of names and a march from the park to City Hall. Drop a line to
gawindsor [at] cyou.com for more information.

* Atlanta, Georgia: Their event will be held at the Georgia State Capitol
Building, and will also feature a slate of speakers. For additional
details, contact Monica F. Helms at NewFem [at] prodigy.net.

* New York City, New York: A memorial service with numerous speakers is
being planned. Contact Donna at donnacartwright [at] earthlink.net for the
specifics.

* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: In an event co-sponsored by William Way
Center and the Transgender Health Action Coalition, the local community
has set up a candlelight memorial ceremony at 7pm, to be held at the
William Way GLBT Center. Details can be found at
http://www.critpath.org/thac/dor.html

* Boston, Massachusetts: Members of Transsexual Menace Boston are
planning a Rita Hester Memorial March. Please contact Jenny at
transexual_menace_boston [at] hotmail.com for details.

Additional locations for which I do not have current information on
include Houston, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

This has been a particularly bloody year, with seventeen deaths reported
in the media. A total of eighteen have been reported since the last Day
of Remembrance, November 28th, 1999. It is likely that a great many more
also happened that never were shown in print. These deaths include:

* Unnamed infant with ambiguous genitalia: They were allegedly killed by
the child\'s mother in Dallas Texas on December 8th, 1999. The baby was
three days old, and died of blunt force trauma to the head, as well as
strangulation. Investigators also found shards of glass in the baby\'s
esophagus and small intestine, possibly indicating that someone initially
tried to kill the child by forcing them to eat glass, in an effort to
cause internal bleeding.

* Alina Marie Barrigan: Alina was strangled to death in San Jose,
California, January 19, 2000. Alina was a 19-year-old transgendered
woman, and was a volunteer at the Billy DeFrank GLBT Center.

* Jill Seidel: She died in Honolulu, Hawaii on February 3, 2000. Though
police, who have been lax to pursue this case, claim this to be an
substance abuse case, evidence in the autopsy report indicate that foul
play may have played a much larger part than the police wish to admit.

* Ihok (Hugo Yonathan). Ihok was from Lenteng Agung, Jagakarsa,
Indonesia, and was killed on February 14, 2000 by Eight stab wounds in
the back, four in the abdomen and two in the neck. Itok was also
sodomized prior to the murder.

* Vanesa-Lorena Ledesma: Ledesma, an activist in Cordoba, Argentina died
in police custody on February 16, 2000. The Argentine police listed her
death as a cardiac arrest in spite of an autopsy report that showed
strong evidence of physical punishment and torture. She had no history
of heart problems.

* Christine Chappel: Chappel was found in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England on
March 2, 2000. She was weighted down with a length of chain, three 2.5
kg circular weights and two padlocks before being thrown into a local
river. Her body was discovered when it washed up on the beach.

* Michelle Lynne O\'Hara: Though not a murder, Michelle committed suicide
on March 14, 2000 in New York City. She had been brutally beaten and
raped one week prior to her death. The rapist fractured 2 of her ribs,
her genitalia were badly bruised and swollen secondary to his kicks. Her
rectum was ripped secondary to the rape and required several stitches.
Her right eye was badly bruised. He left her badly beaten and terrified.
She laid in the alleyway for several hours until a passerby heard her and
assisted her until the ambulance arrived. She was taken to the hospital
and was treated with indifference by the hospital staff because of her
transgendered status. The police were also less than empathic. The
event, according to those close to her, took away her will to live.

* Stephanie Yazum: She died March 23rd, 2000 in Schenectady, New York.
Her Throat was slashed outside her apartment. David A. Bronson has
confessed to this killing.

* Deja Johnson: they were killed in April in Miami, Florida, allegedly by
Jeffrey Trivanty \"Bowlegs\" Flanders

* Tyra Henderson: Tyra was Bludgeoned to death in Washington, D.C. on
April 23rd, 2000. There are also reports that breasts were slashed and
her penis cut off.

* Astrid La Fontaine: Astrid was shot to death in Guatemala City,
Guatemala on May 20.

* Carla Natasha Hunt: Killed in Suitland, Maryland, by a single gunshot
wound to the head on May 15, 2000

* Amanda Milan: Her throat was slashed in New York City, New York on June
18, 2000. According to one report, several of the yellow cab drivers
parked along the street cheered and applauded as Amanda bled to death.

* Beverly Lineth: She was beaten to death in Guatemala City, Guatemala on
July 5, 2000.

* Julia Carrizales: Julia was strangled on July 21, 2000 in Webster,
Texas. There were also numerous stab wounds on her body.

* Dayana (Jose Luis Nieves): She was murdered by two men in Carabobo,
Nicaragua, July 29th, 2000. At the time of her death, she was still
recovering from a earlier attack with a pellet gun.

* Keith E. Jackson: Perished due to blunt force trauma on Miami, Florida
on August 27, 2000.

* Ana Melisa Cortez: Stabbed to death in Nashville, Tennessee on or
around October 15th.

We are now well ahead of the \"standard\" number of reported transgender
deaths, which stands at one person being reported by the press each
month, dead due to hatred or prejudice towards transgendered individuals.
That number - one a month - bears itself out over the last decade. It
may be on the rise due to a heightened interest in reporting
anti-transgender violence in the wake of ground breaking films such as
\"Boys Don\'t Cry.\"

If you feel comfortable letting people know about this epidemic, please
consider doing so on the one year anniversary of the as-of-yet-unsolved
murder of Rita Hester, this Sunday. Consider wearing black in memory, or
do something -- anything -- to remember those who have died.

For those of you who will not be able to attend an event, but have a web
site, may I ask (as many of us did last year) that you consider blacking
out your site this Tuesday, to remember these individuals?

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