On a cool November night in 1999, dozens of transgender people and their friends stood thousands of miles apart in Boston and San Francisco. They lit slender candles and spoke into the surrounding darkness the names of trans people whose lives had abruptly – and violently – ended.

That somber night, born out of trans activists’ anger and frustration after two Black trans women were killed in Massachusetts, is now considered the first Transgender Day of Remembrance.

On November 20, communities across the globe will meet to read aloud the names of trans people who died by violence over the last year. For transgender Americans, this year’s memorials will take on particular poignance, as the Trump administration and conservative lawmakers have taken great strides to restrict how they can

See Full Page