For Kim Watson-Benjamin, Transgender Day of Remembrance is about acknowledging loss, but also about recognizing the people who continue to endure.

“So many individuals in our lives have been lost, and not only lost to murder but also suicide,” Watson-Benjamin said.

Watson-Benjamin, who is the LGBT and health coordinator at the Public Advocate's office, says resilience matters especially at a time when national data shows the toll violence continues to take.

“We need to show up and show up for each other with love and to hold on to each other,” Watson-Benjamin said.

The day dates back to 1999 and the murder of Rita Hester in Boston, created so transgender people killed by violence would be remembered and named.

New national data from the Human Rights Campaign highlights the toll: nearl

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