November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance. From Gwendolyn Ann Smith, an activist who started this recognition in 1999:
Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people — sometimes in the most brutal ways possible — it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign will hold a candlelight vigil on Saturday, November 20th at 5:30 p.m. with speakers and a reading of names of people who have been lost this year. All are welcome to attend.
Top photo from pexels.com.