Cronkite Header

Valley residents commemorate transgender lives lost on day of remembrance

Email this story
Print this story
Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014

By Thuy Lan Nguyen

PHOENIX – The first Transgender Day of Remembrance was held in 1999 to commemorate the life of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered in Massachusetts in 1998. The day has been marked every year since on Nov. 20. Phoenix residents gathered for the annual ceremony this year and read more than 200 names of individuals who were killed due to violence against transgender people. But some of those in attendance who identify as transgender said transphobia is still a reality in their lives today.