LGBTQ community advocates and allies will gather for vigils throughout Central Florida and Tampa Bay Nov. 20 to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance 2019.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 22 transgender and gender non-confirming people were killed in 2019. Equality Florida adds that since 2018, seven transgender women of color have been murdered in Florida, the most of any state in the country.
“As we mourn the lives taken in Florida, and across the world, our work to combat the ongoing epidemic of violence against transgender, enby, and gender non-conforming people continues,” Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality Gina Duncan says.
“We do this by fighting back against attacks by the Trump Administration who seeks to erase us, by providing media and law enforcement with transgender cultural competency trainings, and by creating a new generation of trans and enby leaders through our TransAction Leadership Academy,” she continues.
Watermark has compiled a list of vigils and events throughout Central Florida and Tampa Bay. If there is a related event not seen below that you feel the community should know about, please send the information to Tampa Bay Bureau Chief Ryan Williams-Jent at Ryan@WatermarkOnline.com.
CENTRAL FLORIDA
Transgender Day of Remembrance
12-2 p.m. | Hope & Help | Winter Park
Hope & Help hosts a luncheon highlighting disparities for the trans community and provides actionable steps to bridge the gap and give hope of equality and equity. Learn more here.
Orlando Transgender Day of Remembrance
2-9:45 p.m. | Valencia College East Campus | Orlando
Gender Identity in Florida Today (GIFT) and Transpire Florida activities will include poetry readings and performances, inspirational speakers, reading of the names and a benediction. Learn more here.
Transgender Day of Remembrance
4-6 p.m. | University of Central Florida Cape Florida Ballroom | Orlando
Join the UCF community in an annual observance to honor the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. Learn more here.
TAMPA BAY
20th Anniversary Transgender Day of Remembrance
6-8:30 p.m. | Robert J. Strickland Memorial Park | Hudson
Florida Trans Proud has arranged a special musical tribute and poem to be shared by local transgender community members and speakers to pay tribute to lost siblings. Learn more here.
Transgender Day of Remembrance
6-7:30 p.m. | ALSO Youth | Sarasota
ALSO Youth will hold a candlelight vigil to memorialize the lives lost to anti-transgender violence. Learn more here.
Trans Day of Remembrance 2019
6-8 p.m. | Ben T. Davis Beach | Tampa
Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Tampa stands in solidarity with transgender individuals around the globe to commemorate and celebrate the lives and the struggles of the individuals that passed this year. Learn more here.
Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil
7-8 p.m. | Metro LGBTQ Welcome Center | St. Petersburg
The Metro LGBTQ Welcome Center welcomes St. Petersburg activists for a mayoral proclamation reading and candlelight vigil. Learn more here.
Trans Day of Remembrance
7-9 p.m. | Unitarian Universalist Church | Tarpon Springs
Friends of Jack and Unitarian Universalist Church of Tarpon Springs host a candlelight vigil and celebration of life to honor all of those who have lost their lives this year. Learn more here.
Trans Day of Remembrance and Resistance!
8:30-9:30 p.m. | Tampa City Hall | Tampa
The Sex Worker Solidary Network mourns the deaths and murders of transgender people this year. Learn more here.
