F. Boylan, viewing the documentary video Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story, directed by Mark Herzog and Sandrine Orabona, attending the 2015 Transgender Day of Remembrance, sponsored by the Rainbow Community Center in Concord, California, conducting an interview with Skyler, a young trans*woman, and the advocacy group, the Contra Costa LGBTQ Youth Advocacy Collaborative & …show more content…
Too often, violence against transgender people goes unreported or misreported. By recognizing this day, we draw attention to the systematic erasure of transgender people and the violence that they face every day. Furthermore, by revealing that transgender women of color are most victimized, it renders clarity to the intersectional nature of violence that our community faces. Naming and standing up against violence is no easy task, but it is one of great importance. Raising awareness is a starting point to continued advocacy. (Anonymous)
The remainder of the ceremony was beautiful, each reader held a slim tapered white candle; one by one a single candle was lit as each of the twenty-seven names were read aloud. After the reading of the names each person who held a candle walked to the table and lit one of the twenty-seven larger candles. When that was completed a pastor spoke about supporting trans* people and asked us to pick a stone, place it in the container and pledge our support to a trans* person or persons that we know.