Perth residents united last month to mourn the deaths of 30 transgender people from across the globe who were killed due to trans*-related violence since November last year.
Over 40 people attended Perth’s second Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil at the Queens Gardens on November 20 despite wet conditions.
Both transgendered and cis-gendered (non-transgendered) people attended the modest event as people held tealight candles in respect.
Organiser Evelyn Burdinat said the event went quite well and was very positive due to larger attendance than last year.
‘It’s a fairly good indication that Australia is a bit more stable in terms of outcry against transgender people,’ she said.
‘Next year I would hope we don’t need to have Transgender Day of Remembrance.’
The event heard speeches from community leaders followed by Burdinat reading out the list of victims killed during the year; down from 130 deaths the year before.
One of the victims was 16-month-old Roy Antonio Jones from Southampton, New York who was punched repeatedly by his mother’s boyfriend who said he was ‘trying to make him act like a boy instead of a little girl’.
Another was an unidentified transgender woman from Jakarta, Indonesia who was found dismembered and mutilated.
One third of this year’s murders were in the U.S with the remaining deaths reported in countries in Southern Europe, South America and throughout Asia: there were no deaths reported in Australia.
Burdinat said suicides were left off the list since they were not considered hate crimes but did make up for many deaths in the trans* community.
‘Some can’t cope with the feelings that they have and are led to believe what they are feeling is wrong and can’t see any way out of it,’ Burdinat said.
Pride WA co-President Charles Denham delivered a heartfelt speech about the trans* community in Perth, raising the prejudices still faced by the minority but addressed the progress achieved in rights and public perception.
The Chameleon Society coordinator Claire Manchesi spoke of unifying the transgender community under one banner, establishing one main trans* rights organisation for WA.
This year marked the 12th Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil which was initiated following the murder of US transgender person Rita Hester on November 28, 1998.
