TDTF Transgender Day of Remembrance and Aftercare Virtual Events 2023

All of the pages on our website contain potentially triggering information.  However, this page contains multiple descriptions of extreme violence toward Trans people.  Please proceed and sign up for the events at your discretion.  

Contents

• Invitation to virtual TDoR events
• History of TDoR and Update for 2023
• List of unidentified individuals on the 2023 TDoR list
• Description of aftercare event

Invitation to Virtual TDoR Events

This year has been particularly hard on our community.  For this reason, we will be having two virtual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) events, this year including an aftercare and grief processing peer support session a few days later.  We believe it is important to offer a virtual event for TDoR because there are many people who do not live near where an in person event is taking place, are not out and are living with their families and would not be able to go to one, people might feel physically unsafe going to an in person gathering for reasons of health and/or safety, etc.  

November 20th 2023 at 8:30pm Eastern- TDoR virtual vigil and reading of the list
November 24th 2023 at 8:30pm Eastern- Aftercare and grief processing session

The invitation is via a Google form here, and you can register for one or both events via the same form.

A brief history of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and update for 2023

By Viktor Veltstra, LAMMP Admin and TDTF board member

This week has been the Trans Week of Awareness, which is a week dedicated to educating the public on the discrimination, violence, and prejudices which impact the Trans community.

After the Trans Week of Awareness, we observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) on November 20th. TDoR was started by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, with the first observance being held on November 20, 1999 in Boston, MA to commemorate the death of Rita Hester, a Black Trans woman who had been murdered on Nov. 28, 1998 in Boston, MA. The date chosen for TDoR is the date that another Black Trans woman, Channelle Pickett, was murdered in Boston, MA in 1995.

"No one I spoke with then knew who Chanelle Pickett was", Gwendolyn Ann Smith said in an interview years later. "It seemed clear that we were forgetting our past and were... Doomed to repeat it." 

Since it's inception, TDoR has been a way for the community to honor and mourn those we have lost in the year prior, and to ensure that the victims of Anti-Trans violence were not forgotten. While the observance of TDoR is still centrally focused on the Transgender victims of violence, many local and international groups have expanded their yearly vigils to include Transgender people who have passed away in their local communities over the past year, and will also include those who have died of suicide and from other causes. This year, the TDoR list also includes 2 cisgender people. One who was erroneously believed to be a Black Trans woman, and who was viciously murdered by a racist transphobe, and another who killed while protecting a Trans friend who was being threatened. 

There are many difficulties in researching and identifying Trans victims of fatal violence. Just as was the case when Channelle Pickett was murdered in 1995; Transgender victims are often misgendered and deadnamed in news reports and even obituaries, by police, and by unsupportive family members. Unidentified Trans people who are found deceased may have details withheld from the public, which can cause those cases to go cold or remain unsolved for years or even decades. Additionally, not infrequently, when a Transgender person is located and identified, even in states where their chosen names and presentation is legally protected, steps will be taken to erase their identity. We are consistently going back and finding Trans people who have died of violence in previous years, and whose deaths were not noted, and not commemorated because they were unknown at the time. 

And so because of the levels of violence and erasure our community faces, even in death, even when we are victims, even when we are murdered, TDoR has also become a day to actively and defiantly proclaim our own. To say to the world, our beloved deceased Trans siblings existed. They were beautiful, and loved, and important, and their existence and our own will not ever be erased.  

Unidentified Individuals on the 2023 TDoR List

On November 20, we are hosting a private virtual Transgender Day of Remembrance reading of the unidentified victims on this year's list, as well as honoring those who were previously unidentified until this year. At the end of the list are individuals who were initially listed as unidentified, but who were identified with assistance from the Trans Doe Task Force. 

This year, there are 37 individuals listed as "name unknown" out of a total of 392 names (9.4% unknown) on the full list at tdor.translivesmatter.info.

2022: 44 unknown, 395 total (11.1% unknown)
2021: 55 unknown, 472 total (11.7% unknown)
2020: 52 unknown, 435 total (12% unknown)
2019: 51 unknown, 375 total (13.6% unknown)
2018: 48 unknown, 423 total (11.3% unknown)

Visit tdor.translivesmatter.info for the full list

Previously Unidentified

Kenzie Webler - Olympia, Washington November 2022. Kenzie's last contact with loved ones was November 18, 2023. She had traveled from Indiana to Washington state for the funeral of her friend. Her body was found several days later. She was reported missing on December 4, 2023 by her girlfriend. It took several months for her to be identified officially.

Amanda Palmer - Fairfield, Texas (Unclaimed) - Amanda was in a car traveling from Houston to Plano. There was a car accident and Amanda passed away. We believe Amanda was unhoused at the time of her death. She is still unclaimed. 

Dolli Goins -Eugene, Oregon August 10, 2023. Dolli was found deceased on the side of the road and identified by family members, who were not supportive.

Milan Batista - New York (Unclaimed) - Found July 11, 2023, She was identified in October 2023, and is still unclaimed. 

Thaddeus “Tad” Keegan Bradley - Found September 21, 2021 in Willits, California, Identified April, 2023. Tad was a gender non-conforming person whose family described him as a free spirit and spiritual seeker. His death was originally attributed to drug use, however when his family came to claim his remains, they noticed visible damage to his skull, and the police announced that he didn't die of drug use and they now suspect foul play. His case is still open, however his family has claimed him. 

Salsalito Doe found Oct 23, 2023 - Identified, name not released. This is a young Trans man who had a Gengar tatto on his arm. 

Other Trans Doe Task Force Cases

Mykal Rae, friend who reported Sasha Lavigne as missing to TDTF died of suicide around July 21, 2023. Sasha is still missing.

Clayton Stephens, Shot and murdered on April 9, 2023. Clayton was gender non-conforming and reported as missing before his body was found.  

2022-2023 Still unidentifed or unclaimed

Chambers County Doe, Texas. Found in 1986, reclassified 2023 - This is likely a Black or mixed race Trans woman, whose remains were originally classified as being a cis woman.

Kings County Trans Doe Dec. 2022, This is an older, white Trans woman who was found deceased at a homeless encampment. Investigation into her possible identity is ongoing. 

Augustine Hendren was a 51 year old Trans woman who was HIV+. She was an LGBTQ+ activist in New Mexico, and Navajo tribal member. She passed away in a hospital in Tulsa, OK on January 20, 2023. Augustine was a member of the Imperial Court of New Mexico, and held the lifetime title of Princess of the Duke City. Adopted at birth, she became estranged from her family when she came out as Trans. She remains unclaimed, but there are plans for her chosen family to claim her and lay her to rest.

Faye Johnson was found deceased on September 9, 2023 in Honolulu, Hawaii. No cause of death is listed, and she is currently unclaimed. Efforts to identify her next of kin are on-going. 

Aftercare and Grief Processing Peer Support Event

On November 24th, the Friday following TDoR, we are hosting an additional event to provide a space for aftercare, grief processing, and peer support. You must register for this event, which will be via Zoom. As with the TDoR event, this will be as secure as we can make it and will moderate the chat areas to be sure there are no issues that make anyone feel unsafe. The invitation to these events are for anyone, Trans or Ally, but for the aftercare event specifically, we will have a Trans-only breakout room for anyone who does not wish to share their feelings in a mixed group. Typically, we have a public virtual TDoR event and live viewership has been quite small, so we are not expecting a big crowd at these private events and hope to give everyone individual time and/or attention as needed.

The aftercare and grief processing peer support event will be facilitated by Lee Bingham Redgrave, TDTF co-founder. Lee has taken several classes in Death and Grief work this year in preparation for TDoR, via Deathwives, as well as classes in death investigation and forensic sciences. Lee will be joined by Anton King-Rose, founder of Trans Death Care. Anton has several years of experience in a variety of capacities surrounding death care, and has been on the forefront of developing materials with information about Transgender people and mortality both for the Trans community and the death care community. (Check out @transdeathcare on FB or IG.)

We hope you will join us if the Transgender Day of Remembrance event feels heavy or overwhelming for you, or even if you are feeling too raw to attend the event on the 20th, we welcome you to join us for this. We haven't done this before, but feel it is essential to provide given the brutality of the reality of the TDoR list and potential for secondary trauma. **PLEASE NOTE** we are not therapists or certified mental health counselors! This is facilitated peer support for grief processing together. This hits us hard, too.

Hail the unknown dead and fight for the living.