In autumn 1998, Rita Hester was murdered in Allston, Massachusetts. The motive for the attack remains largely a mystery, but many believe Hester’s murder was a hate crime, as evidenced by the brutality of the assault, and the fact that the assailant did not appear to have stolen anything from her apartment. Her death shook the transgender community to its core and ultimately led the way to the Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual event marked across the country to commemorate transgender murder victims.
Founded in 1998 by activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith, the Transgender Day of Remembrance focuses on increasing awareness of discriminatory violence based on transphobia, or the hatred or fear of transgender people and their community. Since its inception, the Transgender Day of Remembrance has evolved form a web-based project to an international day of action. UMB’s Queer Student Center hosted its own remembrance and speak-out event on Thursday, Nov. 17.
Queer Student Center Coordinator Stephanie Bonvissuto first spoke of recent events, specifically the Transgender Equal Rights Bill that passed in Massachusetts this month.
“[The Transgender Equal Rights Bill] is bittersweet. We can celebrate its passage here in Massachusetts, guaranteeing anti-discrimination in regards to housing and employment. However, the public accommodation clauses in the bill did not make it through the [Massachusetts] House and Senate.”
The passage of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill makes Massachusetts the 16th state to extend critical protections to transgender residents in employment, housing, education, credit, and hate crimes. However, as Bonvissuto acknowledged, the bill does not include essential protections within public accommodations, which include restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations and other places where daily life is routinely conducted.
“In other words, a transgender person cannot go to the bathroom publicly without impunity,” said Bonvissuto. “We can still be questioned about our gender and be pulled out [of public accommodations]. Inequality still exists, but that should not overshadow the passage of this historical bill.”
The event then turned its attention to transgender murder victims. A candlelight vigil was held and stories of various transgender murder victims were read by UMB students.
“At least 20 people from the trans community cannot celebrate with us today. They have been murdered. They have been slaughtered for the reason for being trans, for being themselves,” said Bonvissuto.
Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring project revealed that within this year, approximately 180 transgender people were murdered worldwide. This is a continuing rise from last year’s reported 179 cases. According to the Human Rights Campaign, one out of every 1,000 murders in the United States is a hate crime against a transgender person.
“It was emotional to look up these stories and the way the news represents [transgender murder victims] … their [legal] names and their identified gender aren’t used. … the way [newspapers] just treat these murders,” said Queer Student Center Assistant Coordinator Cheyenne Fox Tree-McGrath.
Media coverage of transgender-associated murders has often been deemed negative, prompting outcry and protests from the transgender community. An article covering the murder of Rita Hester used her birth name instead of her legal name, and described her using male pronouns throughout its coverage.
“Remember that these are living people. These are not mere names. These are not mere news articles,” said Bonvissuto. “These are people from all walks of life, from all colors of life, from all classes of life. They were living their authentic lives and were targeted and killed.”
Stories Shared at the Event:
My name is Priscilla Brandao and I was a 22-year-old woman. I lived in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. On March 2, 2011, I was shot in the head and it was described as a “brutal execution-style murder.” After my murder, the only queer member of Brazil’s parliament received death threats. Brazil, which is a vacation spot of South America, also boasts the highest rate of trans murders in the world.
I was Didem, and Findikzade, Istanbul, Turkey was my home. I had my throat slit July 31, 2011 after I had gone to meet with a man who I had met through Facebook. My murderer was caught soon after because of the noise associated with my death. He confessed to the police, “I thought she was a woman, but she was a transvestite. After learning this, I killed her.” I was 26 years old.
My name is Camila Guzman. I was 38 years old and lived in the bright, big and fast-paced New York City in my beautiful East Harlem apartment. I was found several hours after my murderer stabbed me several times in the back of the neck and chest with a kitchen knife and tied me to my bed post. The article that the New York Post wrote about my murder said, “The transgender hooker found murdered inside his bloody East Harlem apartment was identified through a fairly new investigative tool.” They then used my murder as an opportunity to talk about new fingerprinting devices and how they are being used by the NYPD…
