Transgender Flag Rising... over the Castro

Americans tell their stories for Transgender Awareness Week

in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-americans-tell-their-stories-transgender-awareness-week151112



Video campaign hopes to raise awareness of transgender issues in the US






A video campaign featuring prominent trans Americans has been launched to mark Transgender Awareness Week.

The 'I AM: Trans People Speak' videos feature New York Times bestseller Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan and actress Laverne Cox telling their own personal stories.

Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) attorney Noah Lewis and performance poet Kit Yan also share their experiences to camera in the campaign which aims to put transgender issues in the spotlight to educate the public and speak to trans youth and adults.

The videos' release by LGBT rights group GLAAD and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition coincides with Transgender Awareness Week.

The US campaign, which started 12 November and runs until 19 November, hopes to raise visibility and awareness of transgender people and issues.

'The stories of everyday transgender Americans remain relatively unheard in both national and LGBT media,' said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick.

'These stories will not only empower members of the transgender community who rarely see relatable stories, but also educate Americans everywhere about the fact that the community is a valuable part of the fabric of our culture.

'The campaign will also shine a light on the high level of discrimination that our transgender friends, family and neighbors continue to face in schools, the workplace and in their own communities.'

Transgender Awareness Week culminates with the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) on 20 November, honoring the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.

Keep up with Transgender Awareness Week on Twitter by following hashtag #TAW12. Follow the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Twitter with hashtag #TDoR

Watch a selection of the videos below:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-americans-tell-their-stories-transgender-awareness-week151112

Transgender Day of Remembrance - Sunday, November 20

in: http://www.shewired.com/


Sunday, November 20th marks the 13th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

On November 28, 1998, Boston police entered the apartment of Rita Hester, a 34-year-old woman active in the city’s transgender community. We know little about the lives of those officers, but surely, they never forgot what they saw that evening: Rita brutally stabbed 20 times in the chest.

One week later, activist and writer Gwendolyn Ann Smith decided to organize a candlelight vigil in Rita’s honor. About 250 people with red, wet eyes gathered: There, facing another cold New England winter and the dull brown of Boston, Smith launched the first Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This Sunday, November 20, the annual vigil turns thirteen. And for many, it’s still difficult to think of Rita as dead. It’s just as difficult not to get lost in silence when we can’t bear to think about it; about all of those people—327 in the United States alone—whose lives have been lost to anti-transgender violence. It leaves many of us, undoubtedly, scratching our heads.

But while Vigils certainly help raise awareness, anti-LGBT violence certainly is on the rise. In a 2010 Hate Violence Report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects, violence against the LGBT community increased by 13% from 2009 to 2010. During that same time period, murder rates increased by 23% (70% were people of color and 44% were transgender women), according to GLAAD.

With numbers like these, all of us have an obligation to do something, anything, however big or small. Change is anything but impossible, for there is still value and love all over the world. We owe those two things to the dead, but not forgotten.

To find a TDOR EVENT in your city, visit www.transgenderor.org.

From Los Angeles, California to New York City, caring LGBT individuals and allies will be gathering around the country to remember those we've lost and how far we have to go to raise awareness and end LGBT-violence.

Transgender Day of Remembrance, Nov. 20‏

To memorialize and fight for a better future

November 20 marks the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, memorializing those lost to anti-transgender violence over the past year.

For more information on the Transgender Day of Remembrance and a list of related events around the world, many of which are held this week, visit http://www.transgenderdor.org/



Transgender Day of Remembrance - Memorial list 2010