Trans Day of Remembrance - Duluth 2021

November 20 was Trans Day of Remembrance, an annual event that memorializes those who have been murdered over the past year because of transphobia.  This year’s Duluth event was organized by Trans+ and was attended by almost 100 people.  The event began with a social at the Men as Peacemakers office in downtown Duluth, from 3-5pm.  The social was organized as a healing space where transgendered persons and allies could gather to reflect on the past year, share food, music and art.  The social also hosted a slide show honoring Evan Adams, a trans man who lost his life to suicide this past year.

Starting at 5pm, the event transitioned to an outdoor vigil at the corner of Lake Avenue and Superior Street, and the MN Power Plaza.  The vigil is the first event to be held at this space since renovations completed this month.  It was a powerful, somber event with candles and photographs of community members who have been lost.  The mayor read a proclamation from the City of Duluth recognizing Trans Day of Remembrance.  But the heart of the event was the moving reading of the names.  Volunteers took turns reading each of the almost 500 transgendered persons who were murdered this past year because of transphobia (47 of them in the U.S.).

The event was a powerful reminder of the violence that is a reality for far too many in the trans and non-binary communities.  But it was also a powerful in showing the strength of solidarity, of coming together to remember, but also to recommit to continuing the fight for a better world.  We commend the organizers and participants of this important event.

>> The article above was written by Adam Ritscher of the Northwoods Socialist Collective.