During an online Nov. 16 Tacoma City Council meeting, a proclamation was issued to acknowledge Nov. 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), and Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards read it.

"...This day is a reminder of the shared responsibility our community has to our Trans and gender-diverse friends, family, and neighbors," Woodards read from the proclamation, "to continue to support them, help educate the public, fight for change, and eliminate hate-filled violence."

Woodards described how the Transgender and gender-diverse communities are ravaged by violence due to misinformation and the removal of basic human rights and protections — all of which allows transphobia and hatred to be woven into our society.

The mayor also discussed the level of fatal violence the Trans and gender-nonconforming community has experienced this year, and that the victims were primarily Black and Latina Trans women. She acknowledged how the ongoing violence affects the psychological and physical health of the Transgender population, and how although it's a difficult reality to recognize, it cannot be ignored.

She also brought up how the lives lost are more than just names on a list; they are community members and loved ones who were taken before their time. Woodards said she honors the lives taken every day, and the lives that are still here.

"Now therefore I, Victoria R. Woodards, mayor of the City of Tacoma, on behalf of the city council do hereby proclaim Saturday, November 20, [2021], as Transgender Day of Remembrance in the City of Tacoma and invite all members of the community to join us in observing this day and working together to improve safety for our Trans and gender-diverse neighbors by promoting acceptance and understanding," she said, reading from the proclamation.

Woodards related how TDOR first began in 1999, with a small group wishing to memorialize the unsolved murder of Rita Hester, a Black Transgender woman who at the time was living in Allston, Massachusetts.

"Rita's name may not be widely known, but her community and family started a movement for justice as they organized in their grief to remember Rita, and to raise awareness of the violence that Transgender and gender-nonconforming people experience," Woodards said. "While Rita's death may have occurred more than 20 years ago, this violent reality and the dehumanization of Transgender and gender-diverse people persists still today."

According to the mayor, over 200 cities in 21 countries across the globe observe TDOR, which mourns and honors Transgender lives that were lost due to violence.

"In this city, we pride ourselves on supporting and celebrating our LGBTQIA+ community, and that means not just celebrating with them but recognizing their challenges and hardships, such as those who we are acknowledging today," Woodards said.

She stated that the TDOR proclamation reading was historic, yet long overdue. Additionally, she mentioned how the Tacoma Municipal Building would raise the Transgender flag at half-mast from Nov. 19 until Nov. 21.

Mayor Woodards asked the council to join her in a virtual round of applause, and TDOR was officially acknowledged in the city of Tacoma.

A deadly year
Oliver Webb, board chair of the Diversity Alliance of Puget Sound (DAPS), and Skye Locke, DAPS secretary, were among those who accepted the proclamation.

"First, thank you so much. Our organization has served the Tacoma community for nearly 18 years," Webb said. He added how Tacoma partnered with DAPS in order to raise the flag at half-mast and invited the community to attend the TDOR event the organization was hosting.

"We want to thank the city of Tacoma and Mayor Woodards for acknowledging such an important day in our community, which so often gets overlooked," Webb said. "This year is now officially the most deadly year for Trans and gender-diverse individuals in history."

Webb also mentioned how the true number of violent deaths of Transgender people will never be known, due to misgendering in police reports and misreporting in the media, even by a victim's own family. DAPS keeps a combined list between its Seattle and Tacoma locations that tracks the number of known violent deaths of Trans people. According to Webb, in the United States and its territories, there have already been 56 violent murders of Trans and gender-nonconforming people this year (as of Nov. 16). The list last year had 55.

"This year the Pacific Northwest lost five members, and in Washington state, we lost two Latinx Trans women, one out of Maple Valley and one out of Centralia," Webb said.

According to Webb, Washington state has lost at least one Transgender or gender-nonconforming person in each of the last three years.

"Oftentimes we think about how safe we are in the Pacific Northwest — and comparatively we are much safer, but we still see this violence. We still see our community ravaged by this hate and these murders, and we need to do better. We need to spread this awareness, and we need to understand that it happens here too," Webb said.

He continued: "We thank you so much for spreading this awareness, for making this day an official day for letting the community know and for raising this flag, which is something that isn't done.

"We see that flag during June, and people understand what that means, but to raise this flag for us on Friday, to make this day an official day means something. It will get people talking. It will help us know that Tacoma stands by us, and it will hopefully help educate others as we move forward, and it will help people feel safe in this city."