Mayor Katjana Ballantyne addressed the gathering at Somerville’s Transgender Day of Remembrance. — Photo courtesy of Somerville GovTV

By Olivia LeDuc

Last Monday, a small crowd gathered at the front of Somerville High School in a ceremony to mark the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, honoring the lives of transgender and gender non-conforming people lost to violence each year.

Somerville’s ceremony, and others like it nationwide, are held each Nov. 20 to remember the lives of those who have been killed because of their identities.

“It is more than disheartening to confront the harsh realities that members of our transgender community have been subjected to violence,” Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said at the ceremony. “Somerville is unwavering in its commitment to remain a safe and welcoming community for all people who call our city home.”

At least 26 trans and gender non-conforming people were killed in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Human Rights Campaign. As in most years, the victims in these cases were primarily trans women of color.

“I so long for a world where transgender people are safe and this hatred doesn’t exist,” said Izzy Starr, the city’s LGBTQ+ services coordinator. “I am scared for my community that more of our loved ones will be stolen from us.”

Mayor Ballantyne and Starr both called attention to the locality of the day’s international observance. Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman, was found murdered in her Allston apartment in 1998 – a case that has yet to be solved. Hester’s death spurred the first Transgender Day of Remembrance in 1999.

Such crimes in Massachusetts were all too familiar for transgender people in the state. In November 1995, three years prior to Hester’s death, Chanelle Pickett was strangled to death in Watertown. A Massachusetts jury acquitted William Palmer for the murder of Pickett, a Black transgender woman.

“They were young women just getting started in life. They had hopes, dreams and a lifetime of contributions,” Mayor Ballantyne said. “It breaks my heart to have to say both of these women should still be here now.”

Of the 26 victims recognized by the Human Rights Campaign, approximately 88% were people of color, 54% were Black women, and 50% were misgendered or incorrectly named by police or the press after their death. The organization, in addition to data revealed in the Trans Murder Monitoring report, said the true number of deaths is likely higher, as not all cases of violent deaths are reported.

“While I do not know them personally, I recognize them,” Starr, who identifies as transgender and non-binary, said of all victims of anti-transgender violence. “I carry them with me in my heart.”

Starr read aloud to the crowd the names and lives that were taken by violence this year, followed by a moment of silence to reflect on the victims.

Among those in attendance at the ceremony were community members and activists for LGBTQ+ youth in Massachusetts.

Evan Sung, a transgender person who lives in Somerville, was one such person. As the marketing coordinator for the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (BAGLY), an organization committed to providing support and services for LGBTQ+ youth, Sung said they attended the ceremony to show others there is community and aid, if needed, in the area.

Sung, who recently came out as transgender, said they were touched by the community support and shared space to memorize those who have been lost to violence.

“It’s always nice to find a community where I can,” Sung said. “One life lost is too many.”

“We are equally as human as you are. We have interests, hobbies, parents, siblings and loved ones,” Sung continued.

In the U.S., there have been a record-breaking 500 and counting pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation introduced in state houses across the country this year, more than each of the previous five years, Mayor Ballantyne pointed out. 85 of these bills have been passed.

“Anti-LGBTQ+ violence and rhetoric in this country can prevent you from feeling like you truly belong in your community,” Mayor Ballantyne said. “But we cannot allow this to happen. We must challenge prejudice and discrimination at every turn.”

“From people who claim to represent our best interests as their constituents who, time and time again, use their power to push policies that criminalize our rights,” Starr said.

Mayor Ballantyne encouraged LGBTQ+ community members to speak more about what they want to see for initiatives and resources to serve the city better.

At the end of the ceremony, clinical youth specialist Hallory Mogren invited crowd members to engage in an art activity to create community and express some of the difficult emotions they may have been feeling. Participants wrote their emotions on stones and placed them in a jar meant to hold the weight.

On the same table, there were additional jars of the names of those known to be taken by anti-transgender violence this year.

Jake Wilson, Somerville City Councilor At-Large, placed stones in the jar. For Wilson, this year’s ceremony was another he made a point of attending to show support for victims and his transgender friends and loved ones.

In a time when other parts of the country are not as welcoming to transgender people and other LGBTQ+ members, Wilson said he is grateful for belonging to a community where identities are recognized and celebrated.

“It’s nice to be in a community that supports our transgender friends and neighbors. I’m appreciative of moments like this that we are in Somerville,” Wilson said.