How to Observe Transgender Day of Remembrance
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
What is Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR)?
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
How can people recognize TDOR?
GLAAD will be hosting an online vigil on November 20, 2019 at 10am ET/7am PT on Twitter. There are also events hosted across the country in local communities by advocates.
Importantly, this day is about remembering those who have been lost to anti-transgender violence so learning the names and stories of each transgender person is of highest importance. You can find out more about those lost to anti-transgender violence this year and years past here.
Suggested social copy:
We’re observing Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors the memory of trans people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-trans violence. #TDOR glaad.org/tdor
Transgender Day of Remembrance honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. Learn how you can get involved. #TDOR glaad.org/tdor
On Transgender Day of Remembrance, we remember the transgender people whose lives have been lost to anti-transgender violence this year and over the years. #TDOR glaad.org/tdor
Social media graphics can be found at this link.
For greater context:
There is an epidemic of violence targeting the trans community (the American Medical Association has declared in 2019) that disproportionately affects Black trans women and trans women of color. This is a disturbing pattern that persists year over year.
GLAAD has been calling on the media for increased and accurate media coverage for years, which mainstream media has finally started doing. Now, the important part comes to shifting the narrative on transgender homicides to more than a number count. Read our guidance on why.
Specific numbers and variation are inevitable due to misreporting, underreporting, or absence of reporting on these crimes. For GLAAD, we list the names of the transgender people whose lives have been lost to anti-transgender violence, so their gender identity was in involved in the cause of their death. We also have listed those whose deaths are still being investigated as possible homicides.
We recommend for media to use the wording “at least” when referring to the number of deaths because there is no way to count with perfect accuracy given all of the above.
Read this guide to reporting on transgender victims of crime.
Of the 879 series regular characters expected to appear on broadcast primetime scripted programming in the coming year, 90 (10.2 percent) were counted as LGBTQ. This is the highest percentage of LGBTQ regular characters GLAAD has counted on primetime scripted broadcast programming, and up from the previous year’s 8.8 percent. Last year, GLAAD called on the broadcast networks to ensure that 10 percent of primetime broadcast scripted series regulars were LGBTQ by 2020. In just one year, the networks met and exceeded this call.
Notably for the first time this year, LGBTQ women on primetime broadcast scripted series outnumber LGBTQ men on those programs. Of the 120 LGBTQ characters on broadcast, 53 percent are women and 47 percent are men. There is one non-binary character on broadcast. Additionally, this is the second year in a row on broadcast where LGBTQ people of color outnumber white LGBTQ people, 52 percent to 48 percent.
On cable, Showtime is the most LGBTQ-inclusive network with 38 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters expected on the network’s primetime scripted series. The majority of those characters will appear on the upcoming The L Word: Generation Q. FX is next at 31 LGBTQ characters, and Freeform following with 26. These three networks together account for 44 percent (95 characters) of all LGBTQ representation in primetime scripted cable, and 15 of the 20 transgender characters (75 percent) on cable.
The number of transgender characters is up this year, from 26 to 38 characters across broadcast, cable, and streaming. Of those 38 characters, 21 are transgender women, 12 are transgender men, and five are non-binary characters. This reporting season also notes a historic first: Brian Michael Smith has become the first Black transgender man to be cast as a series regular in primetime scripted broadcast for his role on the upcoming 9-1-1: Lone Star. His character, firefighter Paul Strickland, will also be primetime scripted broadcast TV’s first series regular Black trans man character.
While the number of bisexual+ characters totaled across broadcast, cable, and streaming is slightly up this year (to 128 from 117), the overall percentage actually dropped one point to 26 percent of the total 488 LGBTQ characters. GLAAD counted 90 women, 36 men, and two non-binary people as bisexual+. Bisexual+ people (an umbrella term which can include those who identify as bisexual, pansexual, fluid, queer, and more) actually make up the majority of the community. UCLA’s Williams Institute reports that bisexual people make up 52 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in America.
