Transgender Day of Remembrance

For two days tombstones stood in Dunn Meadow remembering people who had been killed for their gender expression over the past year.

Though the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which officially takes place on Nov. 20, began in 1998, this was the first time a group celebrated the day on IU’s campus. The National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals at IU sponsored the tombstones and vigil — honoring 122 people, including a two-year-old who was killed by his father for acting like a girl.

“This day is extremely personal for me, and I say that because for the most part I love my life,” Kay Johnson, a Bloomington resident and transgender activist, said in an IDS article. “Today is a sobering day because it reminds me that I can die just because I carry myself the way I do.”

During the 2010 vigil on Nov. 17, "more than 40 students and community members gathered under a street lamp in a circle Wednesday in Dunn Meadow to observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance — a memorial event in honor of who lost their lives due to anti-transgender violence,” according to an IDS article.

IU Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Equality co-sponsored the event with other campus groups to remind people transgender issues are still relevant across the country.

“Tonight we will remember the dead,” Evelyn Smith, a member of the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals at IU, said. “And tomorrow we must not forget those still among the living.”