Reading Pride Celebration to Commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance

READING, P.a., November 17, 2022 — Reading Pride Celebration (RPC) will commemorate the Transgender Day of Remembrance with a ceremony at the Boscov’s Theatre at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts this Sunday, November 20, 2022, at 6:30 PM to honor the memory of 59 transgender and non-binary people killed in the United States this year.

“On Sunday, we will remember our transgender siblings lost this past year to violence. These acts rooted in transphobia, hatred, and a refusal to accept our siblings as who they were meant to be, must stop,” said Enrique Castro Jr, RPC Executive Director. “As a community, we stand in solidarity with our transgender siblings and aim to raise awareness of the struggles of being transgender in this world. We grieve those lost and remember and celebrate their lives. We do this every year in hopes that one day soon, we will enjoy a community of acceptance, love, and tolerance. A community where hate, transphobia, homophobia & racism become things of a distant past and are replaced with love. I hope that one day soon, we will be able to replace these memorial ceremonies with celebrating a world where we can be who we are, free of hatred & intolerance.” 

According to the Trans Lives Matter organization, 57 transgender and non-binary people have lost their lives to violence from November 20, 2021, to November 17, 2022, in the US. World Wide, the number of victims rises to 355.

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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.

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.

Reading Pride Celebration has adopted the ceremony since 2010.