My experience with the Transgender Day of Remembrance in Philadelphia

Every year, on November 20, we commemorate the Transgender Day Of Remembrance; this important day was the brainchild of trans activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a response to the murder of Rita Hester of Allston, Massachusetts in 1998 (and what is bittersweet here is that 13 years later, her home state would throw trans people under the bus). I did my duty as a member of the community and attended two events in Philadelphia, the first one was at 5pm and was connected with Occupy Philadelphia, and the second, in contrast, was held at the ornate William Way Community Center at 7pm. This is my experience.

I had already promised my friend Dawn, a fixture in Philadelphia’s trans community, that I would help out at the William Way event, but I had decided to go to the Occupy rally and duck out around 6-6:15 to head towards the William Way Center. When I arrived on scene in Dilworth Plaza, I stuck out like a sore thumb, and was nervous that my decision to dress in my Sunday best (think tie-neck blouse, pencil skirt, and nice flats, I had decided to wear it mostly for the WWCC event, because I’m kind of conservative about dressing nice for events like this) would put off some of the radical/anarchist contingent. The Occupy encampment was still going strong, even when Michael Nutter might have been singing an Alice Cooper classic in response to a sexual assault that happened there. People were walking around, carrying on while the main draw was a disabled African-American veteran was singing karaoke (a common fixture in Center City).


I found two people from the queer alliance at Occupy Philadelphia and we immediately looked for support, making announcements and shouting a “mic check” to Occupiers to show solidarity. At least 25-30 people showed up and as soon as Max from Riders Against Gender Exclusion showed up, we would March. The march started ten minutes late due to negotiations with police auxiliary concerning the route we were to take (we would march from Dilworth Plaza on the west side of City Hall to Kahn Park, a common organizing point for queer rallies, travelling through the Gayborhood). Despite the decision of said disabled veteran to soapbox about we should all listen to Mayor Nutter and be civil and vacate Dilworth Plaza drowning out march announcements (a situation in which one disabled transwoman shouted “Being civil does not mean being the mayor’s bitch), we would take to the streets, guided by the police.

Some brought signs, a highlight was Max bringing a cardboard bus to be carried by the protestors as part of RAGE’s “Ride With Respect” campaign. RAGE had decided to take part in this due to the gender stickers putting the trans community at risk of violence, and although it hasn’t necessarily lead to any actual serious injuries or deaths, we don’t want there to be a first time. We walked through the Gayborhood chanting “Trans Rights are Human Rights, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” and “When Trans People Are Under Attack, what do we do, stand up fight back”. We had encountered some snags due to one of the marchers being a wheelchair user and the auxiliary leading us to a non-accessible choke point. We did “mic checks” at various points in Center City. I would do one about drama in the trans community and how we need to band together despite our differences, a sentiment that was met with applause. We would then march to Giovanni’s Room, which is the oldest continuous queer bookstore in the country, and was recently gifted with a Pennsylvania Historical marker. Some staff came out and gave their unwavering support. It was then only a few blocks until we hit Kahn Park and Max from RAGE gave a great speech and started recruiting new members. By that time, it was a little past six, so instead of marching back, I high-tailed it to the William Way Community Center.

When I got there, I was struck by the sight of the two former leaders of Transway whom had caused all the drama, and was nervous they were going to come after me, but they left me alone. I immediately went upstairs to the Mark Segal Ballroom, where the event was being held, and did some setting up with Dawn, Candice (a cisgender lesbian WWCC employee who has been interim facilitator at Transway and who was MCing the event), and Beth, my new housemate. Candles abounded and many of Philadelphia’s trans community and beyond started to come to the space, including some that I brought in from the previous march as well as some more established members of the community.

The first speaker was Candice, who talked about how she was an ally to the trans community, and how it was a great honor to be part of such an event. Next up was Dionne Stalworth, a trans person and activist within the community who talks about how even through a tough life, she had survived. Up next was an interfaith prayer reading, one Christian, one Jewish, one Muslim, one Baha’i, and one Buddhist. Then came the reading of the names, which I was proud to be a part of, even though I stumbled at first. We actually had to add a name to the list at the last moment, due to a murder on Hollywood Boulevard. It was then that Dawn came up and spoke about one case in which she knew the person. Krista Easter was a transwoman who had killed herself due to alienation, and while she was not murdered like most of the others memorialized, it still was a death caused by the transphobia of society.

This then led to a benediction by the Rev. Celeste Brooks in which she gave us encouragement to fight another day, followed by a playing of “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan, probably the most emotional point of the night, in which we all found someone to comfort each other. The final part of the night was Community Reflections, in which people came up and shared their thoughts. I was first up, and talked about how I am one of the lucky ones, and how much the Philadelphia trans community has it pretty well, all things considered. I also mentioned how the Philly trans community needs to move past the drama that seems to happen every week and be there for each other, and that I hoped we could all live to fight another day. Other notable speakers who spoke included a friend of murder victim Mercedez Love, and had almost cried while showing a picture, and pled for all the violence to stop, a transwoman who is facing felony charges in Virginia due to a situation which created fear, and how lucky she was that tommorrow, she would be going to the Center For Transgender Surgery in nearby Bala Cynwyd and “getting her wings”. Another great speaker was my roommate Beth, who had given an uplifting and funny speech about defending herself, both against the police and threatening to send in her son, a “6’5 Swede” in to deal with transphobes.

It was a magical night and I walked home emotional as all hell, but empowered that I was able to be a part of two disparate events, in which the crowd and the tone may be different, but we all came together to commemorate the losses of the past year due to senseless violence and hope to educate people.

-Jordan Gwendolyn Davis

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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