Remembering Unsolved Murders and Hate Crimes
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November 19, 2008
Richmond, VA - Virginians will band together on Thursday to fight hate crime, prejudice, and even murder during the ninth annual "Transgender Day of Remembrance." The event follows nationwide action condemning California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8.
Quillin Drew, anti-violence project manager for Equality Virginia, notes that the violent death of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, gained national attention in 1998. One month after Shepard's death, Rita Hester, a transgender Californian, was also murdered. But while Shepard's murderers were arrested and charged, Drew says, Hester's killer has never been found.
"With many of the people in this community, their murders remain unsolved and their murderers often go unidentified by the local media. Often those murders are not even deemed acts of hatred and violence or hate crimes by the local law enforcement agencies."
Drew says she hopes that the Day of Remembrance can open the eyes of people who may not support equal rights for all, regardless of gender identity.
"By taking certain actions to limit those human rights, they're basically making people invisible and taking away their humanity when they do that. And I think that we would all be better off if everybody were equally human in the eyes of one another.”
The term 'transgender,' Drew explains, is a fairly simple concept.
"Transgender means a person whose outward gender expression, or the way they feel about their gender, doesn't match up with society's expectations."
The Day of Remembrance seeks to fight indifference to these crimes, as well as to honor the lives of transgendered people and their friends and families. A candlelight service in Richmond is among the statewide events.