( New York, NY, November 17, 2014 ) - In observance of National Transgender Awareness Week November 17th to November 21st, Lambda Legal is joining a host of organizations and community organizers from across the country for a week of education and community events including Transgender Day of Action, Transgender Day of Remembrance and Transgender Day of Resilience.
"Transgender Awareness Week has become a national effort to honor the lives that were taken from us due to the current epidemic of anti-transgender violence, and to acknowledge and celebrate the resiliency of a community that never gives up hope," said M. Dru Levasseur, Transgender Rights Project Director for Lambda Legal. "Lambda Legal is organizing events across the country to bring visibility to the issues facing the transgender community. We hope to engage our allies in this fight to end the pervasive violence and discrimination faced by the transgender community."
Transgender Awareness Week is a time for transgender people, community allies, friends and family to take action and raise awareness on issues facing the transgender community. The week aims to educate the public and to promote advocacy efforts supporting equality and acceptance of transgender people. Lambda Legal will be hosting and co-presenting events around the country including Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago.
For a full list of Lambda Legal events during Transgender Awareness Week, see:http://www.lambdalegal.org/events/transgender-awareness-week
"Trans Lives Matter Day of Action," on November 18th, is a day designed to elicit action on a national scale in response to the systemic violence that women who are transgender face. The event was brought to national attention by transgender activist, Bamby Salcedo, the community groups Familia: Trans Queer Liberation, TransLatin@ Coalition, and El/La Para Trans Latinas. Look for a local event at familiatqlm.org/translivesmatter/ and participate online using the hashtag #TransLivesMatter
Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual observance on November 20th that honors the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. TDOR was started 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 that year and began an important memorial that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. Participate online using the hashtag #TDOR
Transgender Day of Resilience will take place on Friday, November 21st and aims to celebrate the members of the community who are still with us, honoring our work, struggle and resilience in the face on transphobia and discrimination.
Read the blog "Ending the Epidemic: Working to End Violence Against Trans Women of Color" by Zahyr Lauren, Tyron Garner Memorial Fellow for African-American LGBT Civil Rights on our website here:http://www.lambdalegal.org/blog/20141111_trans-awareness
Lambda Legal published a transgender rights tool kit, viewable at: www.lambdalegal.org/publications/trans-toolkit .
