Menah’s Meditation: Transgender Day of Remembrance 2024

Transgender people have existed in every culture and society since the beginning of time; they have served as leaders, warriors, teachers, caregivers, and activists. They have been a part of the making of our history both as humanity and as a nation. There are many things we could celebrate about the accomplishments and contributions of transgender and gender expansive people, but these contributions cannot and should not overshadow the most basic fact: all human life is inherently valuable.

This Wednesday, November 20, 2024, our campus community will come together to remember and mourn the loss of 73 lives from across the continental U.S. as part of the global recognition of Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR).

TDOR was created by a small group including activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999 to honor the life of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman murdered in 1998 in Allston, Massachusetts. Observed annually on Nov. 20, TDOR memorializes those who have been killed due to transphobia and draws attention to the ongoing violence against transgender people for merely existing.

Virginia Tech’s Pride Center will host their annual Transgender Day of Remembrance event on Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Owens Ballroom. We will be joined virtually by Gavin Grimm who, as a ninth grader in rural Virginia, fought the Gloucester High School Board for his right to use the bathroom that aligned with his gender, effectively advocating for all his classmates to have the same right. He won a U.S. Department of Education federal discrimination complaint and, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit eventually upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court.

Following our time with Grimm, we will write letters of love, support, encouragement, and concern to members of our campus and the greater community. We encourage all attendees to consider writing letters to family members, friends, representatives, and the campus community sharing what's important to them in this moment.

Whether you can join us in Owens Ballroom on Nov. 20 or only in spirit, I hope you take this opportunity to reflect on the lives lost this year as well as consider how you can demonstrate your support of the trans community. At Virginia Tech, we believe in InclusiveVT – the individual and institutional commitment to Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence. Now more than ever, we all should those of us who are not transgender or otherwise gender expansive must remain vigilant in our advocacy for this community.