By Pamela Benetti
ANN ARBOR – The Ann Arbor Transgender Day of Remembrance drew about 40 people to the University of Michigan Diag. The evening began at 6:30 with a performance by the Out Loud Chorus, followed by a brief history and introduction of Transgender Day of Remembrance by this writer who is chair of the Transgender Advocacy Project in Ann Arbor. The names of the victims were then read as candles were lit. A banner was unfurled with the names of the murder victims. Another banner announced the Transgender Day of Remembrance to passerbys as the procession to the Kuenzel Room at the Union got underway.
Some members of the procession had a hard time keeping their candles lit as the wind picked up. Several people on State Street inquired as to what Day of Remembrance was, and who it was for. Some procession members gave brief explanations to them while waiting for the light to change.
The procession made its way to the Kuenzel Room, where chairs had been arranged in a circle. Some of the chairs had papers with biographies of individual murder victims, all written in the first person, which restored some of humanity to the victims which had been lost both by the brutal nature of many of the killings and the sheer numbers of people killed. As names were read by Kelly Peters of the UofM Office of LGBT Affairs, people with the corresponding name read the person's biography.
After the biographies were read, a period of silent reflection and open discussion followed, during which many people openly wept. The intersections of racism, classism, homophobia and sexism as motivating factors in anti-trans violence were discussed. A poem written by Melissa Cox of the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project was read by Michelle Kinnucan. The vigil concluded at 8:30 p.m.
