11/21/2025
Since our Transgender Day of Remembrance was unfortunately cancelled, our President Kezia Cloke has instead chosen to upload her speech for our members and allies to read. Please take a moment for remembering those we have lost.
[Image text as follows:]
Every year on November 20th, Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed. The gathering came to be in 1998 following the murder of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman from Boston, Massachusetts. The first Transgender Day of Remembrance took place the following year in 1999. Earlier, Channelle Pickett was murdered in 1995, another Black transgender woman, was also killed in that state. Their lives, and the lives of so many others, were stolen because of hatred, because of prejudice, because people chose cruelty over humanity.
The tradition of gathering together is not just an act of mourning. It is an act of resistance and a declaration that trans lives matter, and that trans people deserve to live, to thrive, to be safe, and celebrated.
Violence, especially gender-based violence against trans people, doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It grows in a cesspool of discrimination, exclusion, and bigotry. It grows in policies that try to strip away healthcare, deny legal recognition, silence our voices in schools, and erase us from public life. It grows when people look away and convince themselves these issues don’t affect them. And that’s why tonight must also be a call to action.
If you are here, you have already taken a step. Standing up for trans people cannot be something we do only when tragedy happens. It has to be a daily practice. It means challenging transphobia when it’s uncomfortable. It means correcting misinformation even when it’s awkward. It means supporting trans youth loudly, especially when powerful people try to legislate them out of existence. It means refusing to let bigotry go unchallenged, no matter where it comes from. Even if it means family dinners might get a little awkward or uncomfortable.
As the President of Ladysmith Pride Society, I’ve gotten emails or phone calls, or sometimes even a quiet, unsure person saying, “how do I support my trans friend or relative? How can I be there for them?” I tell them all the same thing. Trans, non-binary, two spirit and gender-diverse people deserve to know that they are loved, they are safe, and they have community. Even in a town as small as ours.
Tonight, we remember the people who should still be with us. But we also commit unapologetically to fighting for the living, for they are our future.
