A candlelit vigil was held Wednesday for Trans Day of Remembrance at the Medicine Hat Public Library theatre.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Members of the community gathered in the Medicine Hat Public Library theatre Wednesday to remember and honour the lives of those lost to anti-trans violence.
Hosted by the Prairie Pride Guild of Medicine Hat and District, the lights were kept low for a candlelit vigil as president Jenni Barrientos addressed the gathered crowd.
“Today, we are remembering, and grieving, but we are also celebrating,” said Barrientos. “We can’t move away from the grief, but we are building resilience as a community, and we are finding that community together.”
Transgender Day of Remembrance has been held on Nov. 20 since 1999, originally as a vigil for the anniversary of the murder of trans women Rita Hester and Chanelle Pickett. The originator of the day, Gwendolyn Ann Smith, started the tradition during Hester’s wake, upon realizing that people had already forgotten the murder of Pickett three years prior.
In recent years, there has been a movement to include those lost to other preventable means as well, said Barrientos, such as suicide or overdose, in addition to those “cut short by violence.”
“Before this event, we actually found that there were people who were posting online negatively about this event that didn’t want us to have it, and didn’t understand why it was needed,” said Barrientos. “Fifty-nine per cent of transgender Canadians have experienced assault at least once, versus 37 per cent of cisgender Canadians. That’s an alarming difference.”
Likewise, she shared a marked increase in unwanted sexual contact, online harassment and lower rates at which these events are reported by others. Poorer mental health and higher risk of suicide as a result of these aggressions is also reported, said Barrientos.
The vigil read out a list of those who had been lost throughout 2024, though Barrientos noted that these numbers may be inaccurate, as some families will not disclose that their lost loved one was trans after their death, and continue to use the names and genders they were assigned at birth.
“The Trans Murder Monitoring 2024 data reveals 350 trans and gender diverse people were reported murdered globally,” said Barrientos. “This year’s total number of murders is tied for third highest since the monitoring began in 2008, and I fear to hear what it will be next year, with the increase in anti-trans rhetoric.”
The guild took a moment to speak on the recent policies put out by the government that would limit privacy for gender diverse youth, as well as restrict access to gender-affirming care or public sports.
Even with the grim outlook for the future however, the vigil ended on a message of hope and community, as the guild and attendees made space to share in their mourning and in their care for those who are still living their lives within Medicine Hat and beyond.
“It’s really important that we get together and we understand that this affects all of us in many different ways, and that we have to check on each other,” said Barrientos. “We have to be here for each other. Things like this are very hard, and we’re all grieving. But I look around the room and say that here we are in Medicine Hat, surrounded by people who care about us and for us, and we are in this together.”
