People gathered in Washington, D.C., Sunday to lend their support to the LGBTQ+ community, initially for a Transgender Day of Remembrance event, but also to honor the lives lost when a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Colorado.
At Freedom Plaza, dozens shared powerful messages as they took part in a candlelit vigil to honor the lives due to transphobic violence. Participants said the shooting in Colorado is a painful reminder of the violence that members of the LGBTQ+ community face.
“A lot of people are struck by the grief or the tragedies that these lives have been lost through. For myself, It’s a motivation. It’s a motivation for me to come to stand. It’s a motivation for me to come out, to stand, to stand up and represent the trans community,” organizer Shareese Mone’ said.
On the plaza, an altar was set up with the pictures of transgender people who were killed in the past year. According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, at least 32 transgender and gender non-conforming people were killed in 2022.
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Organizers said they wanted to not only remember the lives lost due to transphobia, but to also provide a sense of community for transgender people in the District.
A service held inside the Bethesda United Church of Christ, where acceptance and support was abundant Sunday, also memorialized those lives.
“It’s important that trans folks and non-binary folks have the space to mourn, to remember," another organizer, Lizzy Graham, said.
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To those working to create a safe space for transgender people, Graham said, "Respect a person’s chosen name. Respect their chosen pronouns. If they come out to you... they trust you. Do not abuse that trust.”
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