Northampton joins worldwide vigils to mourn lost lives of transgender people
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NORTHAMPTON - Just days after state lawmakers passed a transgender rights bill, more than 100 people gathered downtown Sunday night to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance and mourn those who have died violently because of prejudice and hatred.
The candlelight vigil was the 10th for the city and included the solemn reading of the names of some of the 221 transgender people killed worldwide in the past year, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring Project in Europe, which systematically monitors, collects and analyzes reports of homicides of trans people, including in the United States. The readings also included the gruesome fashions in which these people were killed.
"These are just the ones we know about," said Genny Beemyn, director of The Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts and co-author of a new book called "The Lives of Transgender People."
"Sadly, we don't know much about them," Beemyn said. "Mostly what we know about are their horrendous deaths."
As Northampton held its Transgender Day of Remembrance, other cities and towns around the state, region and the world did the same. The annual day of reflection began in 1999 in response to the murder of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in the Boston area a year earlier and whose killer was never found.
"Tonight, we are doing the deep work of dignifying the lives of thousands of individuals," said Yohah Ralph of Northampton, one of several speakers at Sunday's event, which included the reading of a proclamation in support of the transgender community by acting Mayor David J. Narkewicz.
An artist and minister, Ralph spoke of his journey as a trans person, about how he was bullied as a young person and, touchingly, how his 88-year-old father only recently seemed to finally discern the torment his child endured in life.
"There's a lot of grief in the lives of transgender people," Ralph said, speaking before a large audience gathered inside the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence. The event began earlier outside The First Churches on Main Street with a slow, candlelight walk through downtown. The event also was co-sponsored by The Stonewall Center and Everywoman's Center, both at UMass, the LGBT Coalition of Western Mass as well as the Pioneer Valley Progressive Muslims.
Others who spoke of their early struggles with gender identity and expression were Krista Ramos of Chicopee, who is Miss Trans New England 2011, and Ryan DiMartino of Brooklyn, N.Y., who is a student at New York University.
Growing up in Puerto Rico, Ramos recalled how she was harassed and shunned by friends and family alike as she discovered who she was inside.
"I thought about suicide. It was really hard," said Ramos, who was wearing her crown and also spoke in Spanish. "I'm happy about what's happened to me. It's made me the person I am right now."
Learning about the brutal death of a 19-year-old trans woman in Detroit compelled DiMartino to become more vocal about raising awareness of the issues facing transgender people.
"We need to take up space to breathe life into those who have been silenced," DiMartino said.
Narkewicz, the only city official in attendance, received warm applause after reading a proclamation the City Council approved unanimously last week, which builds on protections surrounding gender identity and expression that the city enacted in 2005. Narkewicz had earlier participated in the candlelight procession along Main Street.
"The city of Northampton deems it important to remember all transgender people who have been the victims of violence or murder or have been driven to suicide," he said, reading from the document. "Tolerance as a community goal must be practiced proactively and on an ongoing basis."
Several people at the vigil said that while awareness about the obstacles and prejudices transgender people face in life has increased in recent years, there is much more work to be done. The state's transgender anti-discrimination law is reason to celebrate, noted Tynan Power, one of the organizers of the Sunday's event, but the bill doesn't go far enough in its protections. "These successes have not stemmed the tide of violence," said Power, a reporter for The Rainbow Times and founder of Pioneer Valley Progressive Muslims. "We need all of our allies to stand with us because we can't do this alone."
Said Susan Geary, a trans woman from Northampton who attended the city's first Transgender Day of Remembrance 10 years ago and read a poem by S. Bear Bergman on Sunday: "There's just a new awareness that we are here and we need to be paid attention to."
Dan Crowley can be reached at dcrowley@gazettenet.com.
