Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is held on (or around) November 20 to honor the memory of all transgender and nonbinary people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. So far this year there have been 26 such deaths (That’s just in the United States, and just the ones we know about).
A Trans Day of Remembrance Service will take place on November 20th at the Community Lutheran Church in Frankford Delaware (find out more here).
Your faith community can also incorporate information about the Transgender Day of Remembrance into your services before or after November 20th. Below are some liturgical resources you may find useful.
United Church of Christ
- A Prayer for the Transgender Day of Remembrance
- A Pastoral Letter and Prayer for the Transgender Day of Remembrance
Student Christian Movement
Metropolitan Community Church
Unitarian Universalists
- Unitarian Universalist Trans Day of Remembrance Resources
- Transgender Day of Remembrance in 4 Voices
Additional Resources
- A Reflection: We Know the Love of God, Transgender Seminarian Cohort
- Transgender Day of Remembrance through the Lens of a Trans Muslim
- Together – A Prayer for 2020 Transgender Day of Remembrance in a Pandemic, Rev. Terry Williams
- A Prayer for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, Jenn Luong
- An Interfaith Litany for the Transgender Day of Remembrance
- Let my People Sing: Songs created and sung by Trans Jews
If there are additional resources you would like to see added to this page, please email faith@sussexpride.org