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In November of 1998, Rita Hester, a transgender woman in Boston, Massachusetts, answered a knock at her door. Instead of a friend, however, the person at the door was an assailant who forced entry into her apartment and stabbed her over twenty times. Rita's death that night proved to be the event that focused the attention of transgender people everywhere on the terrible violence often inflicted on trans people. |
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| Beginning in November 1999, the Transgender Day of Remembrance has been observed in many cities worldwide. In vigils and memorial services, we honor the memory of persons murdered during the past year. This includes over twenty persons who have died from anti-transgender violence worldwide in 2005. Certainly the total number is much greater than these reported cases.
Amancio Corrales, of Yuma, Arizona, performed on stage as "Dalila" and often went out socially in female role. One night in May 2005, Amancio did not return home, and was found beaten and drowned in the Colorado River. The killer or killers have not been apprehended. Amancio's friends and family have sworn to continue the quest for justice by forming TheAmancioProject.org, a Web site dedicated to preserving Amancio's memory as well as urging law enforcement officers to continue seeking the killers. Perhaps it is not technically correct to call Ronnie Antonio Paris "transgender." After all, he was only three years old when he died in January 2005. Ronnie Antonio was beaten to death by his father, Ronnie Paris, who felt the child was behaving "like a sissy" and was terrified the child would grow up to be less than a "real man." Ronnie Antonio Paris died of brain injury from repeated head trauma. The murder of a transgender person is often not a single bullet fired in a moment of passion. We may be repeatedly stabbed, shot, or beaten with any available blunt object, then strangled, drowned, or burned. Amanda Milan's throat was slashed as bystanders cheered their approval. Brandon Teena was raped, shot, and stabbed. Christiaan D'Arcy was strangled, bound, and locked in the trunk of a car which was set on fire. Lisa Black was stabbed in the eye and beaten 20 times with a hammer. Michelle Byrne was tortured with a hot electric iron to her breasts before her killers cut off her hands and feet and finally beheaded her. For some persons, it isn't enough just to end our existence. We must be the focus for all their rage, fear, and ignorance. The Transgender Day of Remembrance is a time to stand up against this violence and say "NO MORE." |
The Arizona State Capitol
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