Students and local residents remembered victims of murders motivated by anti-transgender hatred during a service in the University Chapel yesterday evening.
The event was part of the National Transgender Day of Remembrance, a tradition started nine years ago to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman from Boston murdered on Nov. 28, 1998, in a crime that remains unsolved. Since then, the event has grown to encompass the remembrance of all victims of anti-transgender hate and prejudice.
"We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred-based violence," Debbie Bazarsky, director of the University's LGBT Center, said in her opening remarks at the service. "Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no signs of abating."
Dean of Religious Life Rev. Alison Boden led a prayer for victims of anti-transgender crimes, in which she lamented that people were murdered for "being who they were" but admired the "integrity with which they lived their lives."
Following a performance of the song "True Colors" by the FireHazards a cappella group, Ellen Adams '10 recited "How Old," a poem about the pain of living as a transgender individual.
The service also included a candlelight vigil for the 14 people killed worldwide in anti-transgender crimes since last November, as well as the seven people murdered in New Jersey within the last 15 years for the same reason.
For each victim, an attendee at the service read aloud the name, age and circumstances of the murder and snuffed out a candle to represent a life lost to hatred. Following a moment of silence, students and community members relit the candles as the FireHazards sang "Lean on Me" and mezzo-soprano Marybeth Hazel, a community member, performed "Amazing Grace."
This marks Princeton's sixth year holding a service on the Day of Remembrance. The University began participating in the event in 2002, in collaboration with the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey, an organization that works to expand rights for LGBT individuals.
This year's service drew about 30 attendees, down from 49 who attended last year, Bazarsky said.
In an interview before the service, Bazarsky said the main purpose of the Day of Remembrance is "to provide a space on campus where members of the community and students can come together to acknowledge that transphobia exists, and that people are affected by it — and killed."
Though Princeton is supportive of the LGBT community in general, Bazarsky said, it lacks support for transgender people, a term that describes "a broad range of people who experience and/or express their gender differently from what most people expect," according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
She added that people tend to confuse being transgender and being gay, saying that people tend to lash out at transgender people in the wake of "major gay decisions" such as court rulings in favor of gay rights.
"Poor, young women of color are the main target," she said. "People don't make the distinction between gay and transgender individuals and attack senselessly."
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