NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – The Fernandina Beach City Commission issued a proclamation for Transgender Day of Remembrance Tuesday evening at City Hall to honor the memory of transgender people who have lost their lives in acts of anti-transgender violence.
Nov. 13–19 is Transgender Awareness Week, which honors the transgender community, highlighting the importance of education, visibility, and advocacy. The week ends with Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20.
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“Fernandina Beach Pride recognizes Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) every year to spread awareness and shed light on this under-reported epidemic in order to increase understanding and dispel myths about the transgender and gender-nonbinary communities that can foment discrimination and lead to hate crimes,” a release from Fernandina Beach Pride said.
Jordan Morris (he/him), president of Fernandina Beach Pride, told News4JAX that over the past 365 days, there have been 361 reported deaths of transgender individuals as a result of violence/hate crime and suicide. In any given year, the majority of victims are transgender women of color.
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Morris stressed the word “reported” because in many cases, incidents are not documented due to the victims being misgendered by the police and/or their own family.
“This year, there were more than 360 reported deaths of transgender and gender non-binary individuals,” Morris told News4JAX. “That’s a global number. So when you think about it globally, it may not seem like a lot, but when you think about how often these cases are not reported because of a number of issues, it could be the police didn’t report it or the family didn’t want to correctly identify the person’s gender. So, the numbers don’t really tell us much, except that there is almost one life lost every single day for a community that represents less than 1% of the general population.”
According to the Transgender Law Center, the U.S. ranks third in the world for trans people who are violently killed, after Brazil and Mexico.
Morris also told News4JAX why this year’s proclamation in Fernandina Beach is a step in the right direction.
“It’s very important that the city officials see what we’re doing and understand why we’re doing it,” Morris said. “We have been fortunate to have a Transgender Day of Remembrance proclamation by the Fernandina Beach City Commission over the past few years. Actually, last year was the first year that we got a little bit of pushback from it. The mayor at that time actually refused to read it and refused to say the word transgender... we’ve got the mayor who is going to read the proclamation this year. And, I think even though this is a small part of the population, depending on what you read, it’s about 1% or perhaps slightly less than 1%. But this is a targeted community that is in crisis.”
As of Nov. 19, the ACLU was tracking 558anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. 14 bills in Florida, and 14 bills in Georgia.
Fernandina Beach Pride also held a Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at the Central Park gazebo (1200 Atlantic Ave.). Victims were remembered with prose, poetry, song, and prayer. Fernandina Beach Pride was supported by clergy and members of Memorial United Methodist Church.
During the vigil, the lives of eight (8) transgender and gender-nonbinary individuals whose lives were prematurely taken over the past year were honored. All eight of them lived within an eight-hour drive of Fernandina Beach.
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