Transgender Day of Remembrance is Thursday, Nov. 20, a day that honors the memory of transgender individuals who have lost their lives due to acts of violence against them.
According to the GLAAD Alert Desk Data, there has been a dramatic increase in anti-trans hate incidents. Since May of 2024, the Alert Desk data tracked 900+ nationwide incidents, which they say is equivalent to 2.5 incidents per day.
“52% of all incidents were also specifically targeting transgender and gender non- conforming people. Violent attacks included in this year’s count resulted in 84 injuries and 10 deaths; eight of which involved fatal violence against people of color,” according to the tracker.
These numbers tell a story not captured by the media and law enforcement. Hate crime statutes and reporting are inconsistent, confusing, and often ignored,” according to GLAAD.
The data displays the heartbreaking and frightening reality that people make the choice to overlook or forget about. There needs to be laws implemented to protect transgender people. Leaders of countries, states, and cities need to take these acts of violence seriously. By not doing so, we are allowing this to happen, which is extremely disheartening, and we are failing multiple communities.
As seen in the media and by law enforcement,
there is not a lot of coverage reporting this violence, which is pure ignorance.
“The Trump administration has issued at least four executive orders that specifically demean and discriminate against transgender Americans, following an estimated $215M in anti-trans political ads during the 2024 campaign. Federal agencies have censored LGBTQ-related resources and erased mention of transgender leaders from national monuments like Stonewall. At the state-level, 575 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced during the 2025 state legislative session,” GLAAD’s website states.
These attacks on transgender Americans are uncalled for, and politicians cannot erase a community, no matter how hard they try. We must stand tall and united, loud and clear, to fight for equality and justice. Nobody should ever live in fear; that does not sound like the land of the free to me.
State legislators are advancing a surge of bills that target LGBTQ rights. From looking at the map, it is no surprise that the Southern states rank high. The ACLU is currently tracking 616 bills that target LGBTQ rights in the U.S.
Discrimination is so deeply rooted, and it is essential that we as a society fight back. It is so tiring to be divided, constantly fighting for basic human rights. Why should anyone be scared to live, scared to walk the streets and scared to survive? They should not be, and everyone deserves to live freely and authentically.
Ali Barretta can be contacted at
abarretta@kscequinox.com
