Transgender Day of Remembrance
Today, Nov. 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance. To mark this day, transgender flags are being flown at Reykjavík City Hall.
The day commemorates transgender people who have been murdered or have died by suicide. Transgender Day of Remembrance was first observed in late November 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor the memory of Rita Hester, her friend and a trans woman who was murdered in Boston in November 1998. The day is observed annually worldwide on Nov. 20, the anniversary of the death of Chanelle Pickett, a trans woman who was murdered in Boston in 1995.
This year's observance honors the 281 transgender individuals murdered from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025. 90% of them were trans women or people with feminine gender expression, according to data from Transgender Europe (TGEU), an umbrella organization for transgender groups in Europe and Central Asia. Notably, advocates and activists have increasingly become targets, making up about 14% of the victims. This figure represents only the documented murders of transgender individuals.
Trans Iceland, an organization for transgender people in Iceland, is hosting a Transgender Day of Remembrance event at the Samtökin '78 building at 5:30 p.m. at Suðurgata 3 in Reykjavík. The event will be held in Icelandic and the building is wheelchair accessible.