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Inaugural Transgender Day of Remembrance Memory Mile Walk planned for Rehoboth

Rehoboth Transliance
The 1st Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Memory Mile will be held in Rehoboth Beach Monday night.

The inaugural Transgender Day of Remembrance Memory Mile will be held in Rehoboth Beach Monday night.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance memorializes people who were killed as a result of anti-transgender prejudice.

Kathy Carpenter-Brown is a member of the transgender community in Rehoboth Beach who helped organize Monday's event.

 

“It goes back to San Francisco. There was a woman killed there and after that death, they organized a day of remembrance to memorialize her. And every year we come together on November 20th in various places throughout the country,” said Carpenter-Brown.

Carpenter-Brown is referring to Rita Hester, a transwoman killed in Allston, Massachusetts in 1998; that case has yet to be solved.

According to the Human Rights Commission, 23 transgender people have been killed in the United States in 2017.

Monday night’s event starts at 7 p.m. in front of the Rehoboth Beach Bandstand; it will include a reading of the names of those killed and a one-mile walk on the boardwalk. Reverends Diane Fisher and Dusty Pruitt will also lead those in attendance, in prayer.

 

"It raises public awareness of the hate crimes against transgender people. Ut also publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten,” said Carpenter-Brown.

 

Everyone is invited.

 

In case of inclement weather, the vigil will be moved to the Rehoboth Metropolitan Community Church on Plantation Road.

 

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.