In honor of Trans Awareness Month, Long Beach will fly the transgender flag above City Hall each November going forward.
Vice Mayor Cindy Allen introduced the idea to the Long Beach City Council on Tuesday night, during Transgender Awareness Week. The following evening, the City held a candlelight vigil and name-reading at Bixby Park for Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors the lives of transgender individuals who have lost their lives due to violence and transphobia.
“It is my hope that we will foster a more inclusive and tolerant atmosphere for our transgender community,” Allen said. “This is a step towards a safer and more understanding community, but it will also serve as a call to action to remember transgender individuals who have lost their lives to violence.”
Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 by a small group of friends in Massachusetts. To memorialize the lives of their friends Rita Hester and Chanelle Picket, two Black transgender women who were murdered just a few years apart and both in November, a group of three women chose this month to honor them.
The first Transgender Day of Remembrance was held in Boston and San Francisco, and has been recognized each year since on Nov. 20, the day of Pickett’s death. Since then, the day of remembrance has been celebrated more widely across the world to bring attention to the violence faced by the transgender community.
According to the annual report from the Human Rights Campaign, at least 36 transgender people have died from violence in the United States in the last year. Half of these victims of violence were Black women, according to the report.
The Long Beach City Council also moved to officially recognize each Nov. 20 as Transgender Remembrance Day, though the day has been recognized for many years in the city.
“All the rhetoric, all the hate nationally, it’s important to take affirmative steps as a city to reaffirm our commitment to belonging and inclusion, and make sure that all of our residents, including our trans residents, know that the city has their back,” said Mayor Rex Richardson.
Following Election Day in the United States, many trans and LGBTQ people reported feeling anxiety about the next four years under a Trump administration that has spouted hateful rhetoric towards the community.
The Trevor Project, a 24/7 crisis hotline and advocacy rights group, reported a 700% increase in the volume of calls to their crisis services the day following the election, compared to weeks prior to the election.
“This is a day to call action to combat the issues that lead to violence against our transgender community,” Allen said.