File #: RS2020-655   
Type: Resolution Status: Passed
File created: 11/9/2020 In control: Metropolitan Council
On agenda: Final action: 11/17/2020
Title: A Resolution recognizing November 20, 2020 as Transgender Day of Remembrance in Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.
Sponsors: Brett Withers, Sandra Sepulveda, Zach Young, Joy Styles, Russ Bradford, Nancy VanReece, Sharon Hurt, Emily Benedict, Kyonzte Toombs, Dave Rosenberg, Sean Parker
title
A Resolution recognizing November 20, 2020 as Transgender Day of Remembrance in Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.
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WHEREAS, Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of transgender people around the world whose lives have been lost to anti-transgender violence; and

WHEREAS, Transgender Day of Remembrance was established in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith in remembrance of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998 in Allston, Massachusetts; and

WHEREAS, Transgender Day of Remembrance has been observed in over 185 cities throughout more than 20 countries; and

WHEREAS, the annual event provides a forum for transgender communities and allies to raise awareness of the threat of violence faced by gender variant people and the persistence of prejudice felt by the transgender community; and

WHEREAS, many communities organize events and activities to create and promote visibility of anti-transgender violence to stakeholders such as police, the media, and elected officials; and

WHEREAS, the Metropolitan Council recognizes that transgender members of our society are disproportionately affected by hate crimes and violence, and experience myriad challenges in their daily lives, including discrimination, disproportionately high levels of unemployment, and limited access to health care; and

WHEREAS, in 2019 the American Medical Association declared violence against the transgender community to be an epidemic; and

WHEREAS, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) reports that advocates have tracked at least 34 transgender or gender nonconforming people who have been fatally shot or killed by other means so far during 2020. Since HRC began tracking these data in 2013, advocates have never seen such a high number of fatal attacks against transgender or gender nonconforming people at this point in a year; and

WHEREAS, at least 74% of known victims of anti-transgender violence ...

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