Transgender Day of Remembrance 2020: What Social Workers Need To Know

by Linda May Grobman, MSW, ACSW, LSW

     Hate crimes against transgender and gender-diverse people are on the rise.

     Worldwide, according to a Forbes article, 350 transgender people have been murdered so far in 2020, up from 331 in 2019. The Human Rights Campaign reports at least 36 violent deaths of transgender and non-conforming people in the U.S. in 2020, mostly Black and Latinx transgender women.

     The Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project, established by Trans Respect Versus Transphobia Worldwide (TvT), provides further statistics on homicides of transgender and gender non-conforming people worldwide. “Gathered data shows an alarming trend of a gradual increase in murders of trans and gender-diverse people per year between 2008 and 2020. However, these figures are not complete. Due to data not being systematically collected in most countries, added to the constant misgendering by families, authorities, and media, it is not possible to estimate the number of unreported cases,” according to the TMM site.

     Additionally, TMM reports, “As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as growing racism and police brutality, the lives of trans and gender-diverse people are at even greater risk.”

     Author of The Educator's Guide to LGBT+ Inclusion, Kryss Shane, MS, MSW, LSW, LMSW (she/her), points out, “Anti-transgender violence isn’t just directed at adults. Statistics from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) show that in schools, 16.2% of transgender students report being physically assaulted as a result of gender expression, while 32.5% experience physical harassment.”

Transgender Day of Remembrance

     Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, is observed on November 20 to honor the memory of those who have lost their lives to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. TDOR observances include candlelight vigils, marches, forums, art exhibits, and other activities.

     Zander Keig, MS, MSW, LCSW (he/him), explains: “Transgender Day of Remembrance…is the one day each year set aside to mourn the untimely death of transgender individuals who were murdered. The first TDOR occurred in 1999 when transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith held a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. Since then, TDOR has sparked an international movement to shed light on the global epidemic of transphobia.” Keig, a first-generation Mexican-American trans man, is the National Association of Social Workers’ (NASW) 2020 Social Worker of the Year, as well as the 2018 NASW California Social Worker of the Year.

     “Too often, transgender individuals are the targets of discrimination, prejudice, and violence with nowhere to turn for services, due to a lack of cultural and linguistic competency among service providers, many of whom are social workers,” continues Keig. “According to the NASW Code of Ethics, our mission as social workers is to ‘enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.’ Transgender individuals deserve to be met with compassion and provided gender-affirming services.”

     Sarah, LCSW (she/her), who is transgender, provides a personal perspective on grief in the transgender community, and the importance of TDOR: “Grief and loss are quite difficult in our community. Many of us have been abandoned when we come out and adopt our community as family.  We grieve together as a means of support and to celebrate the lives of family.” Sarah continues, “We can experience loss quite deeply. When we come to share such important experiences as we do, it is important that social workers understand the true impact TDOR can have on us in our healing. An appropriate ceremony with safeguards can help us to heal.”

How can social workers learn more, gain understanding, and participate in TDOR?

     Keig recommends that social workers attend an in-person or virtual TDOR observance to gain an understanding of the lives of transgender people in their local area. “Additionally, in an effort to move closer to a day when there is no need to hold a TDOR, as a social worker and trans man, I urge social workers to acquire continuing education focused on transgender people - our identity formation process, our particular social determinants, our social care needs, and the tools for advocating for a more just world that is inclusive, welcoming, and affirming of transgender people,” he suggests.

     The NASW Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues offers tools and information on LGBT issues in social  work practice. These include a listing of professional development resources for social workers. Zander Keig has served on the Committee since 2013 and was its chair from 2017 to 2019.

     Kryss Shane recommends the following links for social workers to learn more about anti-transgender violence:

• Unerased: Counting Transgender Lives
• Doubly Victimized: Reporting on Transgender Victims of Crime

     “Please consider taking a moment to read and to share. Consider posting about this day on your social media, emailing someone one of these links, or speaking about this to a youth in your life. Consider a dedicated moment of silence in your workplace. Consider what ways you can honor and call attention to this,” Shane says.

     Shane observes that social workers are inundated with information and a too-high workload.  “However,” she says, “we cannot be unaware or unwilling to recognize the specific experiences, needs, and discriminations of transgender people.” She recommends the following steps:

• Consider taking a look at your office forms and removing or rewording your gender questions and offering a place for "name you use" for your clients and job applicants.
• Consider adding your pronouns to your email signature line.
• If you work somewhere with a waiting room, consider adding transgender inclusive books and LGBT+ magazines.

     “These tiny low/no cost steps are likely ignored by non-LGBT+ and non-transgender (called ‘cisgender’) people but would be a sign of inclusion and safety for transgender people,” she adds.

     Finally, says Shane, “Don't forget that our NASW Code of Ethics mandates that we both learn and educate. If you're still learning about the transgender community, great! Keep learning. If you're feeling well-versed, great! It's now your role to be an educator. When we all work together toward inclusion and affirmation, our clients, our colleagues, and our industry all benefit.”

Additional Resources

     For more about Transgender Day of Remembrance, including 2020 events, see:

• GLAAD (history and information about TDOR)
• PFLAG (lists names of 47 whose lives were lost October 2019 through September 2020, and information about a virtual vigil)

Linda May Grobman, MSW, ACSW, LSW (she/her), is the founder, publisher, and editor of The New Social Worker magazine and the editor of Days in the Lives of Social Workers and other books.