Buxton Pride and church coming together for Transgender Day of Remembrance event

The event will take place on Monday November, 20 at the church on Dale Road at 7pm and will be led by Reverend Catrin Hubbard.

She said: “We will listen to a poem and a piece of music and the names of the trans people we have lost this year will be read, candles lit, and an opportunity to share memories of our loved ones.

“As a group we stand for love and concern for all humans. We will come together to grieve and to share our outrage at the violence being perpetrated against trans people every day.”

Transgender Day of Remembrance was started in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a candlelit vigil in memory of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman who was murdered in 1998.

The vigil has grown into the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Gwendolyn said: “Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence.

“With so many seeking to erase transgender people — sometimes in the most brutal ways possible — it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.”

Rev Catrin added: “This is an event not a service as it needs to be a safe space for as many people as possible.

"We welcome people of all beliefs and none to come together in solidarity and support.”