PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia’s LGBTQ community observed the 2024 Transgender Day of Remembrance by honoring those it lost at a ceremony on Wednesday in University City.
“Trans Day of Remembrance is a beautiful day that is so bittersweet,” Jasper Liem, executive director of the Attic Youth Center, said of the event that was founded in 1999 to memorialize members of the trans community lost to violence.
“We have lost such an amazing vibrant community and have lost so many people, some from direct violence, especially our Black and brown siblings, but also through the systemic violence from being excluded and marginalized.”
In a small courtyard at the University of Pennsylvania’s LGBT Center, Liem and other community members gathered in grief, but also with purpose.
Advocates said this wasn’t just a day of reflection but also a day to plan for the future, amid an increase in negative rhetoric targeting the LGBTQ community.
The uptick in anti-trans rhetoric has people on red alert. Advocates said now more than ever, it’s important to create safe spaces for the community to exist peacefully.
But Liem said hope is not lost, because the kids at the Attic Youth Center are an excellent example of resilience.
“They are such an amazing generation of young folks,” he said, “and they’re really teaching us how to advocate for them and ourselves.”