As 70 members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community left the street of Rita Hester’s former apartment in Brighton, silently remembering the woman brutally stabbed to death for being different, two onlookers yelled obscenities and ridiculed those in attendance.
Vigil leader Nancy Nangeroni said such behavior was a cruel reminder that though GLBT tolerance is improving, there is still work to be done.
‘We’re getting more rights and respect,’ she said. ‘Some of us are able to hold jobs, and we’ve made tremendous progress. But it’s no progress for those who were murdered. The crimes against those who dare to be different are so brutal and hideous.’
Nangeroni said this year was the ‘worst year on record regarding hate crimes.’
Hester was a transgender woman who was killed for being a transgender on Nov. 28, 1998. Her unsolved murder inspired the ‘Remembering Our Dead’ web project that quickly spread beyond the Boston community.
The Brighton GLBT community commemorated the tenth anniversary of Hester’s death, which falls on the internationally celebrated Transgender Remembrance Day, at St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Church on Thursday.
‘Half of the people murdered are age 15 to 25,’ transgender or.org founder Ethan St. Pierre said. ‘Our young people are being slaughtered, and it’s up to us to make it stop.’
Various community groups, such as The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, the Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth, and the Justice Resource Institute hosted the vigil and its preceding speakers.
Local musician Judah Abijah Dorrington opened the event with a song and address of hope.
‘I am not free until we are all free,’ she said.
Reverend Kim K. Crawford Harvie of the Arlington Street Church, a Unitarian Universalist institution, emphasized the importance of setting aside anger when remembering the dead.
‘May we remember them with our love,’ she said.
Reverend Cameron Partridge, a transgender man who spoke at his church, said he hopes faith and the GLBT community can find a common ground. Though religious beliefs have traditionally been associated with homophobia and a general refusal to accept transgender people, the establishment of the Interfaith Coalition of Transgender Equality illustrates that steps toward progress are being made.
‘People of faith can make a positive change happen in our lives,’ Partridge said.
Speaker Dee B., the first transgender face of the HIV Stops with Us Campaign in Boston, said she felt honor by bringing awareness to her cause.
‘The more inclusion, the more awareness, the better,’ she told the Daily Free Press. ‘Know that someone is there, offering strength.’
After the speakers’ addresses, the group began a walking vigil. The first stop was Union Square, where attendees read cards with the names of victims out loud. Then, they stopped by Hester’s residence.
Attendee Alexander Collins said he hopes the violence against the transgender community will one day stop.
‘ ‘It’s gotten a little better since Rita’s death, but there are still more names each year to report,’ he said. ‘I hope the list gets shorter.