On Nov. 15, 387 stones colored blue, white and pink — the colors of the transgender flag — were dropped in a glass to represent the number of transgender people whose lives were lost to violence since Oct. 1, 2022, during a vigil for the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR).

The Ithaca community came together in the Tompkins County Public Library to remember the names of the lives lost and celebrate the living through poetry readings, musical performances and a keynote from Raja Gopal Bhattar, executive director for the Center of Identity and Inclusion at the University of Chicago. 

320 reported transgender and gender diverse people’s lives have been lost to violence in 2023, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring Report. Of the lives lost, 94% were transgender women, 80% were affected by racism and 73% of the deaths occurred in Latin America. 

Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed Nov. 20 and was started in 1999 by transgender activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor the life of Rita Hester, who was murdered in 1998, and every transgender person’s life lost before her. 

Foula Dimopoulos, adviser for the Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program and Higher Education Opportunity Programs at Cornell University, gave the opening statements for the vigil. Dimopoulos said TDOR commemorates the lives of transgender people in a society that has become increasingly hostile toward transgender lives.

“[TDOR] is a day for action,” Dimopoulos said. “That is the truest sense of the word vigil. It is about holding space, it is about gathering and it is about remembering and in that remembering, taking action.”

Cornell student Noor Sabharwal read the poem “Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul” by Ryka Aoki during the event and said the vigil was uplifting because of the love and labor put into the event.

“[The vigil] is a testament to how our community comes together to remember, honor and celebrate each other,” Sabharwal said. 

Sabharwal said that living in an area with LGBTQ+ events makes her feel safe and celebrated and that it is comforting to know she can find other people who share an identity and a community. 

“Today’s [vigil] involved a lot of teamwork from different people,” Sabharwal said. “Not just from Ithaca, but from Tompkins County and beyond and that was just lovely to see.” 

The vigil was sponsored by the Ithaca College Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services, The Cortland LGBTQ Center, the Cornell University LGBT Resource Center and Thursgays at The Range. As a companion event to the vigil, Thursgays at The Range hosted a “Trans Joy” drag show.

Crissi Dalfonzo, director of LGBTQ Education, Outreach and Services, said Ithaca College has been collaborating with local organizations to plan the vigil every year since 2020, when the event was completely online during the pandemic. 

“It’s really important that [the vigil] be a community event,” Dalfonzo said. “That it be something that is really bringing people together regardless of university affiliation, whether you’re part of one of the colleges or you’re just a resident of Ithaca, having a space [where] you can be together … is really important.”

Before coming to Ithaca College, Dalfonzo worked at Cornell University as associate director for the LGBT resource center from 2018 to 2023.

Sasha Raffloer, library assistant and organizer for the event, said much thought went into hosting the event at the library. 

“We’ve had this event in the past before, but this is the first time at the library because we’re trying to get more people from the local community involved,” Raffloer said. “So not just Cornell and IC students but the greater queer community in Ithaca.” 

Raffloer also said it was important to make sure the event was safe and comfortable for people to attend.

“In the past, we’ve received backlash for our pride related events, so it is definitely on our mind,” Raflloer said. “But we [had] security and all of our staff have been trained on how to deal with these issues.”

Eden Coyne, a resident of Ithaca, said it is hard to not feel selfish being able to attend LGBTQ+ events in Ithaca while transgender people who lost their lives were not able to experience the same kind of support.

“I just have to be thankful,” Coyne said. “I have to be thankful that I have these things and different events to support me and my community. I want more people to feel thankful that they can have this liberation.”

Coyne said the performances and poetry readings provided moments of liberation, while mourning the loss of life.

“It wasn’t just all supposed to be sad,” Coyne said. “It was supposed to be happy too and I think those performances and those readings of the poems were supposed to give that little touch to the event tonight and it was well done.”

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 26 transgender and gender-non-conforming people were killed in the U.S. in 2023. Of the people murdered, 50% were either deadnamed or misgendered by authorities or the press. Bhattar said in the keynote presentation that this is called a “double death.”

“Not only are we murdered, but we also do not get to exist in our identities in death,” Bhattar said in the keynote. 

Bhattar said the statistics represent a multiplicity in identities of the individuals murdered and it is important to recognize that misogyny, transphobia, racism and other layers of oppression contribute to violence against transgender people. 

Bhattar said TDOR is one of the most important events of the year and when they were invited to speak, they could not say no. 

“Coming to a vigil like this … reminds me to both honor the past and the violence that’s happened but also to commit to being true to myself, taking up space in my queerness and my fabulousness and to be visible in the community because I have a responsibility to do that,” Bhattar said. “I am taking up space for those whose voices have been taken away too shortly. It’s a reaffirmation for me of my own job and the work that’s yet to be done.” 

In the closing statements of the event, Dalfonzo officially announced the establishment of the Ithaca Pride Alliance. Dalfonzo said via email that the organization was formed to seek more community and connection in the LGBTQ+ population in Ithaca. During Summer 2024, the IPA will work with the Downtown Ithaca Alliance to plan Pride and long term, it will plan and advertise events, share resources and provide education for and about the LGBTQ+ community.

In 2023, 85 bills seeking to block transgender people from seeking healthcare and gender-affirming care, legal recognition and the right to exist publicly have been passed. In New York, two bills have been introduced to prevent transgender girls from competing in middle school and high school sports. Bhattar said it is important to call senators and representatives and speak up about bills like these. 

“Talk to your school boards, talk about your gender, talk about your identity, talk to anyone ever that will listen to you,” Bhattar said. “Even if they don’t listen to you, you have a responsibility to speak up and do the work.”

Contributing reporting from Kaden Shea