Members of the transgender community came together in Liverpool to commemorate the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
It is held every year on November 20 and remembers those who have been killed due to transphobic violence and hate crimes across the world.
The event started at the Museum of Liverpool on Thursday with a wreath being laid in the ‘April Ashley: Portrait of a Lady’ exhibition, followed by silence to mark the occasion.
Janet Dugdale, Director of Museum of Liverpool, told JMU Journalism: “It’s really important that we are here today for Transgender Day of Remembrance. It’s the second time we have held an event in the museum where we’ve laid a wreath in the April Ashely special exhibition that’s on at the moment.
“I think over the last 18 months while we have had the exhibition here, people have really started to trust the museum as a safe place to come to talk about different issues and different subjects that face the trans community, so it makes me really proud and I was honoured that people came here.”
Dan Stone, chair of transgender support group the Liv Fast Network, told JMU Journalism: “I would definitely consider myself to be part of the trans community. I think if I wasn’t as active as I was I don’t think my transition would have gone as smooth. I think it’s really helped me get along with my journey.”
The event drew to a close with the raising of the ‘Transgender Pride Flag’ at Liverpool Town Hall where people cheered as it went up the flagpole. Liverpool artist Sophie Green, who goes into schools to tackle homophobia and transphobia, talked about how the idea of the flag-raising came about.
She said: “A few of us got together, we questioned why it is that our flag has not been flown and we asked the question of the Town Hall. We said ‘it’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, we need our colours up there’ and they’ve been amazingly supportive.”