Prayers by Rev. Joseph San Jose
List of names sourced from https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports
List of names prepared by Rhick Esteves
Recording by Stanley Teh
Videography by Christopher Celeste
Each year the LGBTQI+ community in many places mark November 20th as Transgender day of Remembrance (TDOR) where we remember and raise our voices for the countless fallen transgender and gender queer individuals who were tortured, murdered, raped, died of suicide or died because of poverty and homelessness in a society that would rather not have them.
There have been 390 reported and recorded deaths of transgender individuals covering October 2021 to September 2022 globally (19 less than the previous year), majority of which come from Latin American countries, highest of which is Brazil at 107 individuals killed or died of suicide. This information was taken from the website – https://tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports
But we know that in reality there are many more who were and are not reported or known. Some of those in the list were nameless. TDOR reminds us of the real and present danger of being transgender or gender queer in many places especially in developing countries such as the Philippines and many Latin American countries and in Islamic states like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan as well as in the Arab and African nations. We are also reminded of the many other struggles of transgender people with the lack or limited economic opportunities and social services while experiencing continuous discrimination and facing the constant threat of violence everywhere. Open Table MCC as part of the 1st and oldest Christian denomination founded on the acceptance of LGBTQI+ people, we share in the sorrow and the indignation for the murder of our transgender sisters, brothers and siblings. From the 390 reports we have listed 70 names, representing all reported countries.
Let us Pray: Holy and Loving One, we lift up to you these names of our transgender siblings and doing so remember them. We lift up to you their names, their stories, their struggles and their horrible death. No one should ever be abused and murdered because of their gender identity and expression yet this is the reality of our world today. And so we pronounce some of their names in solemn remembrance:
| NAME | AGE | Gender Identity | LOCATION | CAUSE OF DEATH |
| Alex Bastien | 10 | Transman | Saint-Jérôme, Quebec (Canada) | Suicide |
| Asher Garcia | 14 | Transman | Frazee, Minnesota (USA) | Suicide |
| Sasha | 15 | Transman / Pride Volunteer | Catania, Sicily (Italy) | Suicide |
| Ace Scott | 15 | Transman | Kansas City, Missouri (USA) | Not reported |
| Emma Boland | 15 | Transwoman | Bampton, Oxfordshire (United Kingdom) | Suicide |
| Felis Joy | 16 | Transwoman | Chișinău (Moldova) | Suicide |
| Renata Cavalcante also known as Renata Ferraz | 16 | Transwoman | São José de Espinharas, Paraíba (Brazil) | Stabbed |
| Serena Brenneman | 16 | Transwoman | Salem, Oregon (USA) | Suicide |
| Gabi Mattos | 17 | Transwoman | Aracaju, Sergipe (Brazil) | Shot |
| Marcela Gomes Fonseca | 17 | Transwoman | Juína, Mato Grosso (Brazil) | Suicide |
| Ariyanna Mitchell | 17 | Transwoman | Hampton, Virginia (USA) | Shot |
| Khay Abdulgajir | – | Transwoman | Tawi-Tawi, Bangsamoro (Philippines) | Stabbed |
| Vergel Catalonia Tumicad | 24 | Transwoman | Ilagan, Isabela (Philippines) | Beaten |
| Estee Saway | 38 | Transwoman | Bangued, Abra (Philippines) | Shot |
| Saima | 47 | Transwoman | Karachi, Sindh (Pakistan) | Burnt by acid |
| Yakki Nájera | 46 | Transwoman | Reynosa, Tamaulipas (Mexico) | Beaten and burnt |
| Sarahí Atenea also known as Saray Ramos Izaguirre | 31 | Transwoman | Colima (Mexico) | Tortured |
| Bárbara Waimaran | – | Transwoman | El Jícaro, El Progreso (Guatemala) | Tortured |
| Yessi Montero | 34 | Transwoman | Nautla, Veracruz (Mexico) | Tortured and shot |
| Amy Winehouse | – | Transwoman | Tegucigalpa, Distrito Central (Honduras) | Tortured and murdered |
| Soni | – | Transwoman | Patna, Bihar (India) | Shot |
| Usha Rani | – | Transwoman | Patna, Bihar (India) | Beaten and Shot |
| Doski Azad | 23 | Transwoman | Duhok (Iraq) | Shot |
| Hanar | – | Transwoman | Mariwan, Kurdistan (Iran) | Suicide |
| Bunty | – | Transwoman | Taxila, Punjab (Pakistan) | Stabbed |
| S. | – | Transwoman | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) | Shot |
| Coconut | – | Transwoman | Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) | Shot |
| P. | 32 | Unknown | Bengaluru, Karnataka (India) | Stabbed |
| I. | 35 | Unknown | Lahore, Punjab (Pakistan) | Stabbed |
| Sheeza | – | Transwoman | Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) | Shot |
| Thiraphong Lamluea | 31 | Transwoman | Prasat, Surin (Thailand) | Beaten |
| Sabrina Houston | 37 | Transwoman | Talinn, Harju (Estonia) | Stabbed |
| Zoya | – | Transwoman | Indore, Madhya Pradesh (India) | Strangled |
| Nila | 24 | Transwoman | Dhaka (Bangladesh) | Stabbed |
| Anika | 23 | Transwoman | Bengaluru, Karnataka (India) | Beaten |
| M. Shiekh | 32 | Transwoman | Gurugram, Haryana (India) | Stoned |
| Ashu | 23 | Unknown | Talegaon Dhamdhere, Maharashtra (India) | Beaten |
| Akshitha | 20 | Transwoman | Salem, Tamil Nadu (India) | Beaten |
| Bijlee | – | Transwoman | Karachi, Sindh (Pakistan) | Strangled |
| Panimalar | 31 | Transwoman | Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu (India) | Beaten |
| Toffe | 19 | Transwoman | Karachi, Sindh (Pakistan) | Clinical neglect |
| Sherly | – | Transwoman | Karachi, Sindh (Pakistan) | Clinical neglect |
| Lovely | – | Transwoman | Jashore, Khulna (Bangladesh) | Stabbed |
| Luo | 21 | Transwoman | Wuhan, Hubei (China) | Stabbed |
| Mano | – | Transwoman | Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) | Shot |
| Chaand | – | Transwoman | Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) | Shot |
| Sameera Iftikhar | – | Transwoman | Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan) | Shot |
| Atena Queiroz da Silva | 19 | Transwoman | Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Pernambuco (Brazil) | Stoned and stabbed |
| Rany Fada | 19 | Transwoman | Belém do São Francisco, Pernambuco (Brazil) | Stoned |
| Paulinha Ferrara | 31 | Transwoman | Timon, Maranhão (Brazil) | Stoned and stabbed |
| Sofia Gisely | 22 | Transwoman | Fortaleza, Ceará (Brazil) | Stoned |
| Za’niyah Williams | 21 | Transwoman | Houston, Texas (USA) | Run over |
| Matthew Angelo Spampinato | 21 | Transman | New Castle, Delaware (USA) | Run over |
| Suany Maradiaga | 31 | Transwoman | San Pedro Sula, Cortés (Honduras) | Run over |
| C. A. Castillo Morales | 35 | Transwoman | Cuernavaca, Morelos (Mexico) | Run over |
| Milena | 23 | Transwoman | Serra, Espírito Santo (Brazil) | Stabbed and run over |
| J. L. da Silva | 18 | Transwoman | São Bento do Una, Pernambuco (Brazil) | Shot |
| Kai Khan | 18 | Transman | Great Bend, Kansas (USA) | Suicide |
| Amani Frieden | 18 | Transwoman | Aracaju, Sergipe (Brazil) | Suicide |
| Estefani Rodrigues Soares | 18 | Transwoman | Natal, Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) | Stabbed |
| Kathryn Newhouse | 19 | Transwoman | Canton, Georgia (USA) | Shot |
| Nicoly | 19 | Transwoman | Varginha, Minas Gerais (Brazil) | Suicide |
| Gael Pandinho | 19 | Transman | Macapá, Amapá (Brazil) | Suicide |
| Alicia Díaz | – | Transwoman | Ensenada, Baja California (Mexico) | Throat cut |
| Haley Gabriella Feldmann | 19 | Transwoman | Beach, North Dakota (USA) | Suicide |
| Apinat Plookpluem | 24 | Transwoman | Ban Sang District, Prachin Buri (Thailand) | Throat cut |
| Salomé | 38 | Transwoman | Pando, Canelones (Uruguay) | Stabbed |
| Kitty Russo | 38 | Transwoman | Cativá, Colón (Panama) | Shot |
| Zehava | 22 | Transwoman | Haifa (Israel) | Suicide |
| Elise Malary | 31 | Transwoman / Activist | Evanston, Illinois (USA) | Drowned |
And we remember and include in this holy remembrance the rest of the 390 transgender individuals who died or were murdered. We include in holy remembrance all those other transgender individuals whose names and stories that were never reported and listed but are known to you, eternal One. They who have experienced such horror in this world may now experience love and acceptance in your eternal embrace.
In their memory and for the sake of other transgender individuals here and everywhere, inspire us and push us to be in constant solidarity with the transgender community. With this remembrance and realities, call us and strengthen us to continue to offer safe spaces for them and deliver messages of inclusion and hope for transgender and gender queer individuals. Push us and move us to share in their movement for social justice, legal protection and equal rights. This is our prayer and may all our prayers lead us to action in and through the name of all our fallen brethren and Jesus Christ, who died with and for them. Amen.
Give them justice oh, Lord for their blood cries out to you from the earth!
The joy and love they have not experienced here, grant unto them in your eternal home.
Where there is no longer hatred, shadow, illness nor death.
May your perpetual light shine upon them, always!
And may they rest in your everlasting peace.
Sya nawa. Amen.
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