Saturday, Nov 21, 2026 at 6pm
Chelmsford Center for the Arts
1A North Rd, Chelmsford, MA, 01824
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), celebrated annually on or around Nov 20, is a day dedicated to honoring the transgender community and raising awareness of the discrimination and challenges they face. Chelmsford’s event will provide a platform for visibility, support, and education, affirming the dignity and humanity of all transgender individuals.
There will be a candle-light procession to and around Chelmsford Town Common, followed by a vigil to remember and honor the individual names of those transgender people who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence in the past year. It is an opportunity for individuals to come together in solidarity and respect.
The first observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance was after the November 28, 1998, murder of Rita Hester, a 34-year-old Black transgender woman in Boston. Gwendolyn Ann Smith organized the first candlelight vigil on November 20, 1999, in San Francisco to memorialize Hester and other victims of anti-transgender violence.
