In May, 1995, a transgender woman named Debra Forte was beaten and stabbed to death in Haverhill. A few months later, on Nov. 20, 1995, a 23-year-old transgender woman named Chanelle Pickett was brutally murdered in Watertown by a man named William Palmer she had met at a bar.

“Even though Mr. Palmer was known for frequenting trans bars in Boston, and two of the witnesses were transgender women that he dates, he was let off of the serious charge of murder and was only sentenced to 2 ½ years in the House of Correction,” Holly Ryan, transgender rights activist and former Newton  city councilor, recalled to the scores of people seated in the pews at First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton Thursday night, in a ceremony marking Transgender Day of Remembrance. “And we as a community, who were still not tied together and were still pretty loose, were outraged.”

In 1998, two transgender women—Monique Thomas and Rita Hester—were murdered in Greater Boston. Hester was stabbed 20 times.

It was an all-too-common tragedy, and the transgender community was terrified.

Transgender rights activist Holly Ryan speaks at First Universalist Unitarian Society in Newton during Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

“On Friday, Dec. 4 of that year, we organized and met at the Model Café in Union Square in Allston,” Ryan continued. “Over 200 people showed up, and we were all very surprised. Some of us were grieving. Some of us were very angry. Some of us didn’t even really know why we were there.”

That gathering turned into a walking candlelight vigil, and the crowd made its way past the Silhouette Lounge, which was the last place Hester was seen alive, and to Hester’s home in Allston.

“Her murder is still unsolved, as a lot of murders of trans people go unsolved,” Ryan said.

That vigil gave birth to Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is marked internationally on Nov. 20, providing pause to remember those in the community lost to violence and suicide.

The day also serves as a reminder of the dangers faced by transgender people all over the world.

According to FBI statistics, more than half of all transgender Americans have experienced violence from a partner, and 47 percent have been sexually assaulted. And dozens are murdered every year.

“We’re police officers, we’re firefighters, we’re teachers, we hold elected office, we’re homeowners, we have children,” Ryan said. “We’re just like you.”

Rev. Rada Ruggles of Eliot Church speaks at First Universalist Unitarian Society in Newton during Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

At a time when it seems transgender Americans’ rights and dignity are under constant attack in our new political normal—there are currently more than 1,000 pieces of anti-transgender legislation being considered in states nationwide—speakers at Thursday’s ceremony called for more resistance.

Rev. Debra Haffner chastised the “misuse of religion” as a means of oppression and issued a call to protect the transgender community.

“Remembering, we decided, is no longer enough,” Haffner said. “Tonight is just as much about an act of resistance. You are practicing resistance by being here. As people of faith, we must resist all attempts to erase, diminish, discriminate against or endanger our transgender, intersex and nonbinary beloveds.”

Rev. Devlin Scott echoed that appeal and proclaimed that those in that church would “reject the teachings of division and ignorance and commit to siding with love against hatred.”

There were moments of anger and laughter and joy, and there was music. The ceremony was a microcosm of reality for the transgender community in 2025: grieving those lost to violence and suicide, bracing for what’s to come in an increasingly hostile political climate, and finding hope in solidarity.

“The violence continues because we have a government that condones it,” Ryan said. “We have to fight to protect everything that we have gained. Everything that we have fought for. We cannot go backwards.”