The names and ages of nearly 300 transgender people slain at locations around the globe this past year were read aloud Sunday evening as a somber crowd of Portland-area residents looked on at the Equality Community Center on Congress Street.

Portland’s Transgender Day of Remembrance was one of six vigils held in Maine on Sunday to remember the victims of anti-transgender violence. The others were in Lewiston, Waterville, Bangor, Belfast and Newcastle.

The day of remembrance is an international event that was started in 1998 in response to the slaying of a black transgender woman named Rita Hester. Hester was killed that year in Allston, Massachusetts.

Though this year’s list contained 295 names – none from Maine – Quinn Gormley, the incoming president of Maine TransNet, said the number of transgender people killed is believed to be underreported. Nearly all the names on the list are of transgender women of color, according to Gormley.

Maine TransNet, in a statement posted on its website, says the fact that more women of color are being killed is not surprising, given that they live at “the intersections of misogyny, transphobia, and racism, leaving them uniquely vulnerable to extremes of violence.”

This year’s national vigil was organized by GLAAD, formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

A crowd of about 100 people attended the Portland vigil, which was moved from Monument Square to the Equality Community Center because of the weather.

“This is a wonderful turnout,” Gormley said. “It’s nice to know that our community is growing.”

But also growing is the list of transgender people who have been slain, according to those at the vigil.

Charlie Johnson, vice president of MaineTransNet and co-chairman of Pride Portland, told the crowd that the names of 219 people were read at remembrance vigils last year.

“There are 295 people on the list this year. I don’t think I can stand next year. It just keeps getting bigger every year,” Johnson said. “And I don’t know how to fix this problem.”

Johnson also commented on the size of the crowd.

“I look around me and it makes me feel safer,” he said.

Gormley said the election of Donald Trump as president has put the transgender community on edge.

The election “reminds all of us that transgender people are not safe anywhere, and that is not going to change anytime soon,” Gormley said. “I know people might be afraid of what is coming in the next couple of years, but I have to remind you that the past couple of years haven’t been all that good.”

“All of the hate that we are seeing is due to our growing resiliency,” Gormley added.

Gormley said a guest speaker who was going to talk about the recent suicide of a 16-year-old transgender male inmate at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland was unable to attend Sunday’s vigil. The death of Charles Maisie Knowles remains under investigation by the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Maine Department of Corrections.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com

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