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Faith leaders from a wide range of congregations across Newton at the service. (photo: Kevin Osborn)
The First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton (FUUSN) hosted a Transgender Day of Remembrance service Thursday evening, November 20, bringing together members of 14 congregations in a unified gathering at the church to create a broader, united front at a time, faith leaders said, when anti-trans discrimination is rising nationwide.
The other congregations participating were Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, Eliot Church of Newton, First Church of Newton, First Church in Chestnut Hill, Myrtle Baptist Church, Newton Presbyterian Church, Newton Highlands Congregational Church, Second Church in Newton, St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish, Temple Beth Avodah, Temple Shalom, the Union Church in Waban, and United Parish of Auburndale.
Remember
Reverend Dr. Debra Haffner, senior co-minister at FUUSN, opened the service with a call for unity. The service included clergy and lay leaders from across the participating congregations reading the names of the 67 transgender people killed by violence or suicide in the past year – including one 15-year-old.
“We gather because every one of those lives was precious, because their memories deserve dignity, because grief becomes holy, and yes, more bearable when we share it together,” Rev. Haffner said. “But we decided remembering is no longer enough.”
Holly Ryan, a transgender woman and former Newton city councilor, outlined how Transgender Day of Remembrance began in Massachusetts, tracing its origins to the 1995 murder of Chanelle Pickett in Watertown and the 1998 killing of Rita Hester in Allston, which prompted the first community vigils. Ryan said she remembers joining more than 200 people in the streets for a candlelight vigil in the streets of Boston after Hester’s murder.
“Some of us were grieving, some…
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