First Congregational Church of Granby will host a community event to commemorate the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 5:30 p.m., followed immediately by a free dinner and informal Q and A session.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual event that seeks to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice in the prior year. The first such event was held in the spring of 1999 in San Francisco as a memorial service to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project. Her murder, like most anti-transgender murder cases, has yet to be solved.
The event seeks to raise public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, as it publicly mourns and honors the lives of those who might otherwise be forgotten. It is also a time to affirm the importance of LGBTQ persons in our community. “We need you to survive!”
First Congregational Church became an open and affirming congregation in 2009, overtly extending a welcome to those whom society tends to marginalize. That conviction has led the congregation to explore issues such as perspective, encountering the “other,” and getting outside of its own little world. It also offers a weekly dinner/community gathering on Sunday evenings called The Harbor. This event will address in a very candid way the struggles of the transgender community, but it will also compassionately address the struggles people face in trying to understand perspectives that might be completely foreign to them, or where they may be uncomfortable asking for help in understanding.
The event is open to all who have interest and seek to learn about this important and timely topic.
For more information please contact First Congregational Church at 860-653-4537.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual event that seeks to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice in the prior year. The first such event was held in the spring of 1999 in San Francisco as a memorial service to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project. Her murder, like most anti-transgender murder cases, has yet to be solved.
The event seeks to raise public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, as it publicly mourns and honors the lives of those who might otherwise be forgotten. It is also a time to affirm the importance of LGBTQ persons in our community. “We need you to survive!”
First Congregational Church became an open and affirming congregation in 2009, overtly extending a welcome to those whom society tends to marginalize. That conviction has led the congregation to explore issues such as perspective, encountering the “other,” and getting outside of its own little world. It also offers a weekly dinner/community gathering on Sunday evenings called The Harbor. This event will address in a very candid way the struggles of the transgender community, but it will also compassionately address the struggles people face in trying to understand perspectives that might be completely foreign to them, or where they may be uncomfortable asking for help in understanding.
The event is open to all who have interest and seek to learn about this important and timely topic.
For more information please contact First Congregational Church at 860-653-4537.