BOURNEMOUTH saw a poignant gathering of people to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance at the Old Fire Station.
On November 20, the world recognised Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR), which honours the memory of people who have been murdered in acts of transphobic violence.
The day of remembrance began after Rita Hester, a transwoman, was murdered in Allston Massachusetts in 1998.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community came together for a candlelight vigil to honour her memory and condemn the rise of homophobic and transphobic violence.
The event was organised by Youth Space Project, a registered charity in Dorset working towards providing support and empower young LGBT+, Trans and Non-Binary people in the local area.
CEO of Youth Space Project, Helen Walsh said: "This organisation was started to provide people with the space where they can improve their mental health, so we help them push boundaries.
"We help them manage what's going on around them, they can build their confidence, self esteem and improve their mental health.
"We have been doing this remembrance day for past ten years at different places. I do find them intensely emotional. But it is just a nice place to just reflect and honour the ones we have lost."
Starting in the evening, the event featured a number of speeches by various people and members of Youth Space Project.
Participants held a moment of silence for trans people killed within the year all across the world and lit a candle in the honour of people they have lost.
Anna-Jayne Metcalfe, living in Bournemouth, identifies as a trans woman.
Working as a software engineer, Anna-Jayne developed a site called tdor.translivesmatter.info which gives details of trans people known to have been killed, as collated from reports by Transgender Europe and trans activists worldwide.
The idea for the site came about as a direct result of the experiences she had while gathering information in preparation for the TDoR 2017 vigil in Bournemouth.
Anna-Jayne said: "I started collecting information from all over the web, two months intense research nearly broke me, It was really traumatic. I thought, if we going to do this every year, we find a better way doing this. The idea behind it to make information available for people".
"For every case, there's a story, their dreams, love and fear. We have a responsibility to share their life as well.
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