An Edmonton memorial service will be held Sunday to commemorate the lives of 200 transgender people who lost their lives this year through violence.
“This memorial service is held worldwide and it is always on Nov. 20 to honour the unsolved murder of Rita Hester, who died in 1998,” said Jan Buterman.
Buterman, who will speak at the service, is a transgendered person who transitioned from living as a woman to living as a man. The substitute teacher made headlines in 2009 after filing a human rights complaint against Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools. The school board told him he would no longer be employed because he’d chosen to change his gender.
Sunday’s service will be non-denominational, Buterman said, adding that it will be an emotional day for the trans community as the names of the dead are read aloud.
“It is extremely difficult to read a list of names of people who are just like you, but who have died,” he said.
The number 200 is symbolic because it is only a record of known deaths recorded up to this week.
“That’s how many deaths we know of worldwide, but there may have been other murdered people, who were not identified as transgendered,” Buterman said.
Buterman blames the events of 9-11 for forcing transgendered people to be more public about their gender variance and therefore also making them a target for violence.
“I think there may be a correlation to 9-11 because pre-9-11 all you needed for identification was a driver’s license. Afterwards there was this massive obsession with documentation and papers,” he said adding that the need to document his own name change, led to the loss of his job.
“As a professional I understand the need for a criminal records check and for due diligence, but the process itself outs you,” he said.
On Sunday Buterman will speak about the isolating factors that transgender people must live with and his belief that each person on this earth should be treated with dignity.
“It’s wrong to say this person’s existence is troubling and so we have to remove them from our space. It’s wrong to say this person’s existence is wrong and we need to move you so we don’t have to look at you. There must be room for all kinds of people.”
Buterman is presently working towards a masters’ degree in Education at the University of Alberta where he is teaching and studying ethics and law.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance at McDougall United Church, 10086-101 St. will be held Sunday, Nov. 20 from 7 to 9 p.m.
