On Nov. 19 EWU honored the lives of trans* women who were killed this year as a result of anti-transgender hatred or murder. The event was a tribute to International Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20.

This event was part of Gender Awareness Week and was sponsored by the Pride Center.

This year the Pride Center chose to focus on trans* women specifically due to the influx of murders among the community.

During the event, a slide show of trans* women who were killed played as attendees read their names, ages, where they were murdered and how. As each new name was read the reader came to the front of the room and turned on a candle in remembrance.

After all names were read, Pride Center Manager Nick Franco called for a moment of silence before continuing his presentation.

Franco went on to share a statistic about transgender individuals. More than 250 transgender individuals were killed between Jan. 2012 and July 2013 worldwide. “That means every day and a half a trans* is killed and that is just the amount that is reported,” Franco said.

Since 2013 the world has celebrated transgender heros such as transgender activists  Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner. The work that these women do seems to be making an impact but the trans* community still faces persecution every day.

“This session was important because we have made a lot of progress, but we still have a long way to go,” Franco said.