Transgender Remembrance Day: Taipei Vigil Highlights Global and Local Struggles

REPORTER:  

A moment of reflection on this windy night in Taipei. People here, showing support for hundreds of transgender people killed or who died from suicide due to confirmed or alleged anti-transgender campaigns around the world.

REPORTER:  

One speaker here marking Transgender Remembrance Day, chokes up when recounting the death of Sam Nordquist, an African-American transgender man who went through countless forms of torture before New York authorities found his body this February.

Nordquist’s death caught widespread attention but not all have been remembered this way.

REPORTER:  

On this night, 372 names are called out, many from Latin America and South Asia -- yet none of their deaths were reported by media.

But they’re now sparking discussion here in Taiwan.

Some here say while Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage and is relatively LGBTQ+ friendly, violence against transgender people is often unreported or misreported, and there is no legal basis for prosecuting potential hate crimes.

And because the law still requires psychological evaluations and surgery to remove reproductive organs before someone can change their gender on their ID, some victims end up being recorded under the wrong gender when cases are investigated.

REPORTER:  

This vigil has been held in Taiwan from time to time since 2014, and with each occasion more sad stories come to light. But as people continue to gather to commemorate the victims, events like this offer many here some comfort and hope while they keep pushing for change.

Howard Chang and Irene Lin for TaiwanPlus.