Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil

Content Warning: This event commemorates trans and gender diverse people lost to bigotry and violence. The vigil will involve direct discussions of transphobia, death, and grief, and may include the reading of names of people who are no longer with us.

Transfolk WA is inviting all Trans and Gender Diverse people, their families, friends and allies to a candlelight vigil on the evening of International Transgender Day of Remembrance.

• Date: Thursday 20 November 2025

• Time: 6:15pm to 7:30pm. Formal proceedings to commence at 6:30pm

• Location: Ozone Reserve, Central Stage Area near the Ozone Playground Reserve

• Cost: FREE

• Getting there: We encourage attendees to use public transport where possible, with plenty of regular buses running along Adelaide Terrace. Paid parking is available at CPP Plain Street and CPP Point Fraser at $5 from 6pm, but please note that spaces cannot be guaranteed. For individuals facing financial hardship, please keep your parking receipt as we will provide a link to an electronic reimbursement form to all registrants after the event.

• Accessibility info: 

  • This event will be Auslan Interpreted.

  • There are paved paths to main stage area from Adelaide Terrace and Riverside Drive.

  • The audience will be seated on grass and parts of the main stage.

  • There will be ample lighting at the Staged Area.

  • If you are driving, CPP Plain Street does not have easy access to the stage for anyone who may find small steps (around 10cm) or grass difficult. You’ll need to go around via Plain St and Adelaide Terrace. Parking at CPP Point Fraser provides a shorter route, but you’ll need to cross Riverside Drive, which is a busy road, so please take care.

• Please bring along your own picnic rug or chair.

What is TDOR?
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

"Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti transgender bigotry and violence. I am not longer a stranger to the need to fright for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people - sometimes in the most brutal ways possible - it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice." - Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Would you like to share your story, some words or art at our upcoming Transgender Day of Remembrance event?
Please reach out with an expression of interest via this link: https://forms.office.com/r/diUsKvrbFh
We welcome submissions from speakers, storytellers, poets, musicians, or other forms of acknowledgment in line with our theme "their light remains" that would be suitable for a small in-person vigil and at Ozone Reserve on 20 November, from 6:15pm. PA system and lectern will be provided.

This event will be held on the unceded land of the Whadjuk Noongar Nation. Transfolk WA pays our respects to their Elders past and present.