Gwendolyn Smith | |
---|---|
![]() Smith in 2017 | |
Born | June 22, 1967 |
Occupation(s) | Activist Writer |
Known for | Transgender rights movement |
Website | http://gwensmith.com/ |
Gwendolyn Smith (born 22 July 1967) is an American transgender woman from the San Francisco Bay Area [1] who co-founded Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize people who have been killed as a result of transphobia. Trans/Active: A Biography of Gwendolyn Ann Smith is a biography about Smith published in July 2017. [2] [3]
Born July 22, 1967, Smith is a transgender activist, writer, and graphic designer. [4] From 1993 to 1998, she ran the Transgender Community Forum on AOL, which was one of the first public online forums for transgender people. [5] Since 2000, she has been a columnist for the Bay Area Reporter. Her column is called "Transmissions." [6] Her essay, "We're all Someone's Freak," is in the Norton Reader 14th edition. [7] She also manages the website Genderfork. [5] [6]
Smith founded a website called Remembering Our Dead, which memorializes people (going back to 1970) who have died as a direct result of hatred and prejudice based on gender. [4] [8] Today the list is hosted on the Transgender Day of Remembrance website, which now (going back to 2007) publishes information about people who have been murdered due to anti-transgender violence. [5] [8] In 2012, Gwendolyn Smith wrote an article for Huffington Post titled, "Transgender Day of Remembrance: Why We Remember". [9] In addition, she is published in Kate Bornstein's book, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation. [10]
Smith began Transgender Day of Remembrance in November 1999 to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered in 1998. [5] [11] It now happens every year on November 20, and is observed all over the United States, in over 200 cities, and in different countries. [12] [13] [14] [15] The week leading up to the Day of Remembrance has become Transgender Awareness Week. [16]
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