Sunday is Transgender Day of Remembrance, and people in central Iowa will gather at 6:00 pm at the steps of the state capitol for a vigil to remember those in the global trans community who have been lost to violence in 2016.
Sophia Stone of Transformations Iowa, a support group for transgender and non-binary people, says Sunday’s vigil will honor people who have been murdered because of their gender non-conforming identities.
"No matter how many of us that we lose, no matter how many of use that are killed, we will not be giving up," says Stone. "We will always be around, and we will always be fighting for our right to exist."
Stone says in particular she’ll be remembering a 16-year-old Burlington teen.
Kedarie Johnson, who also used the name Kandicee and identified as gender-fluid, was murdered on March 2. Police say the homicide was not a hate crime, though Johnson’s mother disagrees.
