New London — Members of the region's LGBTQ community will march on Monday, Nov. 20, from City Hall to Parade Plaza, where they will light candles and speak the names of those killed during the past year as a result of anti-transgender violence.

OutCT is organizing the Transgender Day of Remembrance event, which is open to the public and begins at 5:30 p.m. on the steps of City Hall.

According to OutCT,  a national day of remembrance is observed annually in late November in recognition of the 1998 murder of 34-year-old Rita Hester, an active member of the transgender community in Boston, who was stabbed 20 times in her apartment. Police have never charged anyone in connection with her death. In 1999, a year after Hester's murder, advocate and writer Gwendolyn Ann Smith coordinated a vigil in her memory to honor all those who were lost to anti-transgender violence.

The southeastern Connecticut LGBTQ community held a transgender remembrance event at the former Frank's Place in New London a few years ago and had a memorial service last year at Niantic Community Church, according to an area transgender woman known as Polly Sioux. Neither was well advertised and both were poorly attended.

"We're trying to get ahead of it this year and get more people aware of it," said Sioux, who is planning to deliver the opening remarks at this year's event.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 23 transgender people have been killed in the United States in 2017, equaling the record 23 people killed last year.

"I think the current political mood in the country is part of it," said Sioux. "I also think there are more transgender people who are out and there's more awareness around transgender people. It's quite possible we're not necessarily seeing a spike in transgender death but a spike in people who are identifying as transgender."

Locally, Sioux said she had never experienced anything but acceptance.

"I think in general in this part of the country is definitely a bubble and acceptance is very high," she said. "We have a large number of transgender people in this community. Some are out, others aren't. There's an active group. I can easily find myself with four or five transgender people out having a drink."

Sioux said she is happy to answer questions about the complicated issue of gender identity and that OutCT would love to have supportive people at the Nov. 20 event.

"We're just asking people to remember it's a solemn occasion," she said. "We might head down to the Brass Rail and have a drink afterwards, but the event is a memorial."

k.florin@theday.com