By Rick Braatz, Reporter
Community Gathers to Remember Lives Lost
More than 150 people turned out for the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony held at the San Diego LGBT Community Center’s (The Center) main hall on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. The event featured guest speakers, music, a reading of the names of trans and nonbinary community members lost in the U.S. over the past 365 days, and an altar with candles and framed photos of deceased loved ones. Representatives from various nonprofit agencies serving the trans and nonbinary community provided information about their services at tables along the hall’s periphery.
“Trans Day of Remembrance is not just an acknowledgment of our kin, whose lights were snuffed out far too soon, stolen from our world and community at the insistence of a foolish idea that you can erase our existence,” Esmé Quintero-Cubillan, organizing and outreach coordinator for San Diego Pride, said. She was among several community members who spoke during the ceremony. “Trans Day of Remembrance must be much more than a reaction. It must be a rallying call and a day of action for us to work toward bettering our community. It must be a day of action for how the state and society seek to erase us from public life, a day of action against the violence we are subjected to, and a day to hold each other closer, more tenderly, more sweetly.”
The event featured musical performances from the Trans Chorus of San Diego and Gael Urquia, The Center’s Project TRANS case manager and peer support advocate. Urquia, the event’s lead organizer, performed, through voice and piano, Laura Itandehui’s “Cuido Tu Recuerdo” (“I Care for Your Memory”).
“Cuido tu recuerdo como un último gesto de amor” (“I cherish your memory as a last gesture of love”), Urquia sang. “Del campo marchito rescato la flor” (“From the withered field I rescue the flower”).
Following the performances, Quintero-Cubillan; Jett Cloud, a case manager with The Center; Eryn Lang, an outreach coordinator with the Transgender Health and Wellness Center; and Murphy Hernandez, Lambda Archives of San Diego’s community education and engagement manager, assembled at the front of the stage and took turns reading the names of trans and nonbinary community members deceased this year in the U.S., while a projector displayed each deceased community member’s photo and name, as it was read, on a screen behind the stage.
“Ajani Walden,” Cloud said.
“Amyri Dior,” Quintero-Cubillan said.
“Apollo Moon,” Hernandez said.
“Arty Cassidy Beowulf Gibson,” Lang said.
The names Cloud, Quintero-Cubillan, Hernandez and Lang read were drawn from an online memorial dedicated to the trans and nonbinary community members who died this year in the U.S., published by the Trans Remembrance Project. The online memorial can be viewed at the following link: https://www.transremembrance.org/in-memoriam.
Mayor Todd Gloria and City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn (District 3, including Hillcrest and Balboa Park) ended the ceremony by presenting a city declaration, which the San Diego City Council passed two days earlier, proclaiming Nov. 20, 2025, as Transgender Day of Remembrance in the city of San Diego.
Whitburn said he, along with Mayor Gloria; Jennifer Campbell (District 2, including Point Loma, Ocean Beach and Mission Beach); and Marni von Wilpert (District 5, including Miramar and Rancho Bernardo), brought forward the proclamation during the Nov. 18 San Diego City Council meeting and noted that the council passed it unanimously.
As Gloria stood beside him at the podium, Whitburn read from the proclamation:
“The City of San Diego affirms the dignity and humanity of every person, including transgender, gender-nonconforming, nonbinary and Two Spirit residents, and recognizes the vulnerabilities that many face in our community,” Whitburn said. “And, whereas in remembering these and all transgender leaders who are no longer with us, we reflect not only on grief and loss, but on their powerful contributions, their courage to show up authentically and with purpose, and their role in helping to build a more humane and just San Diego.”
Afterward, several people who attended the ceremony shared their thoughts about it, including why they attended.
An attendee named Xoelle, 30, said she showed up at the event to honor community members who had passed.
“It’s something I do every year, just to pay my respects to my trans sisters, my sisters and brothers,” Xoelle said.
Charlette, 35, who noted she was with the Trans Chorus of San Diego, felt the event generated a type of communal uplift among attendees.
“Whereas it is a really somber day and there is a lot of propensity to feel hopeless, getting together, seeing everyone feeling the warmth and the vibes — it’s important. I appreciate that,” Charlette said.
An ally named Aksel, 28, said he initially had reservations about attending the ceremony.
“I did have worries about intruding upon a space I felt, perhaps, I wasn’t allowed to be in. I didn’t want to take up space as a cis ally,” Aksel said. “But she [referring to his friend who identifies as trans and who sat beside him] made me feel like it was safe to come, and once I was here, I felt very welcomed.”
