News & Updates

Successes: Day of Remembrance Events

November 23, 2008

Approximately 25 people braved the November cold to gather at the Liberty Pole for a vigil for the 10th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance on Thursday, November 20th. Several people took this opportunity to speak and to reflect on what the Day of Remembrance means for them; asking to remember those we have lost, including the many transgender people lost to suicide each year; looking for public policy changes to improve the safety of trans people; and optimistically looking to a better future. Although press releases were sent to all major media outlets, no news crews were at the event. However, Rochester Indymedia was present at the vigil and reported on the event in this article on their website.

The spoken word event in the evening at the Gay Alliance was also a success, drawing approximately 20 people from the community and presenting several very powerful and personal poems and accounts by members of the local transgender community.

On Saturday a small discussion took place at Equal=Grounds around the topic of "where do we go from here?" A brainstorming session produced several great ideas for educating the non-trans community on transgender issues, and especially the oft-mentioned concept of deception that is so often used as justification for the murder of transgender people. We hope the discussion and dialog will continue throughout the year.

November 20th: Transgender Day of Remembrance

November 12, 2008

The 10th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance is coming up on Thursday, November 20th. Several activities are being planned, which we hope you will consider attending.

At noontime on Thursday, there will be a gathering and vigil at the Liberty Pole in downtown Rochester to remember the dead and to call attention to the violence against transgender people. More details will follow. For information or to help out, please contact Anya at (585) 820-1223 or anya at turnquist dot name.

Also, at 7:00pm Thursday in the Gay Alliance Youth Center (875 East Main Street, first floor, Prince St. entrance), there will be a night of art and spoken word from a number of local trans individuals. For more information or to participate, please contact Ceridwen at (585) 244-8640 or ceridwent at gagv dot us.

Update: We're Changing Our Meetings

September 17, 2008

With our next meeting (Saturday the 27th), we are going to be trying something new during our meetings. Saturday meetings will be a little more structured with the intention of meeting everyone's needs better. The doors will still be open at 2:00pm, but the more formal discussion/support group will begin at 2:30pm, and will last no longer than an hour and a half, followed by a social hour at 4:00pm. You are welcome to attend the entire time or just for one part, as you like. Our Wednesday meetings will remain an open discussion format with support available as needed.

We need topic ideas for future Saturday meetings. If you have any suggestions, please let us know at info at rnytg dot org.

Hope to see you there!

TJobBank is Launched

August 19, 2008

TJobBank is an employment site for Transgender Professionals. The site has been up for about three weeks. While there are not many jobs available there yet, this unique service holds out hope to transgender professionals who are looking for work. TJobBank from the perspective of a trans-person looking for work. The address is www.tjobbank.com