LGBTQ organizers throughout the area will hold a Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil next week.
The vigil is set for Monday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. on the second floor of Wilkes University’s Henry Student Center.
Nikki Berlew, an LGBTQ advocate from Wilkes-Barre, started the vigil four years ago. The event will feature speakers and a reading of the names of transgender and gender non-conforming people who have lost their lives to violence in 2023.
According to GLAAD, the Transgender Day of Remembrance started in 1999 to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998.
The Wilkes-Barre event is supported by community organizations such as the Rainbow Alliance, Queer NEPA, NEPA Pride Coalition and others.