From DallasVoice.com
Dallas transgender group "'DROPs ball' on 5th event
By David Webb Staff Writer
Nov 22, 2006 - 5:56:00 PM
1 woman carries out observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance at Kennedy Memorial
The 5th annual local observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance was a one-woman show observed briefly by an audience of one in downtown Dallas on Tuesday night.
Beth Richard, a member of Texas Instrument's LGBT employee group, staged the hastily-planned ceremony at the Kennedy Memorial. As she read the names of 19 transgender people killed around the world during the past year, one man wandered by and listened to her for about a minute before moving on, she said.
"It was probably the least-attended event I've ever been to," Richard said. "It was just too little, too late. I really should have taken the initiative earlier when the people I thought were doing it didn't appear to be doing it."
Richard said she decided to stage the ceremony at the last minute when she realized nothing was planned in Dallas. Her attempts by e-mail to attract the participation of others failed, she said.
Several other Texas cities including Amarillo, Austin, Houston and San Antonio planned and observed the Day of Remembrance. Two events were held in both Houston and San Antonio.
Richard said she felt compelled to stage the observance, even though she knew it would probably be a solo act.
"It's important to me," Richard said. "These things I can't just leave alone in the shadows with no one marking their passing."
The transgender people Richard cited included Dallas resident Simone Walton. Walton, 40, was found shot to death in the 3200 block of Linfield Road in East Oak Cliff on Dec. 4, 2005.
Richard noted that the Day of Remembrance was well-planned and attended during the previous four years. She helped in the coordination of two of those events and in ones held in Houston when she lived there, she said.
The Day of Remembrance has been observed nationally for eight years. It was first observed in Dallas in 2002.
"A couple of people took it over in 2005, and I thought they were going to do it in 2006," Richard said. "I started asking around to find out where to go, and I found out nobody was doing it."
Pamela Curry, who helped coordinate earlier observances, said a group calling itself the North Texas Transgender Alliance had formed after the Dallas Transgender Alliance disbanded in April 2005, but its leaders apparently dropped the ball.
Curry had arranged for previous events to be held at the Cathedral of Hope.
Curry said she originally agreed to work with the new group, but conflict within the organization drove her away.
Four members of the group harassed her with "hate e-mails" and late-night hang-up phone calls, she said.
"There's a little clique that just doesn't want me to be involved," Curry said. "I just decided that I was going to be more involved and helpful in the community at large."
Curry said Dallas' transgender community lags behind large cities such as New York and Los Angeles and even other cities in Texas such as Houston and Austin.
"The Dallas trans community lacks the cohesiveness that exists in other large transgender communities," Curry said.
Curry said she believes Dallas LGBT community is reflective of the city's culture.
"Dallas is the "'all about me' city," Curry said. "Unfortunately, that translates into the gay and lesbian community and into the trans community possibly more so in the trans community. That's a poison pill."
Curry said the conflict within the Dallas transgender community is caused by the small group who she alleges harassed her.
"A lot of it has to do with a few people wanting to control who is in charge," Curry said. "They'll harass certain people to keep them out."
Richard said that she plans to be in charge of the coordination of the Day of Remembrance next year.
"I think I'm going to start right this moment planning for next year's event because I don't want this to happen again," Richard said the day after her solo appearance downtown.
E-mail webb@dallasvoice.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, November 24, 2006.
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