On Nov. 20, the 11th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance will commemorate the lives of people who were killed because of their gender identity across the globe.

The event, hosted by Trans:Thrive, will include pubic speakers, a reading of the 2009 known victims' names, an open community dialogue and an altar to commemorate the dead.

The key speaker, Alexandra Byerly, is the program coordinator for El/La Program Para TransLatinas in the Mission.

Trans:Thrive is a subgroup of the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center located at Polk and Ellis Streets.

Statistics posted on the Day of Remembrance Web site, http://www.transgenderdor.org, by transgender activist Ethan St. Pierre show that murders of transgender people have consistently risen since 1985 in the United States as well as internationally, from 6 to 47 deaths globally.

"It's a day of mourning and a day to educate people in our community and outside of our community," said St. Pierre, who lives in Haverhill, Mass.

San Francisco Transgender Empowerment, Advocacy and Mentorship, along with other community groups, will organize the San Francisco gathering. SF TEAM is the transgender branch of the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center.

"My primary focus is to give people a place to memorialize the loss this year," said Clair Farley, the coordinator of transgender economic development at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.

In 2008, there were 18 deaths in the United States and 29 internationally, which amount to 47 people who were killed because of their gender identity, according to statistics posted on the Transgender Day of Remembrance Web site. That's more than double the number of deaths in 2007 and in 2006. These numbers also don't include hate crimes that didn't result in deaths and discrimination in employment and health care.

"The Day of Remembrance demonstrates how often trans individuals experience violence," said Michelle Eliason, a human sexuality professor at SF State who has studied transgender issues and whose sister is trangendered. "Hate crimes against trans individuals are much more extreme than against other groups because our society is so deeply ingrained in a binary gender system that severely punishes people for deviating from gender norms," she said.

Eliason's sister, Rachel, lives in Des Moines, Iowa, and is an active member of the LGBT center there and is part of a trans support group. She works as a nurse on the night shift on a geriatric unit, and while the staff is supportive, the patients are not conscious enough to realize what Rachel is going through, Eliason said.

Eliason said Rachel's ex-wife is not causing any problems and her 10-year-old son is accepting as well.

"The biggest barrier has been my mother, who is not rejecting, but who feels embarrassed and distressed by the physical changes: From Rich to Rachel, from a 6-feet-2-inch guy with a bushy beard to wearing skirts and peasant blouses. I think she will come around, but it's hard for a nearly 80-year-old woman to adjust to the transition."

Kristina Wertz, legal director at the Transgender Law Center, said there has been "tremendous advancement" in the law in California for transgender people, but that there is still "rampant discrimination."

According to the State of Transgender California Report issued by the Transgender Law Center, providing results from a 2008 statewide survey, 67 percent of respondents reported some form of workplace harassment or discrimination directly related to their gender identity. According to the same survey, 11 percent have had a care provider refuse to treat them because they are transgender, but 94 percent of the transgender respondents over the age of 25 hold a high school diploma or equivalent, compared to 80 percent in California generally.

"I think California and SFSU are only slightly ahead of the rest of the U.S. on transgender issues," Eliason said. "SFSU includes sexual orientation in its nondiscrimination policy, but not gender identity."

The LGBT community and activists are hoping that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act passes in Congress so that it would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and disability for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees.

"What the government is saying to us is that we don't deserve to work," St. Pierre said.

St. Pierre's aunt, Debra Forte, was killed in 1995 for being a transgender person. He said "losing her because of who she was, was really magnifying." Because of her death, he decided to become an activist because he believed hate crimes were unacceptable.