Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician serving as the eighth Mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented Ward 4 as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2015. She is the second female Mayor of the District of Columbia after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position.
D.C. church hosts annual Transgender Day of Remembrance event
Activists and local elected officials on Wednesday attended a Transgender Day of Remembrance service that took place at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington D.C. “These individuals were sons and daughters, siblings and neighbors, and friends.
They were human beings deserving of respect, safety, and the right to thrive,” said Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Affairs. “We mourn the senseless loss of life and acknowledge that this violence is not isolated.” Bowles noted this violence “stems from systemic transphobia, racism, economic inequality.” “For far too long, our trans siblings, especially our Black and Brown, Latinx trans women are vulnerable due to inequalities in housing, healthcare, and unemployment,” he said. “But in this midst of grief, we see the unyielding resilience of our trans community.” Bowles also read D.C.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Transgender Day of Remembrance proclamation. Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999 held the first Transgender Day of Remembrance a year after the murder of Rita Hester, a trans woman, in Boston.
This year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance took place 15 days after President-elect Donald Trump’s election and Republicans regaining control of the U.S.
