In Memoriam

This year has set a new record for transgender homicides, with 24 reported, two more than in 2015.

The innovative and iconic singer ,whose illustrious career lasted five decades, died Sunday after a battle with cancer. He was 69.

Rachel Bryk died by suicide last week by jumping off the George Washington Bridge, just days after internet trolls encouraged her to commit suicide.

Friends and community members on Tuesday mourned the passing of a Charlotte, N.C., transgender youth activist, Blake Brockington, who died as the result of suicide overnight.

It is astounding how our body holds and stores memories, filing them away, only to open their drawer unexpectedly to remind us of their presence. I had planned on sleeping in late this morning, but on my first deep inhale to restore sleep, though, I immediately woke fully: today marks Shane’s last full day of life, exactly twenty years ago.

Local LGBT community leaders in Charlotte, N.C., are responding with messages of support and encouragement, following the death Thursday of a transgender student. Ash Haffner, 16, died by suicide on Thursday.

Another transgender teen has taken his own life, leaving behind a suicide note describing sexual trauma and alleged bullying by family members.

Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 with her epic song of teenage angst, “It’s My Party,” and followed it up with the hit “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” and the feminist anthem “You Don’t Own Me,” died Monday at age 68.

A terminally ill woman whose desire to have her same-sex marriage recognized by Indiana before she died helped galvanize efforts to overturn the state’s gay marriage ban has lost her battle with cancer.

Matthew Shepard’s murder left and indelible impression that has become part of our collective culture to this day. This week, another tragedy, another life destroyed, left a similar impression — the death of Leelah Alcorn.

On the morning of my 30th birthday, I checked my then-partner, Shane Sawick, into the hospital. He would not come out. Shane died just two weeks later, suffering from Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML); one disease, among many, battled in his long war against AIDS. Once in the hospital, the illness quickly progressed, and in just a matter of days, he could no longer speak, blink, nor respond in any way. Through it all, though, his mind still raced, and processed, and thought…

Today is the 16th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a solemn tribute to those who have lost their lives to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice, and a day to raise awareness of the constant threat of brutality faced by the transgender community.

BOSTON — Thomas Shaw, a gay monk who served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts for nearly two decades and championed Palestinian, minority and other causes, has died. He was 69.

Sixteen years ago, on the night of October 6, 1998, two men lured Matthew Shepard, a 21-year old college freshman at the University of Wyoming, from a bar in Laramie. He was kidnapped, robbed, brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left die on the cold Wyoming prairie. Matthew was discovered 18 hours later, and for the next five days, the world held vigil while Matthew lay in a coma in a hospital in Colorado. And on this day in 1998, at 12:53 a.m., Matthew died — his family by his side.

On October 7, 1998, Aaron Kreifels was riding his bike through a field in Wyoming. He wasn’t expecting that day to be different from any other beautiful sunny afternoon in the vast plains surrounding Laramie, but that day would change many lives. Aaron spotted what he initially thought was a scarecrow next to a fence. Then he noticed a glisten of blood…

LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J. — Lily McBeth, the teacher whose battles with school boards in conservative areas of New Jersey made her a reluctant symbol of the transgender rights movement, has died. She was 80. McBeth died Sept. 24 near her home in Little Egg Harbor after a long illness, her daughter Maureen said. “She was very much at peace with her life…

Bob Crewe, the veteran producer, singer and songwriter who penned a string of hits for the Four Seasons died Thursday at the age of 82. Crewe’s brother, Dan, confirmed the songwriter’s death, reports Rolling Stone:

NEW YORK — Howard Stern delivered the eulogy, Broadway singer-actress Audra McDonald sang “Smile” and bagpipers played “New York, New York” at Joan Rivers’ funeral Sunday, a star-studded send-off that — like the late comedian herself — brought together the worlds of Hollywood, theater, fashion and media. At a funeral befitting a superstar, the New York City Gay …

NEW YORK — Joan Rivers, the raucous, acid-tongued comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows and turned Hollywood red carpets into danger zones for badly dressed celebrities, died Thursday. She was 81. Rivers was hospitalized last week after she went into cardiac arrest at a Manhattan doctor’s office following a routine procedure. …

Last Thursday, August 28, the LGBT movement suffered a terrible loss with the passing of Andrew Cray. Andy had been struggling with cancer since October 2013. But before his diagnosis, and even during his treatment and the period of remission that was all too brief, Andy was a pivotal figure in the struggle for LGBT rights. Despite the too few years we had with him, he was a champion…