SAN JOSE — In the sanctuary where Kimberly Susan Fial was killed one year ago, activists and community members gathered Saturday to honor her life and those of dozens of other transgender people who fell victim to violence over the past 12 months.
Fial, a 55-year-old trans woman who had slept in and volunteered with the homeless shelter run by Grace Baptist Church, was killed Nov. 22, 2020, in a stabbing at the church that claimed the life of one other person, injured three people and shocked the community. On Saturday, to commemorate the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, Fial’s photograph was displayed among a sea of other faces belonging to people who met similarly brutal fates.
With at least 47 deaths recorded so far, 2021 already has been the deadliest year for trans people in the U.S. since the Human Rights Campaign began keeping track in 2013. There were at least 44 deaths recorded in 2020, including Fial’s.
“It’s always difficult,” said trans advocate Billie Lynn Ross, gesturing to the sea of faces on a table beside her, interspersed with candles and flowers. “I see this, and this is so much light lost. So I try to get my heart to shine brighter.”
Fernando Jesus Lopez, a resident and volunteer at the church shelter, was charged in the attack that killed Fial and 45-year-old John Paulson, and injured three others.
On Saturday, the gymnasium that a year ago had been a scene of terror was full of music and lively chatter as more than a dozen young volunteers prepared food for people living in nearby homeless encampments. Refusing to let the tragedy put a stop to its mission of service, Grace Baptist re-opened its shelter almost immediately after police cleared the crime scene. The church beefed up its security, and recently received a grant from FEMA and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to provide new cameras and fencing, and to offset the cost of security guards, said Rev. George Oliver, who took over as senior pastor in March.
Now, between 50 and 60 people sleep on mattresses on the floor of the church’s gymnasium each night. And the church is installing new showers for unhoused people in the community.
“We know that if it were not for Grace, there would not be another stop on the way to devastation,” Oliver said.
But ghosts from that tragic night linger. A large portrait of Fial is displayed in the hallway between the church sanctuary and the gymnasium. There’s also a picture of her in the vending machine, commemorating Fial’s sweet tooth.
Activists chose to honor the annual day of remembrance at Grace Baptist Church both as a way to commemorate what happened there a year ago, and to open the event to more people outside the trans community, said Sera Fernando, activist and chief diversity officer of Silicon Valley Pride.
The church also planned to host a “Concert of Hope and Healing” featuring Ron Beck at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
On Saturday morning, Fernando and other activists slowly and solemnly read the names of the dozens of trans people killed in 2021 and in the final months of 2020.
Fial wasn’t the only local name — 24-year-old Natalia Smüt, a trans woman from San Jose, was murdered in April in Milpitas.
After the reading, the roughly two-dozen people present were encouraged to place flowers by the portraits of victims. Tearing up, Fernando implored attendees to not only honor the names of the dead, but also to support trans people living in the community.
“Our goal is really to lower the amount of trans lives lost,” she said, “and we can do that by uplifting the resilience of what this community brings.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com