Rita Hester (22 March 1964 – 28 November 1998) was a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

woman who was murdered in Allston (

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

), Massachusetts, on November 28, 1998. Hester was born in

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, in 1964. She moved to Boston in her early twenties and became involved in the local rock community. Hester was murdered on November 28th, 1998 in her home. In response to her murder, an outpouring of grief and anger led to a candlelight vigil held the following Friday (December 4th) in which about 250 people participated. The vigil was led by Rev. Irene Monroe. The community's struggle to see Rita's life and identity covered respectfully by local papers, including the

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

and Bay Windows, was chronicled by Nancy Nangeroni. Her death also inspired the "Remembering Our Dead" web project and the Transgender Day of Remembrance, founded by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999. The city of

commissioned artist Rixy to paint a mural memorializing Hester in Allston. The mural was completed in July 2022. R. Lopez the author of, ''The Hub of the Gay Universe: An LGBTQ History of Boston, Provincetown, and Beyond''. includes several quotes from people who knew her: “Rita Hester was statuesque and glamorous. Usually clad in her favorite colors, black and purple, perhaps in a slinky tube dress adorned with ruffles, she was a familiar figure both at Allston bars such as the Model Cafe and the Silhoutte Lounge and at Jacque’s Cabaret.” Another friend fondly remembered that Hester “liked to wear opera-length gloves with rings on top, big pieces of costume jewelry” p.283

References

African-American LGBTQ people 1998 deaths American transgender women LGBTQ people from Massachusetts Murdered African-American people People murdered in Massachusetts Violence against trans women 1963 births LGBTQ people from Connecticut 1998 murders in the United States {{crime-bio-stub