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In Augusta and elsewhere in Maine, names are read of trans people who were victims of hate this year.
AUGUSTA -- As he read the names of some of the transgender individuals slain worldwide this year, Matthew Francis had a chilling thought.
"It could be me," he said Friday during a Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony at the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine in Augusta.
Though most of the reported cases happened in Central and South America, Francis said he feels no place is safe.
"I came out in 2013 and thought I would be safe in Falmouth, but I have been assaulted, spit on and cornered in a bathroom and have faced discrimination in housing and in the workplace," Francis said.
One by one, the names of transgender men, women and teenagers were read aloud by representatives of the transgender community. Their ages and causes of death, including gunshots, stabbings, decapitations and...