Community members gathered around a fire pit at Bendigo's La Trobe University to share memories of those who have died due to violence against transgender people or taken their own lives.

Event organiser Christopher Butler said it was an emotional time for a lot of people.

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"As people arrived we got them to write on a piece of paper the names of people they wanted remember who had either passed on as the result of direct violence or in some cases people who had committed suicide as a result of how they felt about being transgender," he said.

"It's kind of a sad atmosphere, and a few tears were shed, but people were happy to have the ability to remember.

"We then put our papers in the fire and continued to sit around and shared our memories in what ended up being quite a lovely atmosphere.

Transgender Day of Remembrance began in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998.

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The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual event.

Mr Butler said it was important to remember those who had been lost.

"There is still a long way to go for our communities and remembering our family members and friends is a step in the right decision," he said.

"There are still hundreds of people around the world being murdered for no other reason than being who they are.

"This is a way of remembering that it's still happening and that we still need to bring attention to that so it stops happening.

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"We've had this event for about two or three years now and before COVID-19 we were able to go to Lake Weeroona and have a candlelight vigil around the track, but moving to La Trobe still allowed us to have the event."

Mr Butler said he owed a lot to the transgender community.

"As a gay man, I owe transgender women in particular a huge debt because their fight at the Stonewall Riots began the Gay Rights Movement and has allowed me to be able to live my life the way I'm meant to," he said.

"Personally I think that's something I need to acknowledge because not only to transgender women and women deserve to be able to be who they are without fear of violence, but without them I wouldn't have the life I have today."

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