During grade school, when her classmates began to call her derogatory names, Gwen Smith knew what was bound to happen next.

"It meant I was just about to get the crap beaten out of me," Smith said. "I was the school sissy."

So, she learned to run as quickly as she could.

At the age of nine, Smith said she was raped.

Before she began to speak, Smith, a transgender activist who created International Transgender Day of Remembrance, warned the crowd of 30 people in Foster Auditorium last night that the stories she was about to tell were "somewhat disturbing."

Smith, who is transgender herself, told countless stories of transgender men and women being stabbed, beaten and drowned to death because of their sexual identity within the past decade.

She said some victims were stabbed 60 to 120 times. Their assailants were charged not with murder, but with aggravated assault, some serving as low as two and half years to 15 years in prison. Some police dragged their feet on investigating these cases, she said.

Christian Matheis, assistant director of LGBTA Student Resource Center, said Monday marks National Transgender Day of Remembrance.

"We decided to bring the inventor of Transgender Day of Remembrance [tonight]," he said, referring to Smith, who spoke at the event as part of LGBT lecture series.

Smith said the news coverage of transgender violence incorrectly recognizes a person by using his or her birth name, along with his or her transgender name.

"It doesn't make sense to call him 'she,' simply because he was once called that," she said.

Smith and others recently looked to rectify the issue by raising money to buy updated Associated Press Stylebooks for local news stations in San Francisco, so they would use the correct style for identifying a transgender person.

The pop culture also demeans the transgender community with shows such as Jerry Springer and films such as White Chicks, Smith said.

Smith said she came to Penn State to raise awareness of transgender violence and promote change. Today, she said there are transgender activists fighting for their rights.

"The most important right we have is the right to exist," Smith said.