A rainbow flag fluttered in the air next to the American flag on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol on Saturday as LGBTQ activists demanded that lawmakers expand the state's hate crime law to include sexuality and gender identity.

The Vigil of Victims of Hate and Violence of Alabama has occurred every year in Montgomery since 39-year-old Billy Jack Gaither, a gay man, was beaten and then burned to death in Sylacauga on Feb. 12, 1999. Although Gaither's murder was 20 years ago, many speakers highlighted the vigil's timeliness.

Dana Martin, a 31-year-old black transwoman from Hope Hull, was found dead in a car that had crashed in a ditch with a gunshot wound to her head in Montgomery in January. The National Center for Transgender Equality said Martin was the first transgender person to be killed in the nation in 2019. A moment of silence was held in Martin's honor during the beginning of the event.

Daroneshia Duncan-Boyd, a black transwoman who founded Transgender Advocates Knowledgeable Empowering (TAKE), said President Donald Trump's rhetoric towards the LGBTQ community is to blame for the violence against the transgender community.

"The messages that are delivered daily by that man is very toxic to the community and it sends a hate message," Duncan-Boyd said. "He doesn't want us in the military. He doesn’t want us to have benefits. He doesn’t want us to have anything."

She said the change starts in their own communities and homes. She mentioned the LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances that were passed in Birmingham and Montevallo. Duncan Boyd questioned why Montgomery hasn't passed an ordinance that would make a crime to discriminate against a person based on their race, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity or disability.

“We may cannot change the stuff that’s going on in D.C., but I’m sure -- if all of us come together -- we can change what’s going on in Alabama,” Duncan-Boyd said.

Daroneshia Duncan-Boyd speaks during the Vigil for Victims of Hate and Violence of Alabama. About 90 people attended the event at the Alabama State Capitol where activists called on lawmakers to create a LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime law.

More than 90 people cheered and cried as speakers honored loved ones and transwomen of color during the vigil. Jose Vasquez, president of Montgomery Pride United, said it seemed fitting to have Duncan-Boyd be the keynote speaker for the event.

He said she represented the transwomen of color who have been leading the LGBTQ movement since the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York but with little recognition. He wanted to make sure members of the LGBTQ community, especially black transgender people, felt loved following Martin's death

"I believe the state of Alabama often times seems like -- and probably doesn't -- care about black lives [or] care about LGBTQ lives, especially transwomen of color," Vasquez said. "Today we are saying, 'We are still fighting.' That we care."

Duncan-Boyd started tearing up as she accepted flowers and an award for her work with TAKE, which opened the first resource center for transwomen of color and will soon be sheltering homeless LGBTQ youth. While wearing a jacket given to her by transwoman activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, she said the transgender community is often forgotten about.

Only 20 states and Washington, D.C. include sexual orientation and gender identity in their hate crime laws. Earlier this month, Tennessee became the first southern state to have a hate crime law that protects transgender people. Eleven states address hate crimes based on sexual orientation only. Alabama isn't in any of those categories.

Alabama’s 24-year-old hate crime law only includes crimes motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability. Legislation has been proposed in the past to extend the law to include the LGBTQ community, but it wasn’t passed.

About 90 people attended an event at the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery on Saturday where activists called on lawmakers to create a LGBTQ-inclusive hate crime law.

Dana Martin’s death has not been identified as a hate crime. Montgomery police didn’t release additional information about Martin’s death when contacted by Al.com on Friday. Capt. Regina Duckett said last month that police identified Martin as male due to legal documents. She also explained that a victim’s gender identity isn’t relevant in the investigation unless it is the reason why the victim is killed.

Montgomery Police Chief Ernest Finely Jr. wasn't scheduled to speak during the vigil, but was welcomed to the podium when he was spotted in the crowd of attendants. Finely stressed the importance of inclusion and wanted to make sure all members of the LGBTQ felt accepted and loved by the police department.

"It's important that the police department, the city and law enforcement is for you. With you," Finley said. "As the slogan say, together we stand. We can really conquer the world, but it is with one bite at a time. One step at a time."

Eric Samelo smiles as he receives the Stephen Light Youth Activism award during the Vigil for Victims of Violence and Hate in Alabama in Montgomery on Saturday. Samelo co-founded the frist LGBTQ at his school Loveless Academy Magnet Program High (LAMP).

Vigil organizers didn't shy away from honoring those who are making a better future for the LGBTQ community. Lucia Hermo, Public Advocacy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, received the Billy Jack Gaither Humanitarian Award for her work with Montgomery Pride United.

Eric Samelo, 15, received the Stephen Light Youth Activism award. He described the emotional labor and judgement he and a classmate faced as they established the first LGBTQ student organization at Metamorphosis at Loveless Academy Magnet Program High school (LAMP).

During club day at his school he said he was frustrated because other students were giving them judgmental looks, mumbled comments under their breath and signed up other students for the club as a joke.

But Samelo became emotional when he talked about a girl who told him the LGBTQ club was the only place she felt safe.

“I just want to make sure that they feel loved and safe and welcomed because everyone deserves that,” Samelo said.