Killings of transgender people in US saw another high year

For decades, every year she’s been active in the transgender community, Isa Noyola has attended a funeral for a friend.

As deputy director at the Transgender Law Center based in Oakland, California, she has met many community members who have the same experience. “Death, profound loss, the violence that surrounds us, it’s constant. It’s a significant part of my transgender experience.”

Despite an all-time high in trans-visibility, with celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox now mainstream media stars, violence against the community is getting worse, community advocates say.

“You have this incredible pivotal moment of media visibility with pop culture, but it comes without education and deeper learning about the transgender community,” Noyola said. “Too many places remain unsafe.”

More than two dozen transgender people were killed last year, according to information gathered by CNN, the New York City Anti-Violence Project and the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ civil rights advocacy group.

It’s impossible to know an exact count. Federal statistics are limited. There’s also “serious under-reporting,” according to the Williams Institute, a public policy think tank focused on sexual orientation and gender identity issues.

Another issue is that police, media and even family members will Human Rights Campaign. By the group’s calculations, there have been 128 killings of trans people in 87 cities across 32 states since 2013, of whom 80% were people of color.

All but one of the victims in 2018 were trans women, and all but one were people of color. That trend has been consistent for years.

“Transgender people, unfortunately, are at risk of violence everywhere,” said Beverly Tillery, program executive director with the New York City Anti-Violence Project whose National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has been tracking violence against the LGBTQ community since 1996.

The LGBTQ community is much more likely to be violently attacked than any other marginalized group in the United States, says the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy nonprofit that specializes in civil rights and public interest litigation. The transgender community appears especially vulnerable.

“When there is a mix of misogyny, transphobia and racism, people who live in the intersection of multiple identities, the violence they face can be inflamed by the multiplying prejudices,” said Sarah McBride, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign and author of “Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality.”

“While there certainly are examples of individuals killed by people they know, including partners, many of the transgender people who have been killed are murdered by almost complete strangers,” McBride said. “More people need to understand this epidemic of violence targeting marginalized people in this country, including transgender people, is hate-based and a byproduct of existing prejudice inflamed by politicians all too eager to appeal to the darker undercurrent of society.”

Eighteen of these known victims were shot. Four were stabbed. The homes of two victims were set on fire while they were still in them. Four were beaten to death.

Eighteen of the cases remain unsolved.

The victims range in age from 18 to 54. Eleven of the 28 victims were under the age of 30. Police found the youngest, Vontashia Bell, 18, lying in the street in Shreveport, Louisiana, in August, shot in the chest and wrist. She loved video games and was a self-described geek, according to her social media profile. Her case remains unsolved.

The oldest victim, Keisha Wells, 54, was shot in the stomach in June. She had a reputation for making everyone laugh and for spoiling her nieces and nephews. She was the second trans woman killed in Cleveland in 2018, and her case remains open.

On September 5, police found Shantee Tucker shot in the back along Old York Road in Philadelphia. According her Facebook memory page, she had just celebrated her 30th birthday. Months after she died, friends continue to post photos and messages of grief. The images show a joyful woman dancing and posing with friends. Her case remains open.

Diamond Stephens, 39, was shot in the back of the head, killed while driving home to get ready for work in Meridian, Mississippi, in June, according to CNN affiliate WTOK. Police had been called to the scene of a van crash and found her inside. Her case also remains unsolved.

The most recent victim, Kelly Stough, who also went by the name Keanna Mattel, 36, sang in her church choir in Detroit and was an aspiring fashion designer. In 2015, she spoke out against the way police handled violence against the transgender community. Police found her shot to death December 7. The prosecutor’s office said it will present evidence that the murder was a hate crime against transgender people. Police arrested a local minister, Albert Weathers. Weathers’ lawyer told local television affiliates that his client maintains his innocence.

Is a serial killer in Florida targeting trans women?

Five trans women were killed in Florida in 2018, according to Equality Florida. Three victims were in Jacksonville, one in Orlando and one in North Port.

“Each one was somewhat similar: All were trans women of color, in their 20s to mid-30s. And there were some patterns: Each was shot, usually in the early hours of the morning, and their bodies were left in isolated areas to be found the next day,” said Gina Duncan, Equality Florida‘s director of transgender equality. Some community members remain scared that there someone is targeting transgender women. “While there are similarities, law enforcement in Orlando and Jacksonville continue to insist that this is not a serial killer.”

Some members of the Jacksonville Transgender Action Committee said they remained concerned for their own safety. The cases continue to be active investigations.

“The cycle of violence against the community has become too normalized,” said Nadine Smith, chief executive officer of Equality Florida. “We go through the same cycle of horror, anger, grief, vigil, dehumanizing of the victim, and then the next one happens, and no one is shocked. We should be shocked. These should be rare and seen as a community-wide problem.”

Vulnerable to violence

“Trans people face an alarming rate of violence in general,” said Jody Herman, who worked on the 2015 US Transgender Survey and now works with the Williams Institute. The survey found that violence is not confined to murder.

Half of the nearly 28,000 transgender people surveyed experienced some form of intimate partner violence. At least 10% experienced violence at the hands of family members after they told them they were transgender, and 9% said they had been physically attacked for being transgender in the year before they took the survey; 10% were sexually assaulted in the same time period.

According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, more than one in four transgender people has been assaulted because of their identity.

The root of instability

“We are oftentimes rejected by family. Turned away by the homeless shelter. Can’t get jobs. Are not accepted at school or at church,” said the Transgender Law Center’s Noyola. “We remain vulnerable and often remain in survival mode. Too many people want to cause harm and think they will get away with it.”

When people are denied equal opportunity for justice, jobs, education and health care,