Dana Martin, Jazzaline Ware, Ashanti Carmon, Claire Legato, Muhlaysia Booker, Michelle Washington, Paris Cameron, Chynal Lindsey, Chanel Scurlock, Zoe Spears, Brooklyn Lindsey, Denali Berries Stuckey, Kiki Fantroy, Jordan Cofer, Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe, and Tracy Single. Sixteen trans gender people have been killed this year and we are only in August. That is two people a month since this year started and only ten under the ones killed last year. The names are probably unfamiliar to most people as they haven’t made the mainstream media. It is our job to make sure they are not silenced and forgotten, even in death.
Taken from the HRC.org website here is a list of the losses we have had this year. Dana Martin, a 31-year-old Black transgender woman, was fatally shotin Montgomery, Alabama, on January 6. Reports stated that she was found in a roadside ditch in her vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Jazzaline Ware,a Black transgender woman, was found dead in her Memphis apartment in March. Her death is being investigated as a homicide, according to The Advocate. Ashanti Carmon, 27,a Black transgender woman, was fatally shot in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on March 30. Claire Legato, 21,a Black transgender woman, was fatally shot in Cleveland on April 15. Local media reports that Legato was shot in the head after an argument broke out between her mother and the suspect. Muhlaysia Booker, 23,a Black transgender woman, was fatally shot in Dallas on May 18. Local media reported that Booker was found dead, lying face down with a gunshot wound near a golf course in east Dallas. In April, Booker was viciously attacked in what Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings described as “mob violence.”
Michelle ‘Tamika’ Washington, 40,a Black transgender woman, was fatally shot in Philadelphia on May 19. Police responded to reports of shots fired in North Philadelphia’s Franklinville neighborhood and she was found with several gunshot wounds and transported to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Paris Cameron, 20,a Black transgender woman, was among three people killed in a horrific anti-LGBTQ shooting in a home in Detroit on May 25, according to local reports. Alunte Davis, 21, and Timothy Blancher, 20, two gay men, were found dead at the scene and Cameron was taken to the hospital, where she died from her injuries. Chynal Lindsey, 26,a Black transgender woman, was found dead in White Rock Lake, Dallas, with signs of “homicidal violence” on June 1, according to police. Chanel Scurlock, 23,a Black transgender woman, was found fatally shot in Lumberton, North Carolina, on June 6. Few details are yet public about the crime. Zoe Spears, 23, a Black transgender woman, was found lying in the street with signs of trauma near Eastern Avenue in Fairmount Heights, Maryland, and later pronounced dead on June 13, according to local reports.
Brooklyn Lindsey, 32,a Black transgender woman, was found dead on the front porch of an abandoned home in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 25, according to local news reports. Denali Berries Stuckey, 29,a Black transgender woman, was found fatally shot in North Charleston, South Carolina, on July 20. Kiki Fantroy, 21, a Black transgender woman, was fatally shot in Miami on July 31. Jordan Cofer, 22,was among the nine victims killed in a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, on August 4. While Cofer was only out to a handful of close friends and used the pronouns he/him/his on his social media profiles. Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe, 24, a Black transgender woman, was killed in Allendale County, South Carolina, on August 4. She was found dead in a car parked in a driveway, according to reports. Tracy Single, 22, a Black transgender woman, was killed in Houston on July 30.
When you look at this list, the one thing to notice is this list is primarily trans people of color. And even more profound to notice is that many times the people involved in the shootings are misgendered when their names are reported to the media and police. This creates a huge disparity in understanding statistics for trans violence. Our current administration is doing nothing to help decrease this chasm of misrepresentation and worse, forces so many to hide out of fear. We as a community need to stand up with our fellow trans brothers and sisters. We need to be offering unconditional support.
We should be taking care of each other as this country doesn’t seem concerned in our wellbeing. More and more we are finding that there is a need to have LGBTQ friendly car services like Lyft, such as Homobiles in San Francisco. As well as making sure we still have safe places and sober safe places. We need to get back to the community mentality we had in the places like the Castro and Greenwich Village. If we want to survive and make sure our rights are taken away from us, then we need to be the ones spear heading that fight. Let not any more of our trans brothers and sisters be killed and let not our rights be decided upon by those who could care less of our existence.
Gay in the CLE 