Fighting Back: Violence Against the Transgender Community

According to the Human Rights Campaign, “in 2016, advocates tracked at least 23 deaths of transgender people in the United States due to fatal violence, the most ever recorded. These victims were killed by acquaintances, partners and strangers, some of whom have been arrested and charged, while others have yet to be identified. Some of these cases involve clear anti-transgender bias.”

Sadly...Human Rights Campaign also stated that so far this year, 2017 has seen 25 transgender people fatally shot or killed by other violent means.

I think that it’s really important to mourn those who we have lost due to anti-transgender violence. The list of people that have been lost is also from the Human Rights Campaign website.

• Mesha Caldwell, 41, a black transgender woman from Canton, Mississippi, was found shot to death the evening of January 4. The murder is still under investigation and no suspects have been arrested.
• Sean Hake, 23, a transgender man in Sharon, Pennsylvania, died after he was shot by police responding to a 911 call from his mother. A friend told WKBN that Sean "had a genuinely good heart and he had struggled with his problems."
• Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, 28, an American Indian woman who identified as transgender and two-spirit, was found dead in her apartment in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A suspect, 25-year-old Joshua Rayvon LeClaire, has been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter in connection with her death.
• JoJo Striker, 23, a transgender woman, was found killed in Toledo, Ohio, on February 8. Striker’s mother, Shanda Striker, described her as “funny and entertaining” and said her family loved her deeply.
• Tiara Richmond, also known as Keke Collier, 24, was fatally shot in Chicago on the morning of February 21. A transgender woman of color, she was found dead on the same street as two other transgender women that were killed in 2012.
• Chyna Gibson, 31, a Black transgender woman, was shot and killed in New Orleans on February 25. Chyna was a much-loved performer in the ballroom community who was visiting friends and family in New Orleans at the time of her death.
• Ciara McElveen, 26, a transgender woman of color, was stabbed to death in New Orleans on February 27. McElveen did outreach for the homeless community. As of February 28, 2017, HRC has tracked at least nine murders of transgender people in Louisiana since 2013.
• Jaquarrius Holland, 18, was shot to death in Monroe, Louisiana, on February 19. One friend, Chesna Littleberry, told Mic that Holland was “like a younger sister” and had helped her learn to accept herself.
• Alphonza Watson, 38, was shot and killed in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 22. Watson’s mother said her daughter was “the sunshine of our family,” a “caring, passionate” person who loved cooking and gardening.
• Chay Reed, 28, a transgender woman of color, was shot and killed on April 21 in Miami. Reed’s longtime friend told Mic about their longtime friendship -- describing her as someone who was full of life and beloved by many.
• Kenneth Bostick, 59, was found with severe injuries on a Manhattan sidewalk, he later died of his injuries. Few details about Bostick’s life have been reported, he is believed to have been homeless at the time he was attacked.*
• Sherrell Faulkner, 46, a transgender woman of color died on May 16, of injuries sustained during an attack on November 30, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Police are treating the assault as a homicide. No arrests have been made at this point.
• Kenne McFadden, 27, was found in the San Antonio River on April 9. Police believe she was pushed into the river, which runs through downtown San Antonio. A high-school friend of McFadden described her to local media as assertive, charismatic and lovable. No arrests have been made, but police said they have a person of interest in custody.  
• Kendra Marie Adams, 28, was found in a building that was under construction and had burns on her body on June 13. Police have charged Michael Davis, 45, with Adams’ murder. Adams also went by Josie Berrios, the name used in initial media reports on her death.
• Ava Le'Ray Barrin, 17, was shot and killed in Athens, Georgia on June 25 during an altercation in an apartment parking lot. In an online obituary, friends remembered Barrin as a "social butterfly" and an "amazing girl" who "loved to make people laugh."
• Ebony Morgan, 28, was shot multiple times in Lynchburg, Virginia, in the early morning of July 2. Morgan was transferred to a local hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. Authorities have named Kenneth Allen Kelly Jr. as a person of interest in the case.  
• TeeTee Dangerfield, 32, a Black transgender woman, was shot and killed on July 31 in Atlanta, Georgia. According to the Georgia Voice, Dangerfield “was found with multiple gunshot wounds outside of her vehicle at the South Hampton Estates apartment complex."
• Gwynevere River Song, 26, was shot and killed in Waxahachie, Texas, on August 12. According to their Facebook profile, they identified as “femandrogyne” and a member of the bisexual community.
• Kiwi Herring, 30, was killed during an altercation with police on August 22 during an altercation with her neighbor. Relatives told Huffpost the neighbor was transphobic and that excessive force by police led to her death.
• Kashmire Nazier Redd, 28, was fatally stabbed by his partner on September 5. A friend wrote on Facebook “Kashmire loved hard and just wanted to be loved and accepted.”
• Derricka Banner, 26, was found shot to death in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 12. Friends describe Banner as a "playful spirit" and "go-getter" who enjoyed life.
• Scout Schultz, 21, was shot and killed by Georgia Tech campus police on September 16. The GT Progressive Student Alliance, a progressive student advocacy group on campus, called Schultz an “incredible, inspirational member of our community and a constant fighter for human rights.”
• Ally Steinfeld, 17, was stabbed to death in Missouri in early September. Three people have been charged in her murder. Steinfeld’s family said Ally “sometimes” identified as female on social media.
• Stephanie Montez, 47, was brutally murdered near Robstown, Texas. Montez’s longtime friend, Brittany Ramirez, described her as “one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet."
• Candace Towns, 30, a transgender woman who was found shot to death in Georgia. Town's friend, Malaysa Monroe, remembers Towns’ generosity. “If I needed anything she would give it to me. She would give me the clothes off her back,” Monroe said.

The National Coalition on Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) released their 2014 hate violence report. While overall violence against LGBT people went down by 32 percent, crimes against transgender people rose by 13 percent. The report also found an upsurge in homicides against LGBT individuals, finding that about 50 percent of victims were transgender women and 35 percent were gay and bisexual men.  The only problem with this report is it’s obviously only based on crimes that were actually reported. Crimes against transgender people could have risen more than 13%, but we will only know if people report crimes.

I hate to bring this up, but a lot of transgender deaths are unfortunately gruesome, which would entail gunshots, burning, strangulation, beating, etc. According to the TPOCC (Trans People of Color Coalition), “These totals represent only the known victims; there may very well be countless other victims of fatal anti-transgender violence whose deaths we will never know about because police, the press or family members have consistently misidentified them based on their assigned sex and name at birth.”

What Can We Do? (According to TPOCC)

1. We can pass the Equality Act:
1. The Equality Act would give transgender people recourse against discrimination that can lead them to experience homelessness or be refused services from shelters or healthcare providers, which can leave them vulnerable to fatal violence.
2. We can support emergency housing initiatives:
1. Federal agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice should enforce existing rules that prohibit discrimination against transgender people for all direct service providers, drop-in centers and shelters they fund. These rules must be paired with a broad training program on transgender cultural competency for direct service providers, drop-in centers and shelters.
3. We can expand healthcare for Transgender people:
1. States should prohibit transgender-related exclusions in insurance and Medicaid and ensure that public employees can receive transgender-inclusive healthcare.
4. We can improve law enforcement training, response and hate crime reporting:
1. Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies that govern interactions with transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, similar to the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department’s General Order on Handling Interactions with Transgender Individuals. Law enforcement agencies can also work with advocates through programs like the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service to institute trainings to ensure compliance.
5. We can become allies to Transgender people:
1. Advocates, organizations and individual members of the LGBT community can educate themselves about the violence and discrimination that transgender people face and commit to becoming better allies to transgender people in addressing these issues.

By:

Makayla Chacon

Pronouns: She/Her

Trans Program Intern

What Does Masculinity Mean to Us?

As I have noticed myself starting to grow and mature as I get older, I’ve begun to bring more awareness to certain types of behaviors; specifically with the males I’m surrounded by. The more classes I take and the more people I talk to, I’ve started to see our definition of “normal” behavior for men is really not as normal as we like to think. I’m becoming more able to see how unnatural so many of these “rules” our society has set for manhood is. For example, it no longer makes sense to me that males must suppress so many of their feelings - with the exception of anger, lust or aggression. It doesn’t make sense that we’ve set so many restrictions for our boys and men. Soon after I started thinking about these concepts in more depth, I watched the documentary “The Mask You Live In.” The documentary is centered around how we socialize males in our society and how deeply it affects them, as well as everyone else. Because of this I decided to talk to my 13 year old brother, Spencer. I wanted to talk to him in order to get a perspective from a middle school boy who’s still trying to figure out what being a man means to him.

Let me just start out by saying that this interview went nothing like I was expecting. The answers my little brother gave me blew me away! I started out by asking him simple questions. For example, “What would you do if one of your guy friends came to school with his nails painted?” Without skipping a beat, the answer that exploded out of his mouth was, “I’d ask him if he has another bottle for me to paint my nails too!” Spencer continued to laugh while he explained, “The other day I wore a freakin fanny pack to school, I’m in no position to judge!” We talked about his ability to discuss his feelings with his friends. He told me that there’s no way he can keep certain things inside, and his friends understand that. Then, I asked if him and his friends ever talk about menstruation, he replied, “Of course, it’s a human thing, my girl friends tell me about it all the time.” All of his responses caught me off guard because I truthfully didn’t believe a 13 year old boy would have such an open-mind and be so welcoming towards seemingly feminine/less masculine behaviors.

Ever since Spencer was little, him and I have always been very close and we’ve been able to talk about many kinds of topics. Especially helping him navigate certain situations, I can see my influence in him. The conversation opened my eyes to see how one step to fixing hypermasculinity can be solved just through talking and teaching boys it is ok to be confident and also respect women as well as themselves.

By: Eliza Kern