The LGBTQ community celebrated Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday by honoring transgender and gender non-conforming people killed by violence, at least 32 this year. according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign.
What was in the report? The report released this week found that 85% of transgender and gender nonconforming victims of fatal violence since 2013 have been people of color. Black transgender women accounted for 63% of all victims. It also found that the majority of victims, 77%, were under the age of 35, and more than four in five victims were transgender women.
Data limitations: The authors behind the report say the 32 reported victims you probably underestimated due to unreported deaths, gender confusion, and some victims who were not identified as transgender or gender non-conforming after their deaths.
Timing: The launch of the report comes during Transgender Awareness Week, which raises visibility for the transgender and gender non-conforming community and the issues they face. The week culminates with Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors those killed by transphobic violence each day with vigils and name readings.
Tracking deaths in the US
The 2022 report marks HRC’s 10 years of tracking violence against the transgender and gender non-conforming community, reporting at least 300 violent deaths since 2013.
Among other findings over the past decade, the organization has reported that more than two-thirds of deaths involved a firearm and that 70% of deaths were initially misinterpreted by the media and/or police.
The report also found that 15 transgender people have been killed by police or while incarcerated in jails, prisons or ICE detention centers since 2013, including two in 2022.
Bringing to light the amount of fatal violence against the trans and gender non-conforming community can help address the factors that lead to these deaths, according to Shoshana Goldberg, director of Public Education and Research at the HRC Foundation and part of the team behind the report. .
“More and more people are beginning to realize that this epidemic of violence really exists, and continuing to say their names, telling their stories, and speaking out about this epidemic is one of the first steps that must be taken to combat it.” he told her in an interview with USA TODAY.
What are the driving forces behind anti-trans violence?
Multiple factors contribute to fatal violence against trans and gender non-conforming people in the US, including anti-trans stigma, hostile political rhetoric and legislation against LGBTQ people, and systemic discrimination, according to the report from HRC.
“What we’re really seeing is that there are these structural social determinants that are really driving this fatal violence and it’s everything from racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, as well as poverty and economic inequality that has been sustained for the last decade”. Goldberg said.
Among LGBT people, transgender people have especially high poverty rates -29.4%- according to to a 2019 study from the Williams Institutea think tank focused on LGBTQ issues at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Transgender women in particular also earn about 60 cents for every dollar the typical American worker earns, according to to an HRC Foundation analysis from earlier this year.
“In general, the stigma against trans people leads to the denial of opportunities in society: job discrimination, health care, pirate poverty, homelessness being pushed out of the formal economy and into the more informal economy,” Goldberg said.
The report also comes alongside an increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation and debates over LGBTQ rights in the US in recent months, including pushes to remove LGBTQ books from school libraries, lawsuits over flags of Pride in the classroom and legislation that prohibits transgender students from participating in school sports.
Who are the victims?
In addition to breaking down the statistics by race, location, and other demographics, the report also shares details about the lives of those who were killed in 2022.
Among them was Aaron Lynch, a 26-year-old trans man who was fatally shot by police in McLean, Virginia, in July while experiencing a mental health crisis.
Acey Morrison, 30, a two-spirited person from Rapid City, South Dakota, was known as a “kind, down-to-earth, cheerful, respectful and loving soul” who was a “helpful and generous person who he was always there for his family and friends,” according to the report. Morrison was shot and killed on August 21.
Shawmaynè Giselle Marie, a 27-year-old nursing assistant killed in June in Gulfport, Mississippi, was remembered by family and friends on social media as a “loving, fun, kind and genuine person,” according to HRC.
Contributing: The Associated Press