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At least 32 transgender people killed in U.S. this year, report finds
Source: Hollie Adams (original article)
At least 32 transgender and gender non-conforming people were killed in the U.S. since the beginning of 2022, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The toll was lower than last year's record, when at least 57 people were killed.
The LGBTQ advocacy group, which is the nation's largest political lobbying organization of its kind, shared on Wednesday its most recent annual report on deadly violence targeting transgender and gender non-conforming people. Victims whose names and stories appeared in the report came from a number of different states across the country, and their ages ranged from 19 to 50, although some were not published.
Similar to data collected in previous years, the latest report by the Human Rights Campaign showed an overwhelming majority of those killed were Black transgender women and most were people of color. Their names are: Tiffany Banks, Semaj Billingslea, Acey Morrison, Mya Allen, Dede Ricks, Maddie Hofmann, Aaron Lynch, Kandii Reed, Hayden Davis, Marisela Castro Cherry Bush, Keshia Chanel Geter, Martasia Richmond, Kitty Monroe, Shawmaynè Giselle Marie, Brazil Johnson, Chanelika Y'Ella Dior Hemingway, Nedra Sequence Morris, Ray Muscat, Fern Feather, Ariyanna Mitchell, Miia Love Parker, Kenyatta "Kesha" Webster, Kathryn "Katie" Newhouse, Tatiana Labelle, Paloma Vazquez, Matthew Angelo Spampinato, Naomie Skinner, Cypress Ramos, Duval Princess and Amariey Lej.
More information about each person's life and how they died are published with the new report.
Killings of transgender and gender non-conforming people this year usually involved a fatal shooting or another form of violence, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The organization has tracked these incidents for the last decade — with yearly reports available online that date back to 2015 — in an effort to raise awareness about the "epidemic of violence" disproportionately targeting people who are transgender and gender non-conforming. While the Human Rights Campaign said some cases involved a "clear anti-transgender bias," it linked others to social and economic factors that often put transgender and gender non-conforming people at risk.
"These victims were killed by acquaintances, partners or strangers, some of whom have been arrested and charged, while others have yet to be identified," said the Human Rights Campaign in a statement contextualizing its report. "Some of these cases involve clear anti-transgender bias. In others, the victim's transgender or gender non-conforming status may have put them at risk in other ways, such as forcing them into unemployment, poverty, homelessness and/or survival sex work."
The Human Rights Campaign has recorded at least 300 deaths of transgender and gender non-conforming people from violent incidents since it began tracking cases in 2013. However, because victims of these crimes are not always correctly identified by authorities and the press, the organization said it suspects the published death toll is underreported.
More than 85% of transgender and gender non-conforming people killed since 2013 were people of color, and more than 77% were younger than 35, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Most deaths involved a firearm, and in 40% of all recorded cases, the killer remains unknown and no arrests have been made. Of the recorded deaths where a suspected killer has been identified, the Human Rights Campaign said 2/3 were killed by someone they knew.
The report comes just days ahead of Transgender Day of Remembrance, an international holiday observed on Nov. 20 to honor people who have been killed as a result of anti-trans violence.
(c) CBS News, 2022
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