For all the advancements that the transgender community has seen over the last couple years, there are still staggering statistics of discrimination and oppression that our community faces on a daily basis. We face employment and housing discrimination, the outright denial of adequate healthcare or the coverage thereof, bullying, suicide and murder at alarming rates.
Tracee McDaniel of the Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, Cheryl C. Courtney-Evans of T.I.L.T.T, Inc. (Transgender Individuals Living Their Truth), and Sasha Alexander of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) join me to discuss these devastating losses, the violence plaguing our community, and where we go from here.
At the time of this taping, there have been 20 identified trans women and gender non-conforming people murdered in the US in 2015.*** All but a few of whom were trans women of color. Here is the list of those individuals:
1. Papi Edwards, 20 years old, Louisville, KY
2. Lamia Beard, 30 years old, Norfolk, VA
3. Ty Underwood, 24 years old, Tyler, TX
4. Yazmin Payne, 33 years old, Los Angeles, CA
5. Taja deJesus, 36 years old, San Francisco, CA
6. Penny Proud, 22 years old, New Orleans, LA
7. Brian Golec, 22 years old, Akron, OH*
8. Kristina Gomez Reinwald, 46 years old, Miami-Dade, FL
9. Keyshia Blige, 33 years old, Aurora, IL
10. Mya Hall, 27 years old, Fort Meade, MD
11. London Chanel, 21 years old, Philadelphia, PA
12. Mercedes Williamson, 17 years old, George County, MS
13. Ashton O’Hara, 25 years old, Detroit, MI**
14. India Clarke, 25 years old, Tampa, FL
15. K.C. Haggard, 66 years old, Fresno, CA
16. Shade Shuler, 22 years old, Dallas, TX
17. Amber Monroe, 20 years old, Detroit, MI
18. Kandis Capri, 35 years old, Phoenix, AZ
19. Elisha Walker, 20 years old, Johnston County, NC
20. Tamara Dominguez, 36 years old, Kansas City, MO
*Brian identified as a woman until one year before being stabbed by his father. He then identified as an androgynous pansexual man.
**Ashton identified as transgender but used male pronouns.
***stats from http://fusion.net/story/185799/2015-transgender-women-murdered-underreported/