On March 10, 2017, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, members and supporters of the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and queer (LGBTQ) community attend a vigil honoring the trans siblings who have suffered transphobia. There has been a sharp rise in the number of transgender people who have been murdered and abused globally over the past few days. The victims of these terrible incidents are remembered by the (LGBTQ) community. (AP Images/Paulo Amorim/VWPics)
Critical anti-trans violence decreased from 41 fatalities in 2022 to 32 the next year.
That is, in accordance with the “Fatal Violence Against the Transgender and Gender-Expansive Community” reports from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Trans homicides dropping by 22% from 2023 to 2022 is significant for the community, which experienced nearly 60 murders in 2021.
What might be to blame for this ongoing reduction?
There haven’t been any studies that have delved deeper into the data, so the answer is unclear. When the situation of 2022 and the deaths from the previous year remained the same—at least as described by HRC—it is particularly difficult to understand. Community action, however, may be a factor, according to transgender administrators and advocates.
Newer groups like THORN, QueerCare, and Black Liberation Collective have flourished in recent years, as have individuals who have significantly organized work within the community in order to support one another directly and personally.
Crowdsourcing for a trans woman’s gender-affirming surgeries on GoFundMe, for instance, or setting up a fund for those detained during Palestine protests, and even the free circulation of self-defense kits to marginalized people. Mutual aid keeps demonstrating how much neighborhood care can go to meet the needs of trans people.
For many years, the LGBTQ community as a whole has benefited from reciprocal assistance in resolving many problems. Community members helped those who were vulnerable during the 1980s AIDS crisis and established a network of support that is still essential today. Recently, gay men’s engagement contributed to the eradication of monkeypox through their group organization and mobilization of vaccination campaigns through dance parties, vaccine campaigns, and social media education. Both situations had a disproportionately negative impact on queer men of color.
That’s not all, either. On the other hand, a mutual aid group called QueerCare donates funds directly to transgender individuals in San Francisco or New York City to help in their recovery from gender-affirming procedures. Additionally, Queer The Land is grabbing housing by the horns in Seattle to give the state’s gay and trans community of color a place to live.
Advocates point out that while the reduction in deadly anti-trans crime is a glimmer of hope, it’s also important to keep in mind that the fight for trans life is far from over, especially given that Black trans women are currently the most vulnerable group, suffering from violence, discrimination, and injustices to their rights. This raises a critical issue for society: how can it capitalize on this momentum in this time when anti-trans policy is at an all-time high to further protect the lives of the trans community when legislators are attempting to remove them from the public?
THORN, a Chicago-based self-defense initiative for Black and brown transgender people, stated in an Instagram collection of Black transgender mutual aid fundraisers in 2020 that “victims of transphobic violence are more than many and must be honored.” We must continue to support, uplift, and safeguard transgender people who are still alive and well every day.
Dean Spade, a professor at Seattle University School of Law and the author of Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the next), defines mutual aid as the “bread and butter of all social movements.” Spade stated that mutual aid is not like charity on Jonathan Van Ness’ podcast Getting Curious from 2022 on Queer Eye.
Mutual aid is “typically volunteer-based projects and organizations,” he said on the podcast, whereas “in charity models, you’ve got people who are paid and even got degrees, and they’re deciding for the weak what they need and how they should obtain it.”
In an interview with Truthout in 2022, Spade claimed that trans people have always managed to survive through mutual aid, whether it be by exchanging medications or getting hormone replacement therapy “sideways.” “The real networks of life are there. For trans people, that kind of stuff saves their lives.”
The continued support for transgender individuals may have contributed to the decrease in trans deaths last year, but community members are calling for more protection for their trans relatives.
The demographics of the report remained consistent across categories in both years’ studies, including the proportion of people of color, how many were Black, the number of gun-related deaths, and the portion of information that misrepresented and misgendered the victim.
People from the community are praising the on-the-ground work of community care despite the fact that there was a 10
% increase in the number of homicides being committed by loved ones or somebody the target knew, whether they were family members or friends.
However, Eric A. Stanley, an associate professor in the department of gender and women’s studies at the University of California, Berkeley, cautions against thinking that the decline in trans homicides “symbolizes something fabric in reality.”
The mere fact that deaths continue to occur “does tell us that even one life lost constitutes an emergency,” according to Stanley, author of Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable. There may or may not be a variety of reasons why data involving trans homicides may be incomplete.
Apart from dangerous murder, there is already a lot on the line for the trans community. According to The Trevor Project’s report, almost one in three LGBTQ children reported having poor mental health as a direct result of the 600 anti-LGBT bills that were proposed on the floor last year during the 2023 legislative session.
Regarding reports of trans homicides, Stanley suggests shifting the blame to causes such as the unhoused trans people’s forced deaths, those being held captive in ICE detention facilities, or medical wards.
The only thing that may give us a chance at freedom, according to them, is energetic collective action because the rest of the world still wants us dead.
Intersex member of Black Liberation Collective Nisha “Nish” Newton is one of many individuals collaborating with one another. The organization is a group of Black trans youth living in Idaho, and its tenets include “abolition, healing-centered liberation, youth-led innovation, ancient wisdom.” Newton claims that while the HRC’s 2023 data on trans homicide inspires optimism and a sense of pride, it does not provide an accurate picture.
According to Newton, “the horrible conditions we’re forced to live in [made us seek deeper community connections], and now these support systems essentially make us more guarded,” which may be why there were fewer trans homicides last year. “We’re clinging to each other securely and creating systems that are starting to disrupt the underlying causes of violence, so the rates may have decreased.”
They also criticize why anti-trans dangerous assault is a widespread problem in the United States.
“We may struggle for transgender vitality in the interim, just as our lives depend on it—because they do—and time will show why the decrease in information has occurred.”
All three of the homicide victims in Washington, D.C.—two of whom happened less than two months apart—were Black trans people.
Last month, Jasmine “Star” Mack was the first transgender death to be reported. Skylar Harrison died in October, and Anee Roberson passed away soon after.
D.C. is an exception for having many fatalities in the region due to the decline in trans murders in 2023. However, given that they were all Black trans people, the event in Washington, D.C., reflects a larger problem that society people refer to as an “epidemic” of violence against transgender people: homicides for Black Trans Women are astronomically high.
The majority of the deadly violence that affects the LGBTQ community as a whole is directed at Black trans women. According to HRC, more than six out of ten murders from the previous year—specifically, 61.8%—were committed by Black transgender women.
Kendall Stephens, a Philadelphia-based advocate who hung flyers of her deceased trans companion all over the city in an effort to track down the murderer, appeared in the 2021 VICE News movie on Black trans women’s psychological health.
“When we’re murdered and attacked, there are so many unexplained mysteries in the transgender community,” she said. “I would love to dream again.” “And that plays on your mental health as well, because you know that there won’t be justice if something happens to you.”
Partnerships like the Black Liberation Collective work to lessen and harm Black trans areas.
Despite the fact that trans homicides decreased last year, needs for Black trans people continue to transcend their resources, according to Newton, “especially because the fervent support for mutual support in 2020 came and went like a great college’s spirit week.”
They explain that although it quickly became apparent that the situations were more of the norm than the exception, Black Liberation Collective began by establishing a crisis-response technique for community care. Their month-to-month model, which supports Black trans people for an entire season, offers a more lasting support, and is an important illustration of their work immediately. Additionally, they have planned community-based initiatives, such as Juneteenth situations.
According to them, a decline in crime rates does not automatically imply that our quality of life has improved or that we are now more alive. “Even when the 2023 report suddenly reveals a decline in trans homicides, it is difficult to feel optimistic because we know that this country’s culture is still not equitable, affirming, or healthy for trans people.” “We only want to practice and see less and less violence against our communities.”
Above all, common assistance is more important for Newton now than ever.
“We have everything we need and all we have.”
