US: 2018 Is Shaping Up to Be Another Terrible Year for Trans Murders

For transgender people living in Jacksonville, Florida, it didn’t feel like Pride Month.

Between February and the end of June, as Equality Florida noted, four transgender women of color were shot in the Jacksonville area. Three of those women died: Celine Walker, Antash’a English, and Cathalina Christina James.

“During national Pride Month, when others are out celebrating, our community is grieving,” said Kelly Pope of the Jacksonville Transgender Action Committee in a statement. “In fact, we are not just grieving. We are actively fearful for own lives.”

The recent rash of anti-transgender violence in Jacksonville only highlights what is shaping up to be a tragic year for the imperiled community: According to the Human Rights Campaign, 2017 saw 28 reported killings of transgender people in the United States. 

As Pride Month comes to an end—and as we reach 2018’s midpoint—the June 24 shooting of a Cleveland transgender woman named Keisha Wells marks the 14th reported transgender killing of the year.

It would be impossible to know exactly how many deaths have gone unreported in recent years. Transgender murder victims are often misgendered in police and local media reports, only to be identified later via social media by advocates like Houston-based writer Monica Roberts. But the steady—and in fact, almost identical—pace of the reported killings suggests this violence isn’t receding anytime soon. 

Indeed, LGBT and anti-violence advocates say it won’t end until transgender people are granted complete and affirming access to society at large. Read more via Daily Beast