Today, November 20th, is set aside throughout the world for people to pay respect to those needlessly killed by transgender hate crimes and to call attention to the threat of violence faced by gender variant people. Of all groups targeted for hate crimes, crimes against transgender people are often the most violent, most underreported, and thus most often ignored by law enforcement and our communities.
Numerous cases of transgender deaths due to hate crimes have been reported this year. People like Kaia Ladell Baker from Nashville Tennessee was killed as a result of blunt force to the head and Erica Keel of Philadelphia was killed in March by a car that repeatedly struck her. In many cases, crimes like these go unsolved for years.
Sometimes deaths like Victoria Arellano who died in July of HIV/AIDS in San Pedro California happened because of neglect. She and many in similar predicamentes died after being denied treatment in HIV/AIDS clinics because she was transgender.
In popular culture the common perception of transgender people is of a white male-to-female transgender person with the financial means to afford expensive operations. The reality is that most of the hate crime violence against trans people is perpetuated against sex workers, cross dressers, immigrants, people of color and the homeless. These are the most vulnerable in our communities and hate crime legislation is desperately needed to begin to bring attention and justice to their situation.
For the 9th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance I was fortunate to work with two extraordinary transgender pastors, Rev. Dr. Erin Swenson from Atlanta and Rev. Drew Phoenix from Baltimore to create videos to commemorate the day. Please watch Drew Phoenix, pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Baltimore, MD and Presbyterian minister Rev. Erin Swenson.
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