Today I’m writing to you as a proud transgender person who works for the Alliance. I have a lot of respect for trans people who came before me, and I’m sad for those who died because of hate and violence.
Today, November 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance. Gwendolyn Ann Smith, an activist for transgender rights, held a vigil on this day in 1999 to remember Rita Hester, a trans woman who had been killed the year before. This is a time to remember the wonderful trans people we have lost as a group.
Trans people have always been around, but they have had different names and been seen in different ways. As we become more visible and accepted in more places in America today, there has also been an increase in violence and hatred against us. The Williams Institute at UCLA says that transgender people are hurt in violent crimes more than four times as often as cisgender people. When talking about violence against transgender people, it is very important to say that Black trans women make up 73% of the trans people who are killed. Black trans women make the world a more beautiful place, and we need to stand with them when people don’t understand or hate them.
So far in 2021, at least 47 transgender or “non-binary” people have been killed. Last year, 44 was the most, so this is already three more than that. While I was writing this piece, I had to change this number twice because another trans person had been killed. This last number isn’t quite right because many transgender people die and their deaths aren’t reported or are reported wrongly. Guns make this kind of violence possible; three out of every four trans people are killed with guns. Transphobia is hard to solve on its own, but violence against trans people is directly linked to access to guns, which we can change.
I’ve put together a list of a few groups that fight for transgender people’s rights. We should all do whatever we can to help them right now. At the Alliance, we will keep fighting for everyone’s right to be safe from gun violence, especially transgender people who have been unfairly targeted and left out of the political process.