Report Shows Increasing Violence Against Trans Populations Around the World
In April of 2009, the Trans Murder Monitoring Project (TMM) began as cooperation between Transgender Europe (TGEU) and “A Journal for Sex/Gender Emancipation and Resistance” as a way to keep track of, collect and analyze the homicides of transsexual people worldwide.
On November 13, 2013, just one week away from the 15th International Transgender Day of Remembrance, the TMM released an official report stating that 238 trans people have been murdered worldwide in the last 12 months and since January 2008, 1,374 trans people have been reported as victims of homicide.
According to the report, and the map above, the majority of the transgender murders took place in Brazil, Mexico and the United states. However, just because the total number of transgender homicides is smaller, it is important not to overlook the amount of murders relative to the population size.
“Honduras, for instance, has a rate of 1.5 reported trans killings per million inhabitants, for El Salvador the rate is 0.71, while for Brazil the rate is 0.49, for Mexico the rate is 0.36, and for the USA the rate is 0.05. In Asia most reported cases have been found in India (8), and in Europe in Turkey (5) and Italy (5),” stated the report.
Another alarming statistic in the report points out that from January 1, 2013 to October 31, 2013 the TMM has reported the highest number ever recorded of the murder of transgender minors.
Among these numbers, half of which have been under 18 years old. In August, the Huffington Post reported that “transgender murders in North and South America in July occurred at a rate almost 50 percent higher than that of gays and lesbians according to a new study,” wrote Nichols. These upsetting statistics prove that action needs to be taken to prevent the violence against trans people.
The report does not keep track of the number of people who have been victims of transgender violence but not murdered. Just last week on November 7, 2013, a 16-year-old boy in Oakland California set fire to a transgender teen’s skirt on the bus. Luke Fleischman, the male to female transgender teen who identifies as Sasha, remained in a San Francisco hospital with severe burns but is in stable condition.
Sasha Fleischman
Founded in 1995, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), the national advocacy for local LGBTQH communities works to prevent, respond to and end violence against and within the LGBTQH community. On the first of October 2013, the NCAVP released a report of their findings from 2012 and the early part of 2013.
“LGBTQ youth, people of color, gay men, and transgender women were more likely to suffer injuries, require medical attention, experience harassment, or face anti-LGBTQ bias as a result of IPV,” noted the report. In the report, it also states that transgender people are at a much higher risk for IPV (intimate partner violence) and sexual violence than non-transgender people and have to cross multiple barriers in order to receive help in violent relationship situations.
David Badash of The New Civil Rights Movement wrote an article entitled “Transgender People Being Murdered At A Rate Almost 50 Percent Higher Than Lesbians and Gays” and in it, stated his sadness in regards to the alarming rate to which transgender violence is growing. According to an article by Steve Williams of Care2, it is estimated that about five transgender people will be murdered (worldwide) every week.
“To be clear, any murder is one murder too many. And it’s important to remember that each number represents a person. So when gays and lesbians outnumber transgender people about six to one, yet transgender people are being murdered at a rate that’s about 50 percent more than the murder rate for gays and lesbians, well, it’s beyond comprehension,” wrote Badash.
In order to report incidents to the NCAVP please call (212)714-1141 or email info@ncavp.org. Anyone and everyone can make a difference.
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