#TRANSLIVESMATTER

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Alex Melvin, Reporter
December 6, 2021

49+ Transgender Lives Lost: Say Their Names

Discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming people has always been a deadly problem. We thought 2020 was the worst it could get, we were wrong. In 2021, 49 transgender women and counting, have been murdered. Of them, 29 were Black and 8 were Latinx. It’s always been but this year, it is now even more dangerous to get access to regular steady healthcare, food and housing security, social services, and a healthy workplace environment. I believe a lot of it can be connected to a very sheltered, biased, and prejudiced mindset. I also believe Covid19 helped encourage that. I wouldn’t give the virus all the credit for that, but I’d say after a national shut down where we stayed inside for about 2 years might play a big part. In those settings a lot of people, adults or youth, think they don’t need to be held accountable for their actions behind the scenes because there’s no one there to stop them or, better yet, correct them. It typically stems from growing up in an environment where it was encouraged and/or ignored.

Their deaths typically end as a result of hate, ignorance, and fear the unknown. 60% of fatalities involve firearms. This isn’t something so tragic, nobody should be speaking about, this is the time to do the exact opposite. If you stand with the lgbtq+ community, if you support them, have people you know in it, are apart yourself – do not stay silent. Don’t stop educating yourself and the ones around you. Just because you don’t see this topic being covered on social media, does not mean no one needs help. Start with your inner circle, hold you and your loved ones accountable. Don’t give anyone an excuse to make another person feel uncomfortable just for existing. Until it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels and usually by then its too late.

Even as I write this article, the numbers are continuously going up. Protect transgender people, protect transgender people of color, protect black trans lives.

(This list’s percentage estimate is of different racial groups at risk of being killed from highest to lowest) pertaining to: transgender men/women & gender non-conforming people

first, 70-85% are black

secondly, 25-30% being latin(o)(a)(x)

and lastly, 5-10% being white people

The 49 lives lost so far in 2021: