Homocide

Trans Specific Dynamics

Community impact of homicides

Many trans community members know of other trans people (including close friends and relatives) who have died to anti-trans violence. Trans communities face high rates of violence. This prevalence of violence and fears about one’s life being cut short by anti-trans murder has a negative impact on the wellbeing of trans and nonbinary communities.

“What you are doing is creating huge levels of fear, which causes high levels of stress, which will actually cause people to die younger,” said Laurel Westbrook, a professor of sociology and the author of “Unlivable Lives: Violence and Identity in Transgender Activism.” (Sosin, 2022)[iii]

A commonly-used but misleading statistic that the “average life expectancy for Black trans women is 35 years,” has had additional impacts on trans people’s perceptions of their own safety.[iv] Many estimate that the error came from an estimate of the average age at which trans women were murdered.

While this statistic about life expectancy is inaccurate, many trans and nonbinary people are touched by violence in their communities. This may be due to experiencing assault or attempted murder themselves, losing a friend or loved one, or hearing about anti-trans murders on the news. Awareness of anti-trans violence may contribute to more negative mental and physical health outcomes for community members.[v]

Overlap with sexual violence

Many perpetrators of homicide against trans victims are known to the victims, and may be involved in an intimate or sexual relationship with them. In a community dialogue with Black trans women and girls, participants shared about the overlap between men seeking sexual relationships with trans women and violence.

“Gentlemen may engage with you in some type of sexual activity for the fantasy, to check something off of the box for them… And if either, one, may have not been an experience that they expected, or two, they came to reality of what they are experiencing. And they’re at a crossroads. And that’s causing them to, you know, have these many different things going on in their mind, and then, therefore, their best reaction is violence…” (Trans Community Listening Session: Black Trans Women/Girls, 2023)[vi]

“I think a lot of crimes are committed because they don’t want to be associated with the trans woman, whether they’re in love with them, whether it was just a sexual act or a temporary situation connection, but for fear of someone placing them with this person because of what their family may say, what their friends may say, what their what the reaction may be. A lot of times I feel like [it’s] just like simple as buyers remorse. ‘Oh, shit! I bought this, and now I’m stuck with it.’

“So the same thing. You meet this trans girl, ‘Ok, actually she’s actually really dope. I actually really like her. I’m actually really into her. Shit. Now, what do I do? What do I do with this? And if I can’t handle this…’ or it’s a situation where there’s a lack of control there. A lot of times they feel like they can control us.

“And if you speak up, and if you’re intelligent, and if you, you know, speak back, then it’s like, ‘Oh, well, I thought you should feel happy. You should feel honored to be in this situation with me. You should feel good that I’m giving you this attention, and I should be able to control you,’ and when they see that they’re not able to do that, a lot of times I feel like that’s when violence comes into play” (Trans Community Listening Session: Black Trans Women/Girls, 2023)[vii]

Regret after a sexual encounter with a trans woman, as one participant described, has been the basis of the “gay/trans panic defense,”[viii] used in court to excuse murders and assaults against trans and LGBTQ+ people “on the grounds that the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant’s violent reaction.”[ix] In 2024,  33 states did not prohibit the use of these defenses, usually “in conjunction with other defense strategies.”[x]

Additionally, intersections of socioeconomic status, housing stability or instability, doing sex work, race, and gender presentation may put some trans and nonbinary people at increased risk for violence.

Mis-reporting of names/genders

Many trans survivors said that after someone in their community was killed, their name and gender were misreported in the media. This is a prevalent issue when it comes to reporting murders of trans folks and happens about 50% of the time[xi]:

“When my first best friend passed away, you know, of course it was during the beginning of her transition, however, the news media coverage, they just completely deadnamed, they had up her boy pictures, like it was a mess. Her deadname got like a burial service, so I had to do like my own little memorial service for her, like in her transition, because the news article just made it seem like another gay guy, a hate crime. But it was a trans crime.

“And she was white, and so that white privilege did not work for her when it came to her transness, because they identified her and deadnamed her as her previous life. So that right there was like a wake up call for me, and I was only like 20, to be like, ‘Oh, it’s like, really not respect for the girls, like for trans community…’

“If it wasn’t for the fact that I know her dead name, I would have never known that, according to the news articles, you know, the coverage, that was my friend” (Trans Community Listening Session: Survivors of Hate Violence/Murder, 2023)[xii]

This type of misreporting is not only harmful because it denies the person who was killed their own identity in their death, but it also makes it more difficult to accurately track rates of murder against trans people. It perpetuates the harmful belief that trans people will always be their sex assigned at birth, as well as making it difficult for other community members, who may have been close to the person who was killed, to identify their loved ones and have closure about what happened to them.

Misgendering by law enforcement

Misgendering and deadnaming don’t just happen in the media. Law enforcement officers who investigate homicides of trans and nonbinary people may also use the incorrect name or pronouns for the victim. This contributes to the devaluing of trans peoples’ identities and creates further mistrust between trans communities and law enforcement.[xiii]

Misgendering at funerals/rejection by families

Trans survivors shared experiences with witnessing trans community members being misgendered/deadnamed at their funerals, or rejected by their families (i.e. families of origin refusing to make funeral arrangements or claim the body of their relative):[xiv]

“For a trans person who is being thrown out of their house, or ostracized, or told not to ever come home, they’re more close to their chosen family. But if crime were to happen, such as murder, who takes care of the things? And even violence could still be part of that discrimination… I’ve gone to funerals where they were dressed in the wrong clothing, or given the wrong pronouns, or given the wrong names and stuff, and those are still occurring to this day.

“And then there’s also incidences where a trans relative, their body may not be claimed… Just recently I heard one of our relative’s bodies not being claimed in Oklahoma. And here I thought the family had taken care of funeral arrangements, or somebody had done that. And just seeing that post like, Oh, my gosh! What can I do? Especially as a trans person…

“I don’t think they were close with their birth family, who are Navajo from our reservation. So for me, as a Navajo person, I’m wondering like, how can I approach this? Should I even try to attempt to get ahold of family or find out who their family is?” (Trans Community Listening Session: Survivors of Hate Violence/Murder, 2023)[xv]

“I’ve seen people detransitioned in their casket. I’ve heard, you know, like their deadnames being called and spoken or like old memories, they were identified as ‘he.’” (Trans Community Listening Session: Survivors of Hate Violence/Murder, 2023)[xvi]

Like misgendering in the media, misgendering and “detransitioning” after death by family/community members strip a trans person of their identity and does not accurately reflect who they were in life. This may leave the responsibility of funeral arrangements, or organizing alternative ceremonies, to chosen family or the broader trans community. This puts additional financial and emotional strain on survivors.

Perceived lack of police response or prosecution against perpetrator

Survivors expressed a lack of confidence in law enforcement officers and legal systems to achieve justice after the murder of a trans person:

“…Whether it’s violence or a murder… that happens to a community member, it’s a cold case. Very rarely is there any justice served when it comes to violence done to the community. So if anything, I would take it a step further and say, the whole judicial system, like the lawyers having better lawyers… Just having people in those positions who really give a fuck” (Trans Community Listening Session: Survivors of Hate Violence/Murder, 2023)[xvii]

While not everyone may perceive carceral responses to violence as “justice,” trans community members notice the difference in police response after a trans person is murdered (especially if the victim is a trans person of color)[xviii]. This may lead survivors of violence to avoid seeking help from law enforcement, as they do not believe that crimes against the trans community will be taken seriously.

This is also reflected in the statistics: in the 2022 US Trans Survey, nearly half (47%) of respondents reported that they would feel “very uncomfortable” asking the police for help if they needed it.[xix]

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