We are in the middle of a social justice crisis. Every day, we tune into news and social media which informs us of yet another marginalized group which has been irreversibly harmed. Our world seems overrun by colonialism, racism, intolerance, xenophobia, and outright hatred. Some people might argue that this is an age-old problem, existing since the ‘beginning of time’, and one we will always have to deal with. I call this a social crisis, because the past very few years have become what can only be seen as a World War against the Other.
One group of people being brutally impacted by this war is the Transgendered community. This is not to say that other marginal groups are not equally harmed – they are! People of colour (POC), LGBTQ+ folk, Indigenous individuals, and refugees are all victims of a bloody war against human rights. Transgendered individuals have long been purposely marginalized and made invisible by a privileged few who would chose ignorance over the rights of others. This has never been truer than in the past few years, as an epidemic of murder is taking place – practically unseen and unreported by most media outlets of note.
The other day, after reading a report about the 23rd transgendered murder in the U.S. since January 2019, I conducted more research into the numbers of violent assaults committed against transgendered people on an almost daily basis. What I unearthed was so staggering and horrible that I almost chose not to write this article. Instead, I realized that through making more people aware of this horror, the better chance we all have to make a positive and permanent change.
One of the only places I could find any comprehensive list of transgendered murders worldwide was on en.m . wikipedia .org. While this may not be one of the best acknowledged academic sources from which to collect data, it is one of the few accessible ones. This site does more than simply state the numbers; it gives the names of those murdered individuals, as well as the gruesome details of their death. They have been collecting numbers and names that range from 1980 to the present. That being said, the generated list from this site warrants close scrutiny, as it would no matter what site it was found on. It is important to note that the list of murders is only based on reported crimes, or ones in which the victims were identified by their proper gender identity. It also does not take into account the numbers of transgendered people who have been assaulted, hospitalized, or harmed in any way; nor does it account for the number of suicides committed by transgendered individuals annually. It is also beneficial to note that the number of murders committed against transgendered individuals in 2019 is not complete.
From 1980 to the present, there have been 236 violent murders of transgendered people across the globe. 171 of these murders occurred in the United States, representing 73% of all global transgendered killings. This statistic does not give us the entire story, however. After 2015, the number of peoples murdering transgender folk all over the world increased to horrifying numbers. On average, three transgendered individuals were murdered world-wide each year between 1980 and 2015. Between 2016 and now, there have been an average of 34 murdered Trans folk each year globally. This means that annual violence against transgendered people has increased 10-fold since 2015. The violence against Trans folk in the U.S. has increased 13 times in the same time period. Most of the murders in the last four years in the U.S. have been committed against Trans women. In 2019, there has been a large spike in the numbers of black and POC Trans women killed, accounting for 86% of all Trans women murdered in the U.S. this year alone.
One question which needs to be asked is, “What has caused the violent spike in hate crimes against transgendered individuals in the last four years?” I cannot produce any quantitative data which inextricably links the presidency of Donald Trump and his administration to this surge of hate and intolerance, but it certainly seems to not be a coincidence. Trump and his cronies have made it a point, both in word and in policy, to decrease any rights or supports available to transgendered people. Under Trump’s rule, transgendered people have lost funding for medical and mental health concerns. Trump has worked to ban them from military service, and is actively pursuing efforts to remove existing civil rights for both trans and LGBTQ+ individuals. Trump’s latest proposed policy changes would remove laws which prohibit discrimination of any form against transgendered people. Ultimately, it would seem that Trump is bent on making his transgender ‘problem’ disappear completely. The results of his televised speeches and campaigns against trans folk are anything but invisible, however. His vitriol is seen by anyone who supports his racist and intolerance, and encourages them to manifest their ignorance and fears against the same individuals their leader has made an essential ‘enemy’ to the populous. It is small wonder that violent crime against transgendered people increased more than 13 times in the same years Trump took office
It cannot be said that these same discriminations do not exist here in Canada, either. Doug Ford spent the first part of his time in office working to erase any education about transgendered children from the schools. In this same time period, Ford has removed funding from clinics mandated to help transgendered folk, and has campaigned against providing provincial health insurance to trans individuals seeking critical gender-reassignment surgeries. Andrew Scheer, running for Prime Minister in this month’s Federal elections is clear on his position regarding transgender issues. Scheer voted against Bill C-16, which would make it illegal to discriminate against a person’s gender identity and gender expression. When public sentiment is already rampant with hate and intolerance against transgendered people, what is the likelihood that Canada stands to mirror Trump’s America should the leaders demonstrate the same disregard for human rights and values happening in the U.S. right now? It is up to each and every one of us to uphold the value of every single human life, regardless of race, religion, sexuality or gender identity. I would like to add one more number to the many statistics presented here. The number of acceptable murders for any person, anywhere, or any time, is exactly zero.