Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Tonight comes more terrible news from Baltimore – the murder of 26-year-old Mia Henderson, a trans woman of color whose body was discovered today. From Parker Molloy at The Advocate:

Police have identified the victim as 26-year-old Mia Henderson, and said her murder bore similarities to that of another transgender woman, killed in Baltimore in early June, according to the Baltimore Sun. Police declined to directly connect the two murders, however, noting that both are still under investigation. 

…

Officers came across Henderson’s body — located on the 3400 block of Piedmont Ave., near Lake Ashburton— while investigating another, unrelated crime in the area. According to reports, Henderson’s body had experienced “severe trauma,” marking Baltimore’s second trans homicide victim in as many months, and the third since April 2013.

It is disgusting that I feel the need to use a chart to explain the patterns of recent incidents of the murders of multiple trans women. 3 women in Baltimore since April 2013, 5 trans women of color nationwide since June 1 2014, however I frame the trend, it is horrifying.

Of course, several media outlets misgendered Mia. Reggie Bullock, a professional basketball player with the LA Clippers, is the brother of Mia. Bullock tweeted a tribute to Mia, but chose to use her former name. It is really hard to sift that out as I can’t imagine what it is like to learn your sibling has been murdered. I can only hope they were close in life and Bullock was more respectful of her identity.

I am waiting for a photo of Mia to be verified. I will publish as soon as I get that confirmation. In the meantime, please keep Mia and our family in Baltimore in your thoughts. There may be a vigil of some type in Pittsburgh – I’ll let you know about that, too.

This post has been updated to reflect new information in the coverage of Mia’s death including a photo from her Facebook page, verified by WCTI Baltimore.

I urge you to view the debut episode of sisTers on Transperience.TV to understand how transwomen of color as young as 14 will be on the streets in Pittsburgh this very night, taking terrible risks to their safety to simply stay alive. There is something you can do to prevent another murder.