Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Tragic news from Monica Roberts at Transgriot. 28-year-old Amia Tyrae Berryman is the 7th trans person to be murdered in 2018. She died at 1:15 AM this morning, March 26 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

According to her Facebook page, Amia was a native of New Orleans who had finished high school in Baton Rouge and studied at the local community college. Friends are sharing their grief, anger, and heartbreak about her death.

The original reporting out of Louisiana outlets misgenders and deadnames her.  There are limited details available at this time.

I lived in Baton Rouge from 1992-1995. I drove along Airline Highway. Of course, at that point, Amia was a young child. But I can’t help reeling from that proximity to my own life, a life that is fairly buffered from this violent epidemic by my own privilege. Over the years in writing these posts, I’ve been aware that the intersection with my everyday life would begin to reveal itself because this is not something that is happening to ‘those people’ – they are our people. Last month, we lost someone who had been born and raised in Pittsburgh.

What will it take for us to wake up and take action beyond sad faces on Facebook?

One tangible thing you can do is invest your resources, especially time and money, into trans led organizations. Here in Pittsburgh one such group is SisTers Pgh.

Rest in power, Amia. You deserved to live your life free of violence and transphobia. You are loved by so many people who will work to bring justice to your death.

The list of trans people killed in 2018 thus far. Note that people have different numbers based on different factors. The most important thing that unites us all is that we want the violence to stop. We need to keep asking ‘Where is the outrage?’ During 2017, we lost at least 25 trans neighbors. May 2018 be more merciful.

1. Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien – Massachusetts (January 6) 42 years old
2. Viccky Gutierrez – Los Angeles (January 9), 33 years old
3. Tonya ‘Kita’ Harvey – Buffalo (February 6), 35 years old
4. Celine Walker –  Jacksonville, Florida (February 4), 36 years old
5. Phylicia Mitchell – Cleveland (February 23), 46 years old
6. Zakaria Fry – Stanley, New Mexico (February 19), 28 years old
7. Amia Tyrae Berryman – Baton Rouge (March 26), 28 years old