Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

24-year-old Cathalina Christina James was a Black trans woman from Sumter, South Carolina. On Sunday, June 24, she became the 13th trans person murdered this year in the United States.  More at Transgriot. 

Cathalina was found shot dead at the Quality Inn and Suites located in the 8300 block of Dix Ellis Trail on Sunday in Jacksonville, Florida. She makes Jacksonville’s third transgender black woman to be murdered in three months. Per her Facebook page, she was relocating to New York from Jacksonville. A dream shattered by her violent death.

Her mother spoke to First Coast News and said that her daughter was always the life of the party and had a big and bold personality. She said her daughter loved to travel and loved to dance.

Sadly, she was originally misgendered and deadnamed in the early reports, but there is some hope in the outlets acknowledgement that she was trans and asking for help getting the accurate information. And Cathalina’s mother spoke about her daughter.

It is sobering to note that Cathalina makes Jacksonville’s third transgender Black woman to be murdered in three months. That’s chilling. We can’t know if it means the murderers are connected, but it goes without saying that this epidemic of fatal violence targeting trans people, especially Black trans women should be on our urgent list. It goes without saying, but I and many others continue to say it because the violence is not abating.

Rest in power, Cathalina. Your life mattered. You deserved the time to move to NYC and to pursue your dreams.

Anyone with information regarding this homicide is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or email them at JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. To remain anonymous, a reward of up to $3,000 is available if your information leads to an arrest. Contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.

The list that I’ve curateded of trans people killed in 2018 so far. Note that people and outlets reporting on these crimes have different numbers based on different factors – some don’t include officer related shootings, others don’t include non-trans GNC individuals, while others include any violent death including death by suicide. 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. Sadly we are on track to meet or exceed the previous year.

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
8. Sasha Wall – Chesterfield, South Carolina (April 1), 29 years old
9. Karla Patricia Pavon-Flores – Dallas (May 9), 26 years old
10. Nino Fortson – Atlanta (May 13), 36 yeas old
11. Gigi Pierce – Portland (May 21), 28 years old
12. Antash’a English – Jacksonville (June 1), 38 years old
13. Cathalina Christina James – Jacksonville (June 24), 24 years old