Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

In August, a Black trans woman known as Kee Sam was murdered. She was 24 years old according to sources on Facebook. She was a native of Lafayette, Louisiana where she was killed, but had recently relocated to Baton Rouge. Her death is the 30th we’ve reported on this year, far outpacing previous years.

According to the HRC

 to learn of the death of Kee Sam, a Black transgender woman, in Lafayette, Louisiana. Sam was shot at a hotel on August 12 and was transported to a hospital, where she passed away the next day from her injuries

Her death only recently came to light, another grim reminder of the trauma of this ongoing epidemic of violence targeting the trans and gender nonconforming communities. Out describes her death as a brutal shooting where she was left for dead along a highway. Once she was found and transported to the hospital, she died the next day.

Early media reports misgendered and deadnamed Kee, leaving the community uninformed of her death. Reports are that a 16-year-old male has been taken into custody.

Kee is the third Black trans woman murdered in Louisiana this year. Shaki Peters, 32, was killed in July near Baton Rouge. That same month Queasha D Hardy, 24, was found shot to death in the middle of the day also in Baton Rouge. A fourth woman, Draya McCarthy, also died under suspicious circumstances in Baton Rouge, but little information is available.

Another murder this year was committed by a young man, a high school senior who was 18 when he took the life of Selena Reyes-Hernandez in Chicago. Why are children killing adult trans women?

Kee’s social media is filled with filtered photos, pics with her family including her only niece, dogs, nails, hair, the usual things that we document on Instagram and Facebook, memories of our everyday lives that linger after our corporeal lives fade away. 24 is too young to fade away.

Rest in power, Kee. You deserved to grow into your adult life and watch that baby girl niece of yours grow, too. Know that you are visible to us, that your life mattered, and that your death should be brought to justice. You deserved better from all of us.

My list of transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary neighbors who have lost their lives to violent deaths in the US during 2020.

1. Dustin Parker – McAlester, Oklahoma. January 1, 2020. Age 25.
2. Alexa Negron Luciano – Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. February 24, 2020. Age 29.
3. Yampi Mendez Arocho – Moca, Puerto Rico, March 5, 2020. Age 19.
4. Monica Diamond – Charlotte, North Carolina. March 18, 2020. Age 34.
5. Lexi – Harlem, New York City, New York. March 28, 2020. Age 33.
6. Johanna Metzger – Baltimore, Maryland. April 1, 2020. Age 25.
7. Serena Angelique Velazquezz – Puerto Rico. April 22, 2020. Age 32.
8. Layla Pelaez – Puerto Rico. April 22, 2020. Age 21.
9. Penélope Díaz Ramírez – Puerto Rico. April 13, 2020. Age 31
10. Nina Pop – Sikeston, Missouri. May 3, 2020. Age 28.
11. Helle Jae O’Regan – San Antonio, Texas. May 6, 2020. Age 20.
12. Tony McDade – Tallahassee, Florida. May 27, 2020. Age 38.
13. Dominique Rem’mie Fells – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. June 8, 2020. Age 27.
14. Riah Milton – Liberty Township, Ohio. June 9, 2020. Age 25.
15. Selena Reyes Hernandez – Chicago. May 31, 2020. Age 37.
16. Brayla Stone – Sherwood, Arkansas. June 25, 2020. Age 17.
17. Merci Mack – Dallas, June 30, 2020. Age 22.
18. Jayne Thompson – Colorado, May 2020. Age 33.
19. Bree Black – Pompana Beach, Florida, July 3, 2020. Age 27.
20. Draya McCarty – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 2020. Age unknown.
21. Shaki Peters – Amite, Louisiana, July 1, 2020. Age 32.
22. Marilyn Cazares – Brawley, California, July 13, 2020. Age 22.
23. Tatiana Hall – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, approx June 29, 2020. Age 22.
24. Queasha Hardy – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 27, 2020. Age 24.
25. Tiffany Harris – Bronx, New York, July 26, 2020. Age 32.
26. Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears – Portland, Oregon, July 28, 2020. Age 32.
27. Aerrion Burnett – Independence, Missouri, September 19, 2020. Age 37.
28. Mia Green – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 28, 2020. Age 29.
29. Michelle Ramos Vargas – Puerto Rico, September 30, 2020. Age 33.
30. Kee Sam – Lafayette, Louisiana, August 12, 2020. Age 24.

Please do not cut and paste this list to share without a link to the post. Thank you.