Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

On November 20, Asia Jynai Foster was killed. Asia was 22 years old and a Black trans woman living in Houston, Texas.

November 20 was also the Trans Day of Remembrance, an international observation of trans neighbors who have been killed. According to Outsmart

A 22-year-old Black transgender woman was shot and killed in west Houston on Friday, November 20, according to the Houston Police Department (HPD). The victim’s body was found with gunshot wounds at 3400 East Greenridge Drive.

A young woman was found shot to death Friday night in a west Houston road.A passerby driving home around 10:50 p.m. saw a body on the 3400 block of East Greenridge Drive near Skyline Drive and and flagged down a nearby police officer, said Detective Willis Huff of the Houston Police Department.

She was shot multiple times and left to die on a road in the darkness of the night.

Asia was a Houston native. She worked at a local business and had been involved in Job Corp. She liked racing themed video games. Her social media is filled with the ups and downs, the joys and angst of any American young twentysomething.

Community members and loved ones gathered in Houston on Sunday for a candlelight vigil to honor Asia’s life.

Asia is the 38th victim of this epidemic of transphobic violence engulfing the nation.She is the 24th Black trans person and the 21st Black trans woman murdered. She is one of 15 victims age 25 or younger. Asia is the 3rd Texan transgender woman murdered in 2020.

Rest in power, Asia. You deserved so much, many years to live and love, to embrace life and enjoy your adulthood. I am so sorry.

I probably will always think about Monica Roberts in these posts. My lens is different than hers, but I hope to channel her outrage and defiance on behalf of these victims, as well as her tenderness.

There are no leads to share at this point. We don’t know who did this or why.

She deserved better.

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.
31. Felycya Harris – Augusta, Georgia, October 3, 2020. Age 32.
32. Brooklyn DeShauna Smith – Shreveport, Louisiana, October 7, 2020. Age 20.
33. Sara Blackwood – Indianapolis, Indiana, October 11, 2020. Age 39.
34. Angel Haynes – Memphis, Tennessee, October 25, 2020. Age 25.
35. Lea Rayshone Daye – Cleveland, Ohio, August 30, 2020. Age 28.
36. Scott DeVore, also known as Scottlynn Kelly DeVore – Augusta, Georgia, March 31, 2020. Age 51
37. Yunieski Carey Herrera – Miami, November 17, 2020. Age 39.
38. Asia Jynaé Foster – Houston, Texas, November 20, 2020. Age 22.

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