Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Just days before Trans Awareness Week, Quanesha Shantel aka Cocoa was a 26 year old Black trans woman when she was murdered in her car.

She was shot three times on Sunday, November 10, 2024 as she sat in her car outside her estranged boyfriend’s apartment at Guilford College Road.

Hamilton’s estranged boyfriend Jeremy Reynolds, 31, of Greensboro, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and firing a barreled weapon into an occupied dwelling or vehicle. 

Reynolds appeared in Guilford County District Court on Wednesday and was denied bond. He remains in custody.

Honoring Quanesha

Born in Raeford, Cocoa’s friend reported that her father died when she two. Her mother gave birth to her at age 14 so they “grew up together.” She was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Cocoa had recently enrolled in nursing school.

“She came to me at age 11 and said, ‘Mama, I want to transition over,'” Toi Ni’Cole Ratliff of Fayetteville said during a phone interview with the Greensboro News & Record.

“You wouldn’t imagine that a young person would know it at that age, but she did,” Ratliff said. “And I told her, ‘I’ll support you through it. But if you do it, do it right.’ And she had it from there!” 

Cocoa (sometimes styled Coco) was part of the ballroom community, well-known from her participation around Southern states. According to her social media, she was part of the House of Mizrahi. She found ballroom after meeting her mentor and drag father, BigBaby during a troubled time in her young life. Cocoa then began recruiting her friends to participate.

She was also a fan of many fashion sources and nail artists.  Her social media is filled with her enthusiasm for the people she loved.

Toi Ni’Cole Ratliff, Cocoa’s mother post this tribute on Facebook

Let my baby Quanesha Shantel rest PLEASE! If u really knew her then u already kno she didn’t bother a soul & she definitely didn’t want nobody in her bubble. Regardless of how she lived her life I loved her unconditionally & accepted everything she stood for. She stood in her TRUTH & didn’t gaf how NOBODY felt about it. She did exactly wat she was put on this earth to do & she did it with GRACE She is & ALWAYS will be my CHOCOLATE BARBIE, the GO GETTER, the WELL WISHER…She was the HIDDEN So let ppl talk…remember my baby for who u loved her to be not wat they portraying her to be. LET em have this one COCOA U DID IT GIRL

Honoring Cocoa

I was pleased that the News & Record reported on important context for Cocoa’s death.

Domestic violence against transgender individuals is considered a public health problem across the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health. Intimate partner violence, or IPV, is 2.2 times higher for transgender people than the cisgender population, NIH statistics show.

Cocoa is the 36th trans person whose death has been reported in 2024. Reported means the death may have been earlier or that we do not have all of the details. You may notice in my list later in this post that I try to make some distinctions. As of this post, I have now identified 31 individuals who were killed this year and plus five individuals whose deaths became known to us this year.

I know this is confusing. Death cannot be neatly contained in data and reporting, but it is essential that we try to describe this epidemic of violence with every possible tool.

Among the 37 deaths reported in 2024 to date, 29 including Cocoa have been BIPOC. 26 of the individuals on our list were Black transgender folx. She is the 26th trans woman, the 15th Black trans woman, and the 21st trans woman of color on our list, As of this post, a trans person’s violent murder has been reported in the US every 10 days this year.

Other deaths reported from North Carolina include 2023 KC Johnson, Jacob Williamson, 2022 Sasha Mason, 2021 Jenna Franks. Remy Fennell, 2019 Chanel Scurlock, Keyiariah Quick, 2017 Sherrell Faulkner. Derricka Banner, 2015 Elisha Walker.

Rest in power, Quanesha. You lit up the world and the lives of the people who loved you. Your desire to care for others is a testament to the way your lived your life. I am deeply sorry we didn’t keep you safe when you untangled yourself from a toxic relationship. Your bravery deserved more from all of us.

May your memory be a revolution.

This is Our List

This is our list of transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming neighbors who have been victims of the campaign of anti-trans terror in 2024. Please do not copy, modify, or share this list without attribution.

Things have grown so complicated that I have separated out the deaths dated to 2024 from those reported this year, but took place in another year.

1. Kitty Monroe – January 1, 2024. Phoenix, Arizona. Age 43.
2. Nex Benedict – February 8, 2024. Owasso, Oklahoma. Age 16.
3. Righteous Torrence ‘T K’ Chevy Hill – February 29, Atlanta. Georgia. Age 35.
4. Reyna Hernandez – Between Feb 28 and March 28, location TBD. Age 54.
5. Diamond Cherish Brigman – March 16, 2024, Houston, Texas. Age 36.
6. Alex Franco – March 19, 2024. Salt Lake City, Utah. Age 21.
7. Meraxes Medina – March 19, 2024, Los Angeles, California. Age 24.
8. Cecilia Gentili – February 6, 2024, New YorkCity, New York. Age 52.
9. Lagend Billions aka Tee Arnold – April 7, 2024, Miami, Ohio. Age 36.
10. África Parrilla García – February 2, 2024, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Age 25.
11. Nevaeh ‘River’ Goddard – April 5, 2024,. Stow, Massachusetts. Age 17,
12. Andrea Doria Dos Passos – April 22, 2024, Miami, Florida. Age 37.
13. Sasha Williams – January 26, 2024, Las Vegas, Nevada. Age 36.
14. Kita Bee – May 3, 2024, Kansas City, Missouri. Age 46.
15. Starr Brown – April 19, Memphis, Tennessee. Age 28.
16. Jazlynn Johnson – May 6, 2024, Carson City, Nevada. Age 18.
17. Michelle Henry – May 15, 2024, San Francisco, California. Age 25.
18. Tayy Dior Thomas – May 7, 2024, Mobile, Alabama. Age 17
19. Pauly Likens – June 23, 2024, Sharon, Pennsylvania. Age 14
20. Shannon Boswell – July 2, 2024, Atlanta, Georgia. Age 30.
21. Liara Kaylee Tsai – June 22, 2024, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Age 35.
22. Kenji Spurgeon – July 1, 2024, Seattle, Washington. Age: 23
23. Monique Brooks – July 19, 2024. Orlando, Florida. Age 59.
24. Dylan Gurley – July 24, 2024. Denton, Texas. Age 20.
25. Tai Lathan – August 4, 2024. Baltimore, Maryland. Age 24.
26. Vanity Williams – August 3, 2024. Houston, Texas. Age 34.
27. Redd ‘Barbie’ Joseph – September 8, 2024. Chicago, Illinois. Age 25.
28. Kassim Omar – September 6, 2024. Columbus, Ohio. Age 29.
29. Honee Daniels – October 3, 2024. Rochester, New York. Age 37
30. San Coleman – October 19, 2024. Athens, Georgia. Age 48.
31. Quanesha Shantel – November 11, 2024. Greensboro, North Carolina. Age 26.

Deaths reported in 2024 but took place in other years or need to be monitored for more information.

• Ryan Zimmerman – Sept 2015, Columbus OH Age 21 Murdered 2016, Identified 2020, reported 2024.
• Unknown Name – June 17, Denver, Colorado. Age unknown.
• Paris Rich Jessup – 13 June 2022, San Diego, California. Age 25.
• Kit Nelson-Mora, – 2021/2022 Washington State, 2022. Age 18.
• Niomi Jenkins – May 2024 San Francisco
• Morgan Moore – May 2022, Maryland. Age 15,