Update on the Murder of Mia Henderson #SayHerName

Mia Henderson

Sober, but good news out of Baltimore – police have made an arrest in the murder of Mia Henderson. Mia was killed in July 2014, stabbed repeatedly and left in the street. She was 26. Shawn Oliver, 44, of Hagerstown, Maryland was arrested and charged with first and second degree murder in addition to other […]

66 Year Old Trans Woman K.C. Haggard Was Murdered in Fresno on Thursday

K.C. Haggard

K.C. Haggard was on the street, reportedly during a routine nocturnal walk around her neighborhood, when she was brutally stabbed and left to die in the street. She was 66 and newly out. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has learned of the homicide of K.C. Haggard, a transgender woman who was stabbed to […]

India Clarke is Tenth Trans Woman of Color Murdered #SayHerName

India Clarke

Horrifying news out of Tampa – 25 years old India Clarke was found murdered near her parents’ home early this morning. From Transgriot: 25 year old India Clarke’s body was found after the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department received a phone call at 9 AM EDT this morning from an employee at the University Area Community […]

Mercedes Williamson 17 Year Old Trans Woman Murdered in Alabama

Mercedes Williamson

17. 17 is still a girl, a young woman. This 17 year old was an aspiring cosmetologist with people who cared about her. Yet at 17, Mercedes Williamson joins the ranks of trans women who have been murdered in the United States. According to The Advocate, Mercedes was estranged from her family and living with […]

UPDATED: London Chanel, 21, Eighth Trans Woman of Color Murdered in 2015

London Chanel Transgender

Very sad news from close to home in Philadelphia – 21-year-old London Chanel was murdered early Monday morning and then promptly misgendered in the reporting. Fortunately, her friends weighed in quickly and the media updated their reporting. How sad that’s part of the ritual of mourning our trans sisters – fact checking the media. A […]

Kristina Grant Infiniti, 47, is 11th QTPOC To Be Killed in 2015

Kristina Grant Infiniti

A 47-year-old trans woman, Kristina Grant Infiniti (also known as Kristina Gomez Reinwald) was found murdered on Sunday, February 15, 2015.  Kristina was a Latina with Cuban heritage. The police according to a NBC6 report are now calling the case a homicide. Note that this news report uses Kristina’s old name. Police didn’t find any sign […]

22 Year Old Ohio Trans Woman Stabbed to Death By Father

Bri Golec

22-year-old Bri Golec has recently returned to a transgender support group in the Akron, Ohio area. She had participated a few years ago, then stopped attending. Recently, she began to more assertively explore her gender identity. Sadly, Bri will not have the chance to continue her journey after an altercation with her father,  Kevin Golec, […]

Penny Proud of New Orleans is Fifth Trans Woman of Color Killed in 2015

Penny Proud

This time of year, Mardi Gras and New Orleans are in my mind – I lived in Louisiana for three years in the early nineties. I was terribly saddened (and angry) to learn that another trans sister of color has lost her life to violence in New Orleans. Earlier today, police found the body of […]

UPDATED: Trans Woman of Color Yazmin Vash Payne Murdered Near Los Angeles

transgender women

Note: this post has been updated to reflect the preferred name of the victim. Her name is Yazmin Vash Payne. She had previously been identified as Michell Vash Payne and alternately as Yasmine Payne. Some media outlets have posted her old name, but we will not do that. If you have photos of Yazmin, please […]

Another QTPOC Murder Underscores Epidemic of Violence

Transgender Candle

I saw a tweet when I slipped into my car after some grocery shopping. It was impossible, I thought to myself, that another transgender sibling was dead. Not again. I just wrote about two trans sisters who had been murdered as well as the murder of a lesbian and the death of a 51 year […]