28-year-old Black Trans Chicago Woman is First Reported Victim of Homicide in 2021

Black Trans Woman

From Brave Space Alliance in Chicago: Davarea Alexander, 28, also known as Tyianna, was shot to death in the early morning hours in the 800 block of West 75th, Ashburn neighborhood, South Side on January 6, 2021. Officers were called just before 5 a.m. to the 800 block of West 75th Street, where two people […]

Q&A Election 2020: Terrance McGeorge of Project Matters

Terrance McGeorge Pittsburgh

This is a new limited-Q&A series focusing on Election Day. I’ve approached an array of regional folks to ask them the same seven questions about the election. This election is complicated in ways we never thought possible, but there are paths forward. Listening to what our neighbors are prioritizing and how they are framing the […]

22-year-old Latina Trans Woman Marilyn Cazares Killed in Southern California

Marilyn Cazares was a 22-year-old trans Latina when her body was discovered in an abandoned residential building on Tuesday, July 13, 2020 in Brawley, California. Brawley police are treating her death as a homicide even without releasing much information. Marilyn’s was discovered when authorities responded to a nearby couch fire. Local media, police, and Marilyn’s […]

Two Black Trans Women Found Dead in Separate Incidents in Louisiana

Draya McCarty and Shaki Peters

Within a week, Louisiana has lost two Black trans women to violence. Shaki Peters, 32, of Denham Springs was found dead off of Opal Bennett Road on July 1, near the town of Amite City, according to information from the St. Helena Parish Sheriff’s Office. She was misgendered and deadnamed by law enforcement and media […]

Brayla Stone was a17-Year-Old Black Trans Young Woman Murdered in Arkansas

Brayla Stone RIP

Updated to correct typographical errors. Brayla Stone was a 17-year-old Black transgender woman who was murdered near Little Rock, Arkansas on Thursday June 25, 2020. Her body was discovered inside an abandoned vehicle along a walking path in Sherwood, Arkansas in the middle of the afternoon. Stone’s murder comes at the heels of a reinvigorated […]

Pgh Media Outlets Lift Up White, Cis Voices and Allies to Examine SCOTUS LGBTQ Ruling, Disregard Black Voices

I am deeply dismayed that most of the regional media coverage of yesterday’s stunning civil rights win for the LGBTQ community has centered white cisgender and heterosexual folx. I don’t understand how these journalists could have been so deeply embedded in recent events without questioning why all the ‘deciders’ are white cisgender folx? Or incorporating […]

Black Trans Man Tony McDade Killed by Police in Florida

The fatal police shooting we aren’t discussing involved a 38-year-old Black trans man named Tony McDade. Tony was killed by police this past Wednesday in Tallahassee, Florida. He’s accused of stabbing another man to death immediately prior to being shot five times by a police officer. His final Facebook live shares his plans to retaliate […]

Itali Marlowe, 29, of Houston is the 20th Known Transgender Person Killed in 2019

Itali Marlowe

Itali Marlowe was just 29 years old when she was shot to death by Raymond D. Williams on September 20, 2019. It was a little past 2 PM in the afternoon when the Houston woman was found dying in her driveway near the home she shared with Williams. Itali was a Black trans woman. Williams […]

Pebbles LaDime Doe is the 14th Trans Woman Murdered in the US During 2019 UPDATED

Pebbles LaDime Doe

Pebbles LaDime ‘Dime” Doe was 24 years old. She was born in 1994 and raised in Allendale, South Carolina. On August 4, she was murdered in her hometown less than 100 miles from the place where Denali Stuckey, another Black trans woman, was killed in late July. Details are sketchy right now and the limited […]

Pipeline: A Review (Yes, On Closing Day Because It Matters That Much)

Pipeline Pittsburgh

Yesterday, Ledcat and I went to the final performance of Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau at City Theatre. Earlier this month, I published a Q&A with local performer Brittney Chantelle about her work with 1 Hood Media Academy composing the soundtrack for this show. But circumstances kept us from actually seeing the production until today. To my pleasure, […]