Today, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC), the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, and its Public Education and Research program published “The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in the United States,” a report released in advance of Trans Day of Remembrance to memorialize the lives of the transgender and gender nonconforming people killed this year and shed light on the ongoing epidemic of violence against transgender and gender-expansive people. In addition to the Fatal Violence report, we are releasing an updated version of our Dismantling a Culture of Violence report, which highlights the determinants of the fatal violence epidemic and provides actionable steps on how allies can help make the world a safer place for transgender and gender expansive people.
Since 2013, HRC has recorded the deaths of 372 transgender and gender-expansive victims of fatal violence–including at least 36 deaths in the last 12 months (from after Transgender Day of Remembrance 2023, or November 21, 2023, through November 20, 2024). This is a slight increase from the 2022-2023 time period, wherein 33 victims were identified. We say “at least,” as many deaths often go unreported or misreported, or misgendering of victims leads to delays in their identification. Through our ongoing tracking efforts, we’ve seen that of the 36 people we lost in the last year an overwhelming amount were young and people of color, with Black trans women disproportionately impacted. Many victims were killed by a friend, family, or romantic/sexual intimate partner, and guns were involved in the majority of cases.
“The hate towards transgender and gender expansive community members is fueled by disinformation, rhetoric and ideology that treats our community as political pawns ignoring the fact that we deserve the opportunity to live our lives fully without fear of harm or death,” said Tori Cooper Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative for the Human Rights Campaign. “Over half of the victims reported were Black trans women, a disturbing reality that reflects the trend of violence that continues to plague our community which disproportionately faces racism, misogynoir, sexism, transphobia and a myriad of other societal issues. In spite of these tragedies, I choose to remember the beauty brought to the world by those victims who left this earth far too soon and will celebrate their memories by continuing to fight for them through the Trans Justice Initiative’s advocacy and our leadership development work.”
In the last 12 months:
- 7 in 10 (75%) victims were people of color
- 7 in 10 (77.8%) of all victims were transgender women
- 6 in 10 (61.1%) of all victims were transgender women of color
- Half (50.0%) were Black trans women
- Victims were an average age of 31.7 at the time of their death
- Half (54.3%) were under the age of 35
- Pauly Likens, who died at 14, was the youngest victim ever recorded by HRC
- Over 3 in 10 (30.4%) of the 23 victims with a known killer were killed by
- an intimate partner (21.7%)
- or a friend or family member (8.7%)
- 4 in 10 (41.7%) of all victims were initially misgendered by the media and/or the police–the lowest annual percentage observed since HRC began tracking in 2013
- Victims were identified in 32 different cities, across 22 different states.
- Three states – Minnesota, Utah, and Nevada–recorded their first deaths since tracking began in 2013.
To read the full Fatal Violence report, visit here. To read the Dismantling a Culture of Violence report visit here.