Trans Women: Hate, Phobia, and Murder

There is a really powerful quote by an unknown author that goes “We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us, and wealth classified us.” As a sociologist, I find this quote to hold immense power in its truth. We begin life as humans, but shortly after we are classified and disconnected from one another. Our classifications guide us to either live a life that is rich or a life that is poor. We either have more opportunities, or we have less. I can even go as far as saying that our classification can even cost us our lives.

In 2015, 23 trans-women from around the United States were murdered. Most of these women were women of color. Some were found in their homes, some were found in the street, but all of them were found dead. Even more horrifically is that some friends and family members of various victims had no idea that their loved one was deceased due to local media reporting with the use of birth names, rather than preferred names. For example, the local media would publish the name of the deceased person using only their male birth name. This is not only confusing, but it violates the right of the individuals preferred gender identity.

So, why is this important? It is important because the murders of these women are everyone’s problem. After studying each case closely, I discovered that this group of trans women represents the most marginalized group of people yet. Trans women make up the intersection of racial discrimination, work discrimination and sex discrimination. If we want to tackle large social issues such as race discrimination, violence, and hate crimes, we must tackle societies phobia with trans-individuals. Only then can we solve the rest of our problems.