Nov 20, 2020
Transgender Awareness & Remembrance 2020 #6
Scottlynn DeVore, Sara Blackwood, Felycya Harris, Michelle Michellyn Ramos Vargas, Brooklyn Deshuna, Mia Green, Kee Sam, Aerrion Burnett, Lea Rayshon Daye, and Ashley Moore
TW: Some of this article includes graphic details regarding the abuse and murder of trans individuals.
It is Transgender Awareness Week in the US.
To remind everyone how important equality, acceptance, support, and empathy are for the transgender community, this is the sixth article that will be honoring those individuals who have been robbed of their lives much too soon for living as their most authentic selves.
Sadly, 2019 saw at least 25 transgender or gender non-conforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means. We say at least because too often these stories go unreported — or misreported.
There have been at least 37 transgender or gender non-conforming people murdered so far in 2020. We need to put an end to this brutality.
Here are the names of some of the transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who have been murdered — or suspected of being murdered — in 2020.
Scott/Scottlynn DeVore, 51, Georgia
They were a gender non-conforming person and appeared to be presenting as Scottlyn when they were last seen on March 14. Their body was found near a highway in Augusta on March 30 after having been missing for two weeks.
Two people have been arrested for the murder. The warrants describe the two suspects burglarized DeVore’s home, strangled them to death, then moved their body from the scene in the trunk of a car, and finally dumped them off the side of a highway.
Sara Blackwood, 39, Indiana
She was shot and killed on Oct 11. Her death has been ruled a homicide but no suspects have been identified.
Sara leaves behind a partner of eight years, Avery Blackwood. “I loved her so much and I am grieving so deeply,” Avery told CNN. “She was my whole world and I am inconsolable.”
Tragically, [Sara Blackwood] died on National Coming Out Day, a day that is marked every year on October 11 to emphasize the importance of coming out and creating a safe world in which LGBTQ people can live openly as their authentic selves. — Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
Felycya Harris, 33, Georgia
She was an interior decorator who ran her own company. Felycya enjoyed helping others feel comfortable in their own space and had a talent for it.
Her young life ended when she was shot and killed in Meadowbrook Park in Augusta. Her body was found on October 3. Her death has been ruled a homicide, but no suspects have been identified.
This epidemic of violence, which is particularly impacting transgender women of color, must and can be stopped. We must work to address the factors that underpin this culture of violence and openly discuss how the intersection of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia work to deprive transgender and gender non-conforming people of equal access to opportunity and necessities like employment, housing, and health care. — HRC President Alphonso David
Michelle “Michellyn” Ramos Vargas, 33, Puerto Rico
Michellyn was a nursing student at Ponce Paramedical College. Her body was found on September 30 on the side of a road in San German. She had been shot in the head several times.
Her death is still an open investigation with no leads or suspects.
Enough of so much hate. Trans people are as human as everyone else and deserve to live in peace, equality, and freedom. — Pedro Julio Serrano, LGBTQ+ activist
Brooklyn Deshuna, 20, Louisiana
Brooklyn was studying cosmetology at Bossier Parish Community College. She was shot and killed on October 7. There have been no suspects charged with her murder.
While Louisiana — like so many other states — includes sexual orientation as a protected characteristic in its hate crimes law, it does not include gender identity. This needs to change.
Mia Green, 29, Pennsylvania
Mia suffered a gunshot wound to the neck in Philadelphia on September 28. She was taken to the hospital where she later died.
Following an investigation, a suspect was arrested and charged with Mia’s murder as well as other related offenses.
Mia was a person who mattered, and she did not deserve to have her life stolen from her. Too often, we see a mix of toxic masculinity, misogyny, racism and transphobia play a strong factor in the deaths of Black trans women like Mia. — Tori Cooper, HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative
Kee Sam, 24, Louisiana
After being found in a hotel room in Lafayette suffering from a gunshot wound, Kee was taken to a local hospital where she died due to her injuries the following day, August 13. The investigation into her death is ongoing, but a 16-year-old suspect has been arrested.
Kee’s death only recently came to light due to misreporting by the media and law enforcement inappropriately using Kee’s birth name and sex.
Aerrion Burnett, 37, Missouri
On September 19, Aerrion was found in a grassy area next to the roadway in Independence. She had been fatally shot just two days prior to her 38th birthday.
Black trans people, Black trans women in particular deserve our protection — they deserve to live without fear of being discriminated against or murdered. Until this is their reality, ensuring that they are safe is on all of us. — David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition
Lea Rayshon Daye, 28, Ohio
This black transgender woman died shortly after being found unresponsive in the Cuyahoga County Jail in Cleveland on August 30. Her death remains under investigation.
Transgender people are being murdered across the United States, and the City of Cleveland has one of the highest rates based on our population. The system that continues to fail Black, brown, and LGBTQ+ Ohioans is completely inept when interacting with those at the intersection of race and LGBTQ+ identity. — Maya Simek of Equality Ohio
Ashley Moore, 26, New Jersey
Ashley was found outside the YMCA in Newark on April 1. Newark police claimed her death was suicide although there was abundant information pointing to the contrary including strangulation marks on her neck. With bodily evidence, at least one witness, and camera footage there is nothing to support the claim of suicide.
Unfortunately, Ashley’s body was cremated before a proper autopsy could be done and the continued negative response and uncooperative nature of the police have done nothing to bring Ashley’s murderer to justice.
My heart and soul feel heavy and broken having done so much research into the transgender and gender non-conforming victims of 2020. No person should have to endure such brutal violence as they did.
As this year comes to a close I pray I will not need to add to this list.
The hatred in this country needs to stop.
We need to demand better from our leaders at the state and federal levels.
Transphobia, sexism, biphobia, homophobia, and racism run rampant right now. We need to join together in rejecting such lethal hatred.
We need to do better.
We need to be better allies and advocates.
Stand up and speak out for trans folks and everyone within the LGBTQ+ community.
Here are 10 Questions Every Parent Should Ask Their Transgender Teen.
Zada Kent is creator of LGBTQueer-ies & proud parent to her transgender son.
