Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. In the past year, at least 238 transgender people have been killed violently across the world. From being stoned to death, tortured, or stabbed and mutilated with scissors, their stories are horrific. Here are just some of the 238 people who lost their lives to violence: Oliveira Alves da Silva, 15, was shot execution-style, Brazil. Name unknown, age unknown, body found with hands tied back and face covered with tape, Honduras. Alison Cohuo Pech, age unknown, stabbed 42 times, Mexico. Maura Ribeira, 27, Peru, wrists then throat cut. Francisco René Zaldívar Robles, 35, Mexico, stoned to death and body dumped in a canal. Srinivas, 35, died in hospital after being in police custody, civil liberties groups claim she was tortured by police. Dalva, 37, and Camila, age unknown, decapitated in their house, which was then set on fire, Brazil. Evon Young Evon Young, 22, trans man and rapper who was taken by a group of men, believed to a gang, to a basement. They choked him with a chain, taped a plastic bag over his head and beat him until he died. Milwaukee, USA. Nicole Galisteu, 20, shot dead after men she kissed at a nightclub realised she was trans, Brazil. Tiffany Holder, 19, a sex worker whose throat was slit by three men who had sex with her first, Guyana. Joahana, age unknown, tortured to death and body marked with the letter “Z”, found with limbs and face bound with duct tape, police believe there is a drug link, Mexico. Seda, age unknown, beaten to death, Turkey. Vanesa Zavala, age unknown, cause of death unknown but had wounds in face and anus, Argentina. Stephanie, 33, strangled and left naked with injuries to ears, head, chest, face and arms, Brazil. Dwayne Jones Name unknown, age unknown, stabbed to death with scissors, Brazil. Vujanovic, 41, stabbed ten times by a client, Serbia. Diamond Williams, 31, stabbed and dismembered by a man who did so when he realised she was transgender, Philadelphia, USA. Da Silva, 38, died in her mother’s arms after being shot by men on bicycles at her mother’s front door, Brazil. (Dwayne) Jones, killed by a mob at a party where she wore women’s clothing, suffered multiple stab wounds and a gunshot wound, Jamaica. Thalia Batista Mendes, 31, stabbed to death and genitals mutilated, Brazil. The details come from Transgender Europe’s annual report which shows the deaths stretch across 26 countries with the majority from Brazil (95), Mexico (40), the USA (16), and Venezuela (15), followed by Honduras (12), Colombia (12), and El Salvador (5). While Brazil, Mexico, and the USA have the highest absolute numbers, the relative numbers show even more worrisome results for some countries with smaller population sizes. Honduras, for instance, has a rate of 1.5 reported trans killings per million inhabitants, for El Salvador the rate is 0.71, while for Brazil the rate is 0.49, for Mexico the rate is 0.36, and for the USA the rate is 0.05. In Asia most reported cases have been found in India (8), and in Europe in Turkey (5) and Italy (5). The group says another worrisome result is that from January 1 to October 31 it registered the highest numbers of reported murders of minors since its project began. In the first 10 months of 2013 already 22 trans persons under 20 years have been reported murdered. Half of them have been under 18 years. Among these 11 murdered minors was a 13-year old trans girl, strangled in the city of Macaiba in Brazil on June 9th 2013, a 14-year old trans girl, strangled in the city of Ibipora in Brazil on October 15th 2013, and also 16-year-old ‘Dwayne’ Jones, who was kicked out of her home with 14, and on July 22nd 2013 attended for the first time a party in female clothing in St. James, Jamaica, where she was chased and brutally murdered by party-goers, who formed a mob, when they realized that she was a trans person. Transgender Day of Remembrance services are being held across the globe. In Auckland people will gather at Revel Café on K’ Rd at 2PM, in Wellington there will be a gathering at Glover Park at 6PM, while a service will be held at the Riff Raff statue in Hamilton on Sunday at 7PM. Source: TvT research project (2013) “Trans Murder Monitoring results: TDOR 2013 update,” “Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide” (TvT) project website: http://www.transrespect-transphobia.org/en/tvt-project/tmm-results/tdor-2013.htm Compiled by Jacqui Stanford from data supplied by Transgender Europe - 20th November 2013
Credit: Compiled by Jacqui Stanford from data supplied by Transgender Europe
First published: Wednesday, 20th November 2013 - 9:31am