In April 2009 the international NGO Transgender Europe (TGEU) in
cooperation with the multilingual Online-Magazine "Liminalis — A
Journal for Sex/Gender Emancipation and Resistance" started a new
project, the /Trans Murder Monitoring Project/, which focuses on
systematically reporting murdered trans people on a worldwide scale.
The very preliminary results of the first step of this project have
revealed a total of 204 cases of reported murders of trans people world
wide in the last 1 1/2 years. 121 cases of murdered trans people have
been reported in 2008. From January to June 2009 already 83 cases of
murdered trans people have been reported.
Furthermore, the preliminary results show an increase in the number of
reports of murdered trans people over the last years. Since the
beginning of 2008 the murder of a trans person is reported every third
day, on average.
The cases have been reported from all six World regions: North America,
Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The majority of cases
have been reported from Latin America and North America. On these
continents the majority of cases have been reported from Brazil (59) and
the U.S.A. (16) for 2008 and from Brazil (23), Venezuela (20), and
Guatemala (10) for the first six months of 2009. Moreover, the
preliminary results show a total of 11 murdered trans people reported
for Colombia followed by 5 for Honduras and 4 for Mexico and Venezuela
for 2008, and 6 for Mexico and 3 for Argentina, and the Dominican
Republic for the first six months of 2009.
In total 91 murders of trans people were reported in 11 Latin American
countries in 2008, and 73 murders of trans people in 11 Latin American
countries in the first six months of 2009. The reported murders of trans
people in Latin America account for 75% and 88% of the world wide
reported murders of trans people in 2008 and the first six months of
2009 respectively.**
The preliminary results also reveal that murders of trans people have
been reported in 5 European countries in 2008 (Germany, Italy, Portugal,
Spain, and Turkey) and in 4 European countries (Russia, Serbia, Spain,
Turkey) in the first six months of 2009. In Asia murders of trans people
were reported for Iraq, Malaysia, and Singapore in 2008, and for India
in the first six months of 2009. In Oceania murders of trans people were
reported for Australia in 2008, and for New Zealand in the first six
months of 2009. In total the preliminary results show reports of
murdered trans people in 22 countries in 2008, and in 17 countries in
the first six months of 2009.
The preliminary results furthermore reveal some terrifying details on
the nature of these crimes. The data shows that in 2008 six of the
victims were minors and in the first six months of 2009 three minors
were among the victims. One of these minors, 15 year-old Leticia King
from Oxnard (USA), was shot twice in the head by a classmate in front of
the whole class. Apart from these brutal murders, 5 of the reported
murdered trans persons in 2008 were found tortured or dismembered, 2
were shot by retired policemen, and 3 were executed in police stations.
5 of the reported murdered trans persons were found tortured or
dismembered in the first six months of 2009.
The preliminary results of TGEU’s and Liminalis’ Trans Murder Monitoring
project are presented in form of a report, tables, name lists, and maps
in the new issue of Liminalis (www.liminalis.de/project.html) in
English, Spanish, and German.
Contact: research[at]tgeu.org