@HereAndGone comments on "Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025

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HereAndGone 19hr ago · Edited 18hr ago

This one is going to be long, so I'll probably break it up into two halves for easier reading.

We hear a lot about “Transgender Day/Week of Remembrance” and hate-crimes/murders affecting transgender people. Figures get reported uncritically in the media and, more importantly, on social media. But how accurate are they?

I’m going to go through a 2024 report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, where they call it an “epidemic of violence”. Then I’ll list the names they give of transgender people who were killed in 2023/2024 and what I’ve found online reported on the deaths.

That will let us see, at least, if people really are being murdered wholesale simply for being trans, or if it’s simply for the same reasons people have been murdered throughout history.

Make up your own minds. I’m not doing this for any agenda pro- or anti-anything, except for having accuracy (as much as we can get it) as to who is getting killed and for what reasons (if there are reasons to be established). (I like this new phrase, “gender expansive”. Must remember that is the correct term to use in future).

Several of these cases are to do with “victim was sex worker/may have been engaged in sex work/may have had criminal ties”. Several are “current/former romantic partner”.

The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender & Gender-Expansive Community in the U.S.
The 2024 Report
Human Rights Campaign Foundation, November 2024

The epidemic of violence against transgender and gender-expansive people is a national tragedy. Each life stolen from us in this way is the result of a society that demeans and devalues anyone who dares challenge the gender binary. This year, we’ve seen an explosion of violent and hateful rhetoric aimed at the LGBTQ+ community—words that make both physical violence and discriminatory legislation more palatable for those in need of a scapegoat. This is one of many reasons why, last year, HRC declared a State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ people for the first time in our over 40-year history.

Since the day after the last Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, 2023, at least 36 transgender and gender-expansive people have been killed in the U.S.

So this is everyone who was deliberately murdered solely for being transgender, no other reason? Well, no:

Between January 2013 and October 2024, the FBI recorded 16 fatal hate crimes committed against trans and gender-expansive people, including bias-motivated deaths categorized as murder, manslaughter, or negligent manslaughter, far fewer than the 372 deaths recorded by HRC.

The discrepancy is due to the fact that ‘hate crime’ carries a legal definition—albeit one which differs between jurisdictions and across state and federal regulations. In addition, not all jurisdictions collect and report hate crimes data to the FBI, meaning that the FBI’s database is not exhaustive.

A case does not have to be categorized as a hate crime to be included in our reporting. Rather, we include those cases where bias, hate, and structural violence and stigma played a role in the killing of individuals, including indirectly through fostering the conditions in which the death occurred (e.g. if a person was killed while engaging in survival sex work, after being pushed out of the formal economy).

So basically – if you were trans/gender non-conforming/cis gender non-conforming and you died by violence, you get counted in the list of “anti-trans hate”. Yes, even if you got whacked in gang-related crime or were shot by a random shooter who was in a quarrel with a completely different person or got knocked down in a hit-and-run:

Victim Identification

We do not include every death of a transgender, gender-nonconforming, or non-binary person. To be included:

• The death must have occurred in the United States, including Puerto Rico and Outlying American territories.
o Deaths that occur in other countries, even if the victims are Americans, are not included.
• The death must have been committed by another person, either directly or through contributions to the circumstances that resulted in the death.
o This means that suicides and death from illness and substance use are not included.
• The cause of death must be confirmed by authorities to be a homicide and/or caused by another person.
o “Authorities” includes official statements (or press reports of official statements) from law enforcement and/or lawyers and advocates involved in the case.
• Violence, including structural violence, must also be a component of the circumstances, even if the perpetrator did not set out to kill the victim.
o Thus, deaths due to robbery/burglary, hit-and-run and vehicular homicide, and deaths which occur at the hands of the police/while in police or law enforcement custody, are included, in addition to deaths from homicide and manslaughter.

…Identification of cases
We include victims who identify as transgender, non-binary, gender-expansive, or some other non-cisgender identity at the time of their death, or who were gender-expansive in their gender presentation, or who were cisgender but presumed to be trans.

…Expanding our inclusion criteria – inclusion of non-trans victims
As noted above,this year’s report now includes people who are cisgender and gender non-conforming in their gender expression/presentation, as well as those who were presumed to be trans and whose presentation or the presumption thereof was a motivating factor in their death. The decision to expand our inclusion criteria was made in acknowledgement that these victims lost their lives to the same transphobic forces, and thus should be memorialized and included in discussions of the epidemic of anti-trans violence.

…Data collection

The information presented in this report reflects the most recently available data on all included cases, as identified to the best of our ability.

Data on each case are gathered daily through review of news reports, police reports, case records, and discussions with local advocates and loved ones of the victims.

All information is then recorded in an internal database and reviewed on a quarterly basis to confirm accuracy and update with emergent information as available.

Because new details may emerge as cases work their way through the justice system, and as law enforcement agencies release new information, data in this report may not always reflect what was noted in original reporting, or what may emerge in the future.”

Context

HereAndGone HereAndGone 19hr ago · Edited 18hr ago

I’m putting the descriptions in quotation marks because I’m taking them as-is from the website, sometimes the people involved used different names or gender identities.

Deaths that occurred in 2023:

Amiri Reid “a Black trans woman” and Kejuan Richardson “a gender-expansive gay Black man” (I’m putting these two together because they happened at the same time). Shot while driving around by Jorezno Philips. Motive: unknown, suspect committed suicide before he could be arrested. Could be personal quarrel with either or both, could be crime-related, could just be ‘picked a target at random and started shooting’. Hard to say it is specifically anti-trans hate crime unless he knew either or both of them, and we don’t know that.

Jean Butchart, “26 year old white transgender man, fatally shot in a mobile home park duing a series of violent incidents”. Exactly what it says there, except the shooter didn’t specifically go after Butchart: he got into an “altercation” with a resident of the park, came back days later with a gun and started shooting at them, and Butchart appears to have been collateral damage.

Savannah Ryan Williams, “38-year-old Cuban and Native transgender woman”. This one probably is trans-related, because the killer’s defence was “trans panic” (after having sex, he shot this person).

Meghan Riley-Lewis, “57-year-old transgender woman”. This one is odd, because it might be? Or might not be? Lewis was shot by a food delivery driver who claimed he acted in self-defence because Lewis attacked him for misgendering her. Yeah. This one is a toss-up.

Amber Minor, “40-year-old Black trans woman”. Investigation is ongoing, since the deceased was found shot dead in the driveway. Most coverage is about the police department deadnaming her, so clearly it wasn’t immediately obvious this person was trans. So with no arrest, no idea what the motive was.

Deaths that occurred in 2024:

Kitty Monroe, “43-year-old Latine transgender person”, went by male birth name as well as female trans identity. Killed in fatal hit and run. Sister claims Monroe had been attacked previously for their gender identity. Motive? Unknown: “Family members said police have informed them Lugo was accidentally struck by multiple vehicles after a black Ford F-150 appears to have purposely hit him following a fight near the Casa de Licores liquor store.” So maybe revenge for the fight, maybe for being trans, who knows?

Righteous “TK” Chevy Hill, “35-year-old Black transman”. Mother alleges it was a cousin who shot him, so probably that was the motivation (you have to read down a bit in this article, but the cousin seems to have been a deadbeat that Hill was helping out, but pushed his luck too far and Hill told him to get lost and that kicked it off).

Diamond Brigman, “a Black 26-year-old trans woman”. Killed while standing on the side of the road by a guy who drove up, got out, and shot her. Arrested but no motive given. So was it for being trans, did the suspect know her, what?

Alex Franco, “21-year-old transgender man”. This one is sort of sad but again, more likely to be stupid gang shit than transphobia. Victim knew or was ‘friends of friends’ with these kids, was allegedly going to buy a gun off them and they allegedly intended to rob him, and ended up shot dead.

Meraxes Medina, “24-year-old Latina transgender woman”. Murdered by unknown suspect who is wanted for murder of two sex workers. So again, more to do with streetwalker prostitution being dangerous.

África (Emma) Parrilla García, “ 25-year-old transgender woman”, found shot on street in Puerto Rico, deadnamed at first so very scanty details. No idea as to who or why behind the killing.

Tee “Lagend Billions” Arnold, “a 36-year-old Black transgender man”. Shot outside bowling alley at 1:30 a.m. Female suspect who knew him is wanted. Might be for reasons to do with disputes/quarrels, as he claimed there was a price on his head.

River Nevaeh Goddard, 17 year old white non-binary person (she/they pronouns). Seems to have been killed in a domestic dispute by boyfriend with mental health issues. Another sad story but you can’t call it anti-trans or hate crime.

Andrea Doria Dos Passos, “a 37-year-old transgender woman”. Homeless at the time, beaten to death while sleeping on the street. Guy who did it clearly a loon of some sort, motive unknown.

Sasha Williams, “36-year-old multiracial transgender woman”, stabbed in the street by a guy later arrested and charged. Mental health issues on his part, no motive known.

Starr Brown, “a Black transgender woman” but who also seems to have gone by/been known by birth name. Shot by co-worker while driving home after work (passenger in co-worker’s car which was later found crashed with the body inside). No motive given but it’s unlikely to have been due to transgender identity.

Kita Bee, “a 46-year-old transgender Black woman”, killed in hit-and-run. Seems to have been ordinary traffic accident, no other reason.

Reyna Hernandez,” a 54-year-old Latina transgender woman”. Killed by an allegedly abusive ex-partner after she called on him to finalise the breakup; he shot her then drove the body to Mexico and left it tied to a tree in a cemetery. Again, good old-fashioned domestic violence rather than trans hate crime.

Brandon “Tayy Dior” Thomas, “a 17-year-old Black transgender girl”. Another murder by boyfriend.

Michelle Henry, “a 25-year-old Black transgender woman”. Killed in her home by a “female suspect”, but unknown if this was roommate, partner, what, who was later released.

Yella (Robert) Clark Jr, “ a 45-year-old Black transgender person”. Serving life sentence in Angola prison, killed in an “altercation”. Being trans possibly had something to do with this, because prison, sexual assault, had killed an inmate previously for allegedly raping them, the whole nine yards. PRISON IS NOT A SAFE PLACE TO BE, IT'S FULL OF VIOLENT CRIMINALS AND THUGS.

Jazlynn Johnson, “an 18-year-old transgender teenager”. Another sad story, shot by friend while they were in the car. Probably accidental, the reports don’t indicate he intended to do this.

Liara Tsai, “a 35-year-old white transgender woman”. Body found in crashed car, ex-girlfriend (who, again, likely has mental health issues) was convicted for the stabbing.

Pauly Likens, “a 14-year-old transgender girl”. This one is bad. The child (14 is a child, don’t give me none of your lip) went missing walking home from a friend’s house in the late evening/early night. Dismembered body later found in reservoir. Guy charged with the murder claims to have met the kid on Grindr but suddenly developed a poor memory as to what might or might not have happened. Seems they met up for sex, then our charmer here killed them and disposed of the body. Let me go off on a tangent here about 14 IS TOO GODDAMN YOUNG and maybe the kid was gay not trans and THIS IS WHY AGE VERIFICATION ON SEX/PORN SITES YOU MAROONS YOU MAY NOT LIKE IT BUT THIS IS THE HELL WHY.

Shannon Boswell, “a 30-year-old Black transgender woman”. This one is a bit of a mystery; initially, it was thought she was killed by a hit-and-run, then it turns out she was shot as well. No idea who or why as yet.

Kenji Z. Spurgeon, “, a 23-year-old Black transgender woman”. Shot on the street in the early hours of the morning, it’s unclear what happened as police are still looking for a suspect. She was found lying on the ground after police responded to reports of gunshots in a car park.

Monique Brooks, “a 49-year-old Black transgender woman”, found shot beside her car in a factory parking lot. Someone was arrested but motive is unclear; it might have been a targeted job over drugs or God knows what, Brooks may not even have been the target.

Dylan Gurley, “a 20 year old a transgender woman”. Found stabbed, was homeless at the time. Suspect is guy who was living in the squat with her and probably thought she stole money from him.

Tai’Vion Latham, “ a 24-year-old Black transgender woman”. Found shot dead in an alley. No suspect as yet, so no motive.

Vanity Williams, “a 34-year-old Black transgender woman”. Found shot in the lobby of her apartment building, suspect allegedly knew her but nothing more is given, so no idea as to motive.

Redd (Barbie), “a 25-year-old Black transgender woman”. Again, another bystander victim; a couple of groups of people were hanging out on the street, a guy came up to talk to a woman in a different group, left, came back, and started shooting.

Kassim Omar, “a 29-year-old Black trans woman”. Shot by two teenagers in her apartment building (who had previously been “harassing her due to her gender identity and sexuality”), left paralysed, died two years later and so the teens have been charged with murder.

Honee Daniels, “a 37-year-old Black trans woman”, killed in a hit-and-run while walking home.

Santonio “San” Coleman, “a 48-year-old Black gender non-conforming person”. Found critically injured on a trail. First thought to be a homicide, now it might be an accidental fall. So not sure if this even counts as death by violence for their statistics.

Quanesha Shantel (“Cocoa”), “a 26-year-old Black trans woman”. Shot and killed by ex-boyfriend. She wanted to break up, he didn’t, so can you say he killed her out of transphobia?

There we are: 36 deaths, but how many of them would you count as genuine anti-trans hate crime violence epidemic? I'm not trying to deny transphobia and hate crimes exist, just point out that the next time you see "X trans deaths! our society is homophobic and transphobic, this proves it!", that may not be the exact motive for murder instead of the traditional ones of greed, lust, revenge, etc. that happen to straight white cis people too.

aqouta HereAndGone 7hr ago

THIS IS WHY AGE VERIFICATION ON SEX/PORN SITES YOU MAROONS YOU MAY NOT LIKE IT BUT THIS IS THE HELL WHY.

Age verification on sex/porn sites doesn't do anything, that stuff is hilariously trivial to circumvent. Like you might as well try to ban drug by requiring people to say "I promise not to do drugs in here" every time they enter any building.

BahRamYou HereAndGone 16hr ago

In my experience, trans people tend to lead rather unusual lives, in many ways. That makes it hard to draw any clear chain of causality.

In particular, there's a type of "theater kid trans," who has an extremely extroverted personality and is constantly going out of their way to seek attention They can make a lot of friends that way, but also annoy people. I can see how that sort of person could end up getting murdered by someone they annoyed, and it's not directlly because they're trans, but it's not totally unrelated either. The fact that so many of your examples are black adds a whole other element to this of course.

FtttG HereAndGone 17hr ago

Liara Tsai, “a 35-year-old white transgender woman”. Body found in crashed car, ex-girlfriend (who, again, likely has mental health issues) was convicted for the stabbing.

In at least this case (and probably several others), the perpetrator was also trans, which in a sane world would rule out "anti-trans animus" as a motive:

An autopsy determined that Tsai died from multiple sharp-force injuries, though it’s unclear when she died. Lewis, an acquaintance of Tsai’s who was visiting her from Boston, has been taken into custody in Olmstead County and charged with a felony count of interfering with a dead body and second degree murder, according to local outlet KTTC. Olmstead County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson told MPR that there was no indication that the killing was motivated by anti-trans bias, as Lewis is also trans.

HereAndGone FtttG 17hr ago

Ah, that's the update I didn't get. Yeah, a lot of these cases can't be "the victim was killed for being trans" because one, at least, the aggressor was upset because he didn't want the relationship to end and already knew the person was trans. Several of them are former partner, so again it's "knew the person was trans".

What boggles my mind is the hit-and-runs. Someone gets knocked down in a routine kind of traffic accident such as happens hundreds of times, but this is judged societal forces of violence that disproportionately affect minorities or something? I do not get any rationale behind including these, apart from "the demand for hate crimes outstrips supply" so they need to pump up the numbers.

"Two people murdered for no reason but being trans" over two years is a lot less impressive than "thirty-six people killed!"

ThenElection HereAndGone 16hr ago

Crime does disproportionately impact minorities, though, including trans people. If you're poor or mentally ill, you're far more likely to be a victim of a crime than if you're not.

The issue is that the HRC apparently thinks press releases about how bad abstract "systemic" transphobia is is a more effective way to address the disparate impact of crime than increase policing and enforcement policies in the most victimized communities.

MadMonzer Epstein Files must have done something really awful for so many libs to want him released. ThenElection 1hr ago

Crime does disproportionately impact minorities, though, including trans people

As @sarker points out above it appears that crime does not, in fact, disproportionately impact trans people.

HereAndGone ThenElection 16hr ago

I honestly don't see how "trans woman killed by her boyfriend" included in stats about anti-trans/hate crime are going to do anything. Same for the traffic accidents: will we get lessons on how not to drive like a transphobe? The only reason there is to inflate numbers.

Indeed, and that's the issue. Moreover, as much as you're not going to learn how to drive from a vacuous press release, the people actually responsible for the crimes are even less likely to. These types of studies serve essentially no purpose but to distract from the real causes, and they only get any credence because people are too afraid to call them out or think about calling them out.

wsgy HereAndGone 18hr ago

The HRC Foundation is an explicit advocacy group for LGBTQ+ people. Of course one would expect them to take the broadest definition possible when tabulating hate crimes against their advocacy group. The SPLC routinely does this manner of thing as well, to the point where even the ADL thinks there's half as many Klansmen in the US than the SPLC seems to think. If the ADL thinks you've lost the plot that's really saying something. And does anybody really think a prisoner getting stabbed over drugs is "right-wing violence" just because the perpetrator has Nazi tattoos?

I don't think people who parrot these types of statistics are truth-seekers. They're 'arguments as soldiers' types. The point is to win and to use those wins as political leverage to get extra protections for their group. Confront them with the more salient facts and what would you expect to get as a response? "Gee I guess hate crimes against trans folks isn't as big of a problem as I previously thought" or "The only reason someone like you would even question these statistics in the first place is because you're transphobic, and I'm not having a conversation with a bigot"? The percentage of people who might be moved one way or another by this kind of digging into the data is small, perhaps very small.

HereAndGone wsgy 17hr ago

I don't expect to convince anyone, just blow some of the smoke away so we can see how big the fire is. The ones where it's (for instance) the 14 year old are very sad and again GODDAMN IT GRINDR HAVE SOME STANDARDS EVEN IF YOU ARE A DEPRAVED HOOKUP SITE FOR PERVERTS but there's always going to be the problem of kids pretending to be older than they really are in order to get around restrictions.

Really, it's just "no, there is not in fact an epidemic of violence out there". 'Former partners kill their female partners' has been going on forever and a day, this time it's just 'even if it's trans female' nowadays.

Bingbong HereAndGone 18hr ago

I thought it was fairly accepted amongst those who look semi-critically that the majority of anti-Trans violence was brought on by some mix of streetwalking, gay panic and the like. Which these seem to just about align to for the most part. It is pretty striking how high a proportion of the victims are Black.

sockpuppet2 Bingbong 9hr ago

I hate wokists and people who lie with statistics (but I repeat myself rimshot) as much as the next mottizen, but "trans-identity is associated with major risk factors" doesn't really undermine claims it's a vulnerable population, just the simplified rhetoric.

HereAndGone Bingbong 17hr ago

We're not supposed to notice that, and if we do, it's the fault of Society:

we include those cases where bias, hate, and structural violence and stigma played a role in the killing of individuals, including indirectly through fostering the conditions in which the death occurred (e.g. if a person was killed while engaging in survival sex work, after being pushed out of the formal economy).

But indeed, a lot of the "and the victim was standing on a street at one o'clock in the morning" or "found dead in alleyway/parking lot" do sound like sex work, which is and has always been dangerous, whether you're gay, straight, cis or trans.

FtttG Bingbong 17hr ago

It is pretty striking how high a proportion of the victims are Black.

I presume it tracks the murder rate by ethnicity among US population as a whole.

The interesting thing seems to be that for the trans population as a whole, while it's the white people who make the most noise about it, the majority are going to be BIPOC and poor(er) and hence the sex work. Rather the same dispute as about gayness (wealthy white men are presumed to be the majority, this is not so) or feminism (the whole breaking away of mujerismo, womanism and black feminism in response to the same complaints about 'middle-class white women are not representation').

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