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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   5089 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 24, 2025

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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.”

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.

Let's do some back of the envelope math. Let's say that constitutes 18 trans and gender expensive killings per year.

There are apparently 3M trans people age 13 and older in the USA. 1% of the population seems high to me, but this is the top Google result so I presume it's an estimate that pro-trans people would find credible.

Let's ignore the gender expansive category for now.

18 / 3M = 0.14 0.6 homicides per 100k [math error fixed]

CDC reports 6.8 homicides per 100k Americans in the general population.

What are we even talking about?

Paradoxically, inflating the number of trans people may be useful for certain public policy goals, but it simultaneously dilutes the apparent epidemic of violence against them.

What are we even talking about?

Specifically, anti-regime violence.

The demand for murder of [not men] vastly exceeds its supply- this is why it has to be overestimated and/or overstated. Compare "femicide" for the more general case.

Compare "femicide" for the more general case.

The most incredible example of this I've encountered is "The Part About the Crimes" in 2666, which details the murders of many Mexican women. It works to establish that this is an especially heinous set of killings that target women. Of course, it turns out that the murder rate in Juarez is astronomical, but it's not "androcide" when hordes of men are killed, that's just drug-related violence.

In fairness, killings of women are way less likely to be a mutual combat where the victim could have as easily been the murderer had events gone differently.

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