I Look On the News and I Can’t See You: Violence Against the Transgender Community In The US

As someone who has been wearing glasses for 46.67% of their life, I can most definitely affirm that yes, I can see how many fingers you’re holding up, and yes, I know I look completely

different without my glasses. Tell me something I don’t know. Being short-sighted is like looking at a YouTube video with bad internet reception, except that’s what everything looks like all the time. I can still see stuff, just not very clearly.

Except, when I look at the news and media coverage for everything happening in the world, I can’t see anything about the rate of violence against the transgender community.

The problem?

Mainstream media and news reports barely bat an eye when it comes to the trans community. On the 23rd of February, a trans-friendly bar in Las Vegas called the Las Vegas Lounge had a gunman invade what was considered a ‘safe space.’ Two people were injured, including a POC trans woman named Callie Lou-Bee Haywood. The coverage for this incident was flawed and ignorant. Most news reports barely devoted eighty word to the attack, and the initial reports neglected to identify the lounge as a trans space, despite the exterior being emblazoned with the transgender pride flag. Several of the news reports also failed to use the correct pronouns. Even the LGBTQ+ community had little to say, but this was most likely due to lack of information.

Levels of anti-trans (and LGB) violence are rising within the US. 2017 was the deadliest on record for queer Americans, with fifty-two LGBT+ lives lost to hate related violence (Manzella, 2018). The amount of hate crimes increased by 86%. More than 70% of the deceased were people of colour, and twenty-eight of the fifty-two were trans. To make matters worse, there is a fair chance that the numbers may be higher due to lack of proper reports. In 2018, six transgender women have been killed, and the ones listed below are just the ones that have been reported as homicides:

· Zakaria Fry

· Celine Walker

· Tonya Harvey

· Viccky Gutierrez

· Christa Leigh Steel-Knudslien

· Phylicia Mitchell

The lack of representation is also a pressing issue. Seven major TV networks in the US covered anti-LGBT hate crimes, and collectively, the seven reported the issues twenty-two times, spanning across forty minutes.

2018 is expected to outpace the death count of 2017 by October in the case that this staggering trajectory continues.

In other news, President Donald Trump released a statement, decreeing that the majority of transgender troops would be banned from the military except under 'limited circumstances.' I thought this was necessary to add, due to recent developments.

Aurevoir,

-CLB

Picture: NBC News