A community mourns
Trans woman’s shooting death comes amid rise in violence
The first day Iris Santos wore a dress to Elsik High School in Alief, a group of boys sexually harassed her, called her slurs and threw a trash can at her.
But the transgender teen wasn’t fazed. Relatives say she was unapologetically herself, a trait many admired. The joy and relief Santos felt presenting herself for the first time outweighed any negativity.
“I’m me now,” Santos told her sister, Louvier Santos. “I’m finally me.”
Santos, 22, was shot to death around 9:30 p.m. April 23 as she sat at a table outside Chick-fil-A in the 8600 block of Westheimer. No arrests have been made in the case, and police said they have not yet determined if Santos was targeted because she was transgender.
The loss of the spiritual, kind, loving tarot-card reader and mystic has crushed those who knew her. They remember her as a caring and nurturing
person who would do anything to help and heal others.
“Nothing is going to be the same now because she’s not here anymore,” said Maria Carreon, Santos’ mother. “My heart is bleeding. It’s broken.”
Her killing is a blow to the transgender community, which suffered the deadliest year on record in 2020, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Activists and advocates have held vigils for Santos, calling for justice and an end to the violence. They are also frustrated with the way authorities are handling the case and others involving transgender victims.
Increase in violence
So far in 2021, 20 transgender or gender-nonconforming people have been killed in the U.S., according to HRC, putting it on pace to have more than the record 44 killings recorded by the nonprofit in 2020.
“Texas has been the epicenter of U.S. deaths of trans people in the past five years,” said Diamond Stylz, executive director of the nonprofit Black Trans Women Inc.
The day after Santos was killed, 38-year-old Tiffany Thomas, a Black transgender woman, was shot to death in Dallas.
Violence against transgender people, especially Black and Hispanic women, has increased in recent years for many reasons, Stylz said.
Fear-mongering rhetoric from politicians and anti-transgender legislation such as so-called bathroom and sports bills set a tone that has fostered hate across the country, she added.
This year in Texas, the Senate passed a bill that could have parents facing child abuse charges if they provide their children with gender-affirming care such as hormone therapy. Another bill passed the state’s House Public Health Committee last month that would prevent doctors from providing such treatments to all transgender youth under 18. A bill that would have banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams died in committee in the Texas House this week.
The “disdain and lack of understanding” of transgender people that can lead to violence is also apparent in discriminatory housing, health care and employment practices, said Austin Ruiz, communications manager for the Montrose Center, a Houston nonprofit that works to empower the LGBTQ community.
“A lot of our society reflects the message that trans people are not valid,” he said. “I believe that’s what causes this kind of hate.”
Another contributing factor to the high rate of violence is that transgender women and the rest of the LGBTQ community don’t have as many domestic and sexual violence prevention resources available, Stylz said.
Traditional women’s shelters don’t always serve transgender women, depending on the beliefs of the administrators of the organization, Stylz said. There are far fewer organizations that cater to male victims of sexual and domestic violence, and fewer that are geared toward helping gender-nonconforming people.
“We need to dismantle the binary because it doesn’t fit us. It doesn’t allow people outside of cisgender normalities to actually be taken care of in their time of need,” said Stylz, referring to the term for a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.
Houston Police Department investigators said that on the night of the killing a man in Santos’ nearby apartment had been detained to be questioned, adding they had not determined if he was involved in the crime at that time. Surveillance footage released by police shows a suspect running away from the scene to a nearby apartment complex.
Louvier Santos said her family learned of her sister’s death on April 26 from a woman who cleaned the apartments where Iris Santos lived.
“The police called me back after two days,” she said.
Jodi Silva, public information officer for HPD, said the medical examiner’s office usually handles notifying families of deaths.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences’ online database categorized Santos as “male” and listed her previous name. The same information was on her driver’s license, said Michele Arnold, public information officer for the agency.
“We deal with biology,” Arnold said. “We don’t know what the decedent was doing in their life.”
However, many scientists, doctors and people in the medical field agree that anatomy alone does not determine gender. “Every major medical association has come out in support of gender-affirming care,” Ruiz said.
Stylz said “deadnaming” and misgendering transgender people is dehumanizing.
“Even in death, people can’t respect us and give us humanity,” she said.
Santos would be furious about it, her sister said.
Houston police identified Santos as a woman in all of their reports on the case. The agency did not publicly say Santos was transgender until Tuesday.
The department does not identify victims as transgender unless their families agree, with input from the staff LGBTQ community liaison.
“We don’t want to inadvertently out somebody,” Silva said.
Ruiz said while it’s admirable to respect families’ wishes, law enforcement agencies must learn to honor the way the deceased lived their lives.
“It’s about their lived experience and identity, not what the family or the police think,” he said.
Stylz said information should be included in police and medical examiner reports for the purpose of collecting data on violence against transgender people to inform advocacy and legislation. It’s also information that could help lead to solving the crime, she said.
Remembering Iris
When Santos’ close friend from school, Ivana Montana, fell ill with COVID-19, she called her every day to remind her to drink water and take vitamins. Santos told Montana she was strong and she would get through it.
“That’s who she was,” Montana said. “She was more than caring. She was the kindest person I’ve ever met.”
She was energetic, funny and charismatic, but also had a deep, spiritual side, Montana said. She was an “old soul” and a poet. The woman is described by those who knew her as nonconfrontational and easy-going.
Santos found healing in meditation, card reading and her religion. She wanted to use her experience to help others overcome trauma, especially transgender people, her friend said.
The young woman was determined in every goal she set, said Crystal Tousaint, who had Santos as a drama student at Holub Middle School. One of her dreams was to become an actor.
Tousaint recalled a time when Santos rode the bus two hours across the city to participate in a Mack Performing Arts Collective event. That’s how determined she was, the teacher said.
“She had grit,” Tousaint said. Carreon said her daughter was an “angel.” Losing her is a pain the mother said she cannot bear.
“Nobody’s going to bring her back,” Carreon said. “I have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Santos’ family has organized a GoFundMe to help pay for her funeral expenses.
Anyone with information about Santos’ killing or the suspect in the video is asked to call HPD’s homicide unit at 713-3083600.
“Even in death, people can’t respect us and give us humanity.” Diamond Stylz, executive director of the nonprofit Black Trans Women Inc.