Anti-trans violence threatens us all
Neither Michelle Dionne Peacock nor Colin Michael Smith was transgender or nonbinary. But both still lost their lives this year to anti-trans violence. Peacock, 59, survived several bouts of cancer. But she did not survive on June 30 when she was slashed in the neck by a man who allegedly thought she was a trans woman. That man, a fellow resident in the Richmond, Ind., apartment complex where Peacock lived, has been charged with murder.
On July 2, Smith, 32, was at a Portland, Ore., bar for a night out with friends when a man reportedly began to harass and hurl homophobic slurs at a trans person in the group. When Smith, whom friends and family described as “a protector,” intervened to defend his friend, he was stabbed several times. A suspect was arrested days later and faces multiple charges, including murder.
At a time when Republican presidential candidates openly boast about the harms they will inflict on the trans community and their rights and white supremacist thugs threaten, harass, and force cancellations of family-friendly drag queen story hours, the hate they inflame does not affect trans people alone. Such sentiments foment violence that clearly puts all of us — regardless of sexual or gender identity — at risk.
This year, at least 26 trans or nonbinary people have been lost to violence, according to the Human Rights Campaign. As is often the case, the true number is likely higher, because these deaths are not always accurately reported.
Jacob Williamson, 18, on June 30, in Pageland, S.C.: Near the end of his short life, Williamson, whom friends remembered as funny and caring, seemed to be coming into his own. Because of his gender identity, he was rejected by some family members and moved in with Promise Edwards, a family friend. “I wish people would’ve taken enough time to get to know his heart and who he really was instead of who the world forced him to be,” she said.
Fernielli Mary Mora, 26, on July 6 in New York: On a GoFundMe page, Mora was remembered by her friends Pauli Cakes and Amira Gunde as “so dearly loved by her friends and family and showered everyone in her life with love. The unimaginable pain and grief of losing our Mary is unthinkable.”
Camdyn Rider, 21, on July 21, in Winter Haven, Fla.: Rider, who used he/they pronouns, was eight months pregnant when he was killed. “It’s crazy to imagine that I’m now gonna be a father, especially to a little boy,” Rider posted on Facebook. “But man I’m so excited and couldn’t be happier, I couldn’t be happier to be doing it with you Riley Groover.” Groover, Rider’s boyfriend, died by suicide after killing Rider. The baby, whom Rider wanted to name Oliver, did not survive.
Jean Thomas Butchart, 26, on Aug. 4 in Belleville, Mich.: Butchart’s nickname was “Nature Boy,” a nod to his love of “camping, foraging, gardening, and mushroom-hunting.” He had already earned his bachelor’s in environmental studies and was planning to return to school to study science education. Amy Butchart, his mother, said he was “a well-loved person and unofficial leader in the local trans community.”
DéVonnie J’Rae Johnson, 28, on Aug. 7 in Los Angeles: Born in Tulsa, Okla., Johnson moved to Los Angeles to foster her ambitions as an artist. On Nov. 15, Johnson’s name officially became part of the congressional record in Senate Resolution 464, which supported “the goals and principles of Transgender Day of Remembrance by recognizing the epidemic of violence toward transgender people and memorializing the lives lost this year.”
Luis Ángel Díaz Castro, 22, on Aug. 12, in San Juan, Puerto Rico: A student at the Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo, Castro worked for the Puerto Rico Department of Education. In his off hours, his family said, he loved Latin music and counted Hector Maysonet and Chema y JohnD among his favorites.
Lewis Page, 62, on Aug. 16 in Chicago: Page, who identified as gender nonconforming and also went by the name Lovely, had two daughters and several grandchildren.
Thomas Robertson, 28, on Aug. 17 in Calumet City, Ind.: Known as “Tom-Tom” among friends, Robertson, who was gender nonconforming, loved to change their look by changing their hair with different styles and colors. A Chicago native, Robertson was known for their warm smile and genial personality.
Bre’Asia Bankz, 27, on Sept. 5 in Casa Grande, Ariz.: Bankz, who identified as nonbinary, loved movies. Her wide-ranging tastes were evident in the two films she hailed as favorites — 1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” about racism in a small Alabama town, and “Love and Basketball,” a beloved Black romantic drama about the decade-long on-againoff-again relationship between a mutually hoopsobsessed young man and woman.