Was brutal killing of trans woman a hate crime?

Question now forefront of debate over tragedy

The heinous beating death of trans woman Andrea Doria Dos Passos sparked concern among the LGBTQ+ community and allies. Local leaders are calling for authorities to deem the “senseless” violence a hate crime — but officials contend more investigating needs to be done.

What’s considered a hate crime is now at the forefront of debate as Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert, 53, was charged with murdering her.

On Tuesday morning, Passos, 37, was sleeping by the entrance of the Miami City Ballet’s building in Miami Beach when Gibert began pummeling her on her head and face with a pipe, police said. Officers also found two wooden sticks lodged into her nostrils.

“One stick exited over the right eye and the other appeared lodged into the nose cavity,” police said in the arrest report of 53-year-old Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert. “A puncture wound was also located in the victim’s chest.”

Was the brutal murder a hate crime?

A hate crime is an act committed or attempted by one person or group against another — or that person’s property — that constitutes “an expression of hatred toward the victim based on his or her personal characteristics, according to the Florida Attorney General.

Such traits include race, color, religion, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, homeless status, advanced age or mental/physical disability.

Dos Passos’ killing, however, is not being considered a hate crime at this time, according to Miami Beach police.

“We have no evidence indicating that she was targeted solely based on her sexuality and, or gender,” police spokesman Officer Christopher Bess told the Miami Herald.

What prompted Gibert to allegedly kill Dos Passos will be key in determining whether the attack was hate-related. Ultimately, it is up to law enforcement to determine whether a particular incident constitutes a hate crime.

The motive behind the killing of Dos Passos was not immediately known.

During Gibert’s first court appearance Thursday, he was not only denied bond but had the charge against him upped to first-degree murder.

What are Florida’s hate crime laws?

In Florida, suspects are not charged with hate crimes, according to Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

Instead, the state’s Legislature has created an “enhancement” that is added when the underlying crime fulfills the hate crimes enhancement statute, increasing penalties after the suspect is convicted.

Flamingo Democrats, the Miami-Dade chapter of the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, called for the State Attorney’s Office to add a hate crime enhancement to Gibert’s second-degree murder charge.

“The safety of all residents of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County should be of the utmost importance, especially those in marginalized communities such as our transgender community,” the organization said in a statement.

Police have said she was homeless and had “changed her name and sex” in October.

Miami-Dade’s State Attorney’s Office’s Hate Crimes unit is reviewing the case, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

“The SAO Hate Crimes unit reviews every criminal offense that has the potential of being motivated by hate, to see if Florida’s hate crime enhancement is applicable to the specific situation,” the agency said.

Joe Saunders, senior political director with Equality Florida, told the Miami Herald that the “level of overkill” that Dos Passos experienced “is often one of the hallmarks of hate-motivated violence.”

“So whenever a transgender person is murdered, especially when it is with such brutality, the question should be asked about whether or not this was a hate-motivated crime,” Saunders said.

Transgender deaths in the U.S.

Dos Passos is at least the second trans person killed this month in South Florida.

On April 3, a woman shot a 36-year-old trans man at The Village at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach. Latoya Arnold died days later at the hospital. Hallandale Beach police have not released the name of the suspect, who knew Arnold.

It was initially called an “isolated incident,” but police have not said what prompted it.

Of 229 hate crime offenses reported in Florida in 2022, about 24% were motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation, according to the latest Hate Crimes in Florida report from the state attorney general’s office.

In 2023, at least 32 transgender people were killed in the United States, statistics from the Human Rights Campaign show. Of those, 84% of victims were people of color; 50% were Black transgender women.