Murders of trans people have nearly doubled in the past 4 years, with black trans women most at risk, report says

The number of trans people murdered in the U.S. nearly doubled between 2017 and 2021, according to data released Tuesday by a nonprofit organization. Everytown for Gun Safety. Of the total casualties, 73% were killed by a weapon.

In every city Transgender Homicide Tracker found that over the past four years, there has been a 93% increase in reported murders of trans and gender non-conforming people in the United States and Puerto Rico. 56 people were killed in 2021 compared to 29 reported deaths in 2017.

Notably, while only an estimated 13% of the transgender community is black Williams Institute UCLA School of LawBlack trans women accounted for nearly three-quarters of the known victims.

“Bias crimes are a real, terrifying problem in the United States, and LGBTQ+ people continue to be targeted for who they are,” Everytown reports.

In 2019, the American Medical Association recognized an “epidemic of violence against the transgender community,” which is more than 2.5 times more likely than cisgender people—those who gender identity is consistent with the sex assigned at birth — to experience violence, according to the Everytown report.

The report cited “dangerous gun bills” as well as state legislatures that passed and record number of anti-trans bills, as creating “an environment ripe for deadly hate-fueled gun violence.” Last year was both the deadliest year for trans people and the worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, reports Campaign for Human Rights.

While Everytown clarified that “no single solution can stop gun violence in the United States,” it recommended passing gun control laws and establishing a domestic terrorism office within the Justice Department to curb the rising rate of violence against trans people.

According to the National Center for Transgender Equality American Trans Survey — the largest survey of transgender people to date, published in 2015 — 40% of trans youth said they had attempted suicide in their lifetime. That’s nearly nine times the national average, according to Everytown. And with six out of every ten suicides in the U.S. involving a gun, “the firearm suicide epidemic could disproportionately impact transgender and adolescent members of the LGBTQ+ community,” the Everytown report said.

The report also drew attention to the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting where the gunman was opened fire at an LGBTQ+ club in Orlandokilling 49 people and injuring 53.

“To honor the memories of the lives cut short at Pulse six years ago—and the many others in the LGBTQ+ community whose lives were stolen or forever changed by hate and violence—is to take action to strengthen our country’s gun laws,” Everytown said. the report said. “There is no time to waste.”