2021 Transgender Killings set to Surpass 2020

Twenty-twenty was a year full of fatal, anti-trans violence leaving 44 reports of dead victims. Sadly, 2021 is on track to surpass 2020’s acts of fatal anti-trans violence with at least 27 murders not even halfway through the year. In the last couple of weeks, in addition to this year’s record-high death toll, there were reports of three trans people being murdered.

According to local news station WGN-TV, Haven Bailey, a white transgender male, was carrying around a black pellet gun “made to look like a Sig Sauer 1911 pistol” while he advanced toward the officers early morning in a Chicago suburb. Officers repeatedly asked him to drop his weapon and Bailey reportedly refused to drop the pellet gun, and an Officer shot him 4 times. Bailey had “life-saving measures” performed on him although he later died while being transported to the hospital. Bailey’s family revealed in a statement that Bailey previously told police he was suicidal and had the ideation of “death by cop.”

The second white, transgender male to die in recent weeks was Oliver “Ollie” Taylor. He was a 17-year-old trans boy who died after being kidnapped in Gervais, OR. According to local news outlet  KPTV when officers arrived on scene they found a bystander, 22-year-old Arik Reed, being treated for his injuries from attempting to stop the abduction. Kenneth Williams Peden III, the 20-year-old kidnapper fled the scene with Taylor in the trunk of his vehicle while police were in pursuit. Eventually Peden was caught and taken into custody, and Taylor was “found inside the truck, shot and badly injured,” according to KPTV. The teen was then airlifted to the Portland hospital where he eventually died due to the injuries he sustained during the kidnapping according to KOIN. 

The third reported trans life taken earlier this month was 35-year-old Thomas Hardin, a Black, transgender woman who used both “he” and “she” pronouns in York, South Carolina. Chimere Hicks, Hardin’s close friend called the police after failed attempts to contact her from both Hicks and Hardin’s family members. Responding officers reported Hadins laying “motionless on the floor between the couch and the door.” Hicks told WBTV, although the cause of death has yet to be officially released to the public, Hardin was shot. The suspect is accused of several attempted homicides and numerous murders across South Carolina, 26-year-old Tyler Terry.

The month of May was noted by the national LGBTQ organization as an especially brutal month for fatal anti-trans violence. May totaled nine reported transgender victim deaths including Keri Washington, Jahaira DeAlto, Whispering Wind Bear Spirit, Sophie Vásquez, Danika “Danny” Henson, and Serenity Hollis.

The director of community engagement for HRC’s Transgender Justice Initiative, Tori Cooper, says, “We need everyone to speak up in defense of transgender and gender-nonconforming lives,” adding, “None of these individuals … deserved to have their lives cut short,” and calling these brutal slayings, “heartbreaking and horrifying,” in a statement. 

Although these sad statistics may seem shocking, there are an extremely high amount of fatal anti-trans violence acts that go unreported or misclassify their victims, leaving the actual number unknown. Whether it was the media or police, a majority of press coverage for the Bailey and Taylor murders identified the victims as female using the names stated on their legal documents. The family members of the deceased made sure official police reports gendered the victims correctly. If it wasn’t for these actions, reports would have misgendered victims, which may have led to another uncounted anti-trans murder.