The Holocaust The 2017 Edition

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, Hitler and the NAZI party came up with the “final solution” to deal with the Jews and undesirables so are those with disabilities, Gypsies, and LGBT people. Well Putin’s Russia has embarked on another “final solution” in getting rid of us, this time in the Chechnya which is part of the

Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Who Ordered Anti-Gay Purge, Says He’s Ready To Resign
Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Who Ordered Anti-Gay Purge, Says He’s Ready To Resign
"Time has come for changes in the Chechen Republic."
NewNowNext
By Kristina Marusic
November 27, 2017

Chechan President Ramzan Kadyrov, who’s been accused of ordering a murderous anti-gay purge earlier this year, says he is ready to step down.

“It is possible to say that it is my dream,” Kadyrov told state-owned television network Russia-1 of resigning. “Once there was a need for people like me to fight, to put things in order. Now we have order and prosperity … and time has come for changes in the Chechen Republic.”

Asked about potential successors, Kadryov said that if he were to step down, his replacement would be chosen by the Kremlin. Kadyrov has has made similar statements in the past, prompting speculation that this was merely a symbolic show of loyalty to Vladimir Putin, who is expected to run for a fourth term in March.

So what is this about concentration camps for LGBT people?

Chechnya opens world's first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler's in the 1930s where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death

• Chechyna has opened the first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler
• Prisoners reportedly tortured with electric shocks and some beaten to death 
• One of those who fled said prisoners were beaten to force them to reveal other members of the gay community 
• Comes after 100 gay men were detained and three killed in Chechyna last week

The Daily Mail
By Thomas Burrows
April 10, 2017

Chechyna has opened the first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler, where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death.

It comes after it was claimed 100 gay men had been detained and three killed in Chechnya last week.
A report by Novoya Gazeta said authorities had set up several camps where homosexuals are killed or forced to promise to leave the republic.

One of the camps is reportedly at the former military headquarters in the town of Argun.
[…]
'Those who have escaped said they are detained in the same room and people are kept altogether, around 30 or 40. They are tortured with electric currents and heavily beaten, sometimes to death.' 

Russia is ignoring the request for an inquiry by its human rights advocate,

Ombudswoman asks investigators to speed up check of persecuted gay's complaint
November 30, 2017


Tatyana Moskalkova, the human rights Ombudswoman in Russia, who earlier promised state protection to Omsk gay Maxim Lapunov, complained about persecution in Chechnya for her sexual orientation, asked the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation to speed up the check on the Lapunov’s application.

The Ombudswoman noted that in an appeal to her, a resident of Omsk never talked about keeping him in jail, RIA Novosti reports. According to her, Lapunov "reported that he was detained and taken to the police station, where he was held for several days." "On this issue, I sent an appeal to the investigative authorities, which conducted the check of the facts specified by him," Moskalkova explained.

According to her, "unfortunately, until now this check is not over." Moskalkova noted that it "is conducted too long." "And on this occasion I turned to the Head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation with a request, within the framework of procedural control, to take measures to complete it and issue a fair and justified procedural act," the Ombudswoman said.

Has Trump or the Secretary of State spoken up about these atrocities?

Not one word was spoken to condemn them.

Yeah, Right

We’re not discriminating, we just don’t cover trans people… but that’s not discrimination because the law says we don’t have to cover trans people.

State denies plan discriminates against transgender members
Argus Leader
By Jonathan Ellis
November 29, 2017

The health insurance plan that covers state employees does not discriminate against transgender people even though it excludes drugs and services for gender transformation, the state of South Dakota argues in a court filing.

The exclusion in the state health plan for gender transformation services applies even if those services are deemed medically necessary, the state says.

Those arguments are included in the state’s answer to a lawsuit filed by a state employee who says the health plan discriminates against transgender people by excluding those services. Terri Bruce, a transgender man, filed suit in federal court, arguing that the state’s exclusions violate the U.S. Constitution and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Well thanks to Trump and Sessions rescinding the guidelines from president Obama’s administration and Session’s wrapped interpretation of Title VII and thanks to the fact South Dakota doesn’t have a gender inclusive non-discrimination law we are screwed.

The 411

There is an important case that will be heard on December 5 by the Supreme Court and it is very, very important for the trans and LGBQ community. It could affect our lives on a very basic level, employment, housing, credit, public accommodation, and government interactions.

Everything You Need To Know About The “Masterpiece Cakeshop” Case Before The Supreme Court
On December 5, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights, a case that could have great implications for LGBT rights.
#LetThemEatCake
NewNowNext
By Dan Avery
November 28, 2017

Here’s a quick primer on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights. Check back for more news as the suit progresses.

1. Who’s involved?
The plaintiffs are David Mullins and Charlie Craig (above). The defendant is Jack Phillips

2. What’s it about?
Mullins and Craig visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in July 2012 with Craig’s mother, hoping to order a cake for their upcoming wedding. Phillips, the bakery’s owner, told them he couldn’t sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple because it violated his religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman. They filed suit with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, contending Phillips was violating the state’s anti-discrimination law.
[…]
3. When And where is it happening?
Oral arguments will be heard December 5, 2017, at the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Okay now we get to the important part…

4. Why should I care?
At its heart, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights is not about cake: It’s about whether its legal to discriminate if it’s part of your religion. Phillips doesn’t deny he broke Colorado’s civil rights code—he believes the code is unconstitutional… If SCOTUS finds for Phillips, it’ll set a precedent that religious beliefs trump civil liberties.

That is why this could be literally very deadly for us; you could be rushed in to an emergency room and the staff to refuse to treat you. You could go to change your name and gender on your driver license and the clerk can refuse to do it.

Those who are backing the side of the bakery feel they have God on their side and more to the point 4 justices of the Supreme Court will probably think that was and four justices are on our side so it will all boil down to justice Kennedy.

There have been a number briefs filed on both sides,

But the small number that embrace discrimination are really big on it. And they’re organized and have deep pockets. (Also, God.) The Justice Department has filed an amicus brief in support of Masterpiece Cakeshop and the White House has asked to argue on Phillips’ behalf, in addition to his attorneys’ arguments.

More than 40 briefs have also been filed supporting Mullens and Craig, including ones by Ben & Jerry’s, Tammy Baldwin, and one signed by culinary stars like Anthony Bourdain And Ace Of Cakes’ Duff Goldman. “When a chef offers something to the public,” it read, “he must offer it to all.”

We will probably not find out how they feel until June, we will have some clues on what the justices are think but we will not know for sure until they issue their ruling.

Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote this opinion on the New York Times this morning,

The Masterpiece Cakeshop Case Is Not About Religious Freedom

I opened the door of a business called True’s.

It was a pharmacy run by a conservative Republican, a man who eventually served as the speaker of the House in the Maine State Legislature. It occurred to me, as I walked in,, that the store might well refuse to fill my prescription, given my condition. And I wondered whether the pharmacy’s actions would be legal if, indeed, the pharmacist argued that helping a person like me went against his beliefs.

After all, there’s a long history of people using religious liberty as reason to justify their refusal to provide a public service offered by their business. In 1968, the owner of a barbecue restaurant — Piggie Park, in South Carolina — held that his religious beliefs gave him the right to withhold service from African-Americans. The owner, Maurice Bessinger, argued that the Civil Rights Act violated his freedom of religion, because “his religious beliefs compel him to oppose any integration of the races whatever.”

More recently, a pediatrician rejected Krista and Jamie Contreras’s child as a patient in Roseville, Mich., in 2014. The doctor, saying she had given the matter “much prayer,” decided that she couldn’t provide health care to their baby because they are lesbians.
[…]
There are two important things to know about the religious freedom/wedding cake case. One is that it’s not about religious freedom — it’s about religious exemption. The other is that it’s about a whole lot more than wedding cakes.
[…]
But Masterpiece has nothing to do with religious freedom. It’s about enshrining a freedom to discriminate. Historically, religious exemptions from the law have occasionally been granted to protect the person who holds the belief. But this case is different, in that it gives an individual the right to harm someone else. And that’s what the Masterpiece case is about: It would give individuals the right to discriminate.

Exactly!

It is giving special rights for people to hide behind their religion to discriminate. And where does it stop?
Could they claim “religious freedom” to discriminate against Muslims?
Could they claim “religious freedom” to discriminate against Jews?
Could they claim “religious freedom” to discriminate against blacks?
Could they claim “religious freedom” to ignore any law? All they have to say “it is against my religious beliefs?”

It’s The Law

It is as simple as that, they’re just doing what the law requires and of course the conservatives are hopping mad.

Canton Schools Consider Policy Prohibiting Harassment Of Transgender Students
The Hartford Courant
By Ken Byron
November 29, 2017

The board of education might soon adopt a policy specifically prohibiting harassment of transgender students and requiring that school staff be sensitive and supportive of those students.

School Superintendent Kevin Case outlined that policy to a board subcommittee on Tuesday. No action was taken on Tuesday but committee members said they want to present the proposal to the full board in December.

Case said on Tuesday that no one incident prompted the district to consider adding this policy. He said the district has no rules now to guide staff on working with transgender students.

“We review our policies every year and one of the policies we realized we don’t have is one on transgender students,” Case said on Tuesday. “We wanted to be proactive and have something before any concerns arise and to protect the rights of those students.”
[…]
Vincent Mustaro, senior staff associate for school policies for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, said CABE has had a draft policy available to districts since 2013.

“Initially there were not a lot of requests for the policy. There has been an increase in the past year to 18 months,” Mustaro said. “It’s not a question of if but when, and it’s better to have direction in place in the form of a policy rather than not have any guidance to go by.”

Robert Rader, CABE’s executive director, said adopting policies on transgender students is a step in the right direction.

This past summer the Connecticut Department of Education issued guidelines and FAQ for Connecticut schools.

Then up in Maine…

Portland school board adopts comprehensive transgender policy
It joins about a half-dozen other Maine school districts that have approved such policies since a landmark state supreme court ruling in 2014.
The Portland Herald
By Noel K. Gallagher

The Portland Board of Education on Tuesday night unanimously approved what’s considered one of Maine’s most comprehensive transgender policies, requiring staff training, using a student’s preferred name and personal pronoun, and taking the student’s side at school if there is disagreement with a parent’s wishes.

“This is a watershed moment in the state of Maine,” said attorney Mary Bonauto, a Portland parent who helped the school board craft the policy. Bonauto, the Maine lawyer who successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court for same-sex couples to have the right to marry, has two high school-aged children in the Portland school district.

Portland is one of about a half-dozen Maine school districts that have adopted transgender policies. The first, in Millinocket, was adopted in early 2015 soon after the Maine Supreme Judicial Court issued the nation’s first state court ruling affirming the right of a transgender student to use a bathroom corresponding with her gender identity.

Once again this is in response to the state law and Maine Supreme Court ruling.

Meanwhile down in Maryland,

Legal challenge to transgender policy in Maryland school system withdrawn
The Washington Post
By Donna St. George
November 28, 2017

A Maryland family that sued over school measures to protect transgender students has dropped the lawsuit, citing stress and potential humiliation that stemmed from the legal action.

That means a district policy described by advocates as among the most progressive in the state will remain intact.

The legal battle started after the school board in Frederick County, an exurb of Washington, voted in June to adopt a comprehensive policy on school practices that affect transgender students.
[…]
The lawsuit argued that the policy violated the teenager’s right to bodily privacy, saying she fears for her safety and feels humiliated to undress in front of “the opposite sex.” It also claimed that her mother’s parental rights to control her child’s upbringing were violated, and at points made references to totalitarian regimes and Nazi death camps.

All the school boards are just following the law.

There Is Room Under The Umbrella

For all of our views, just because we are all trans doesn’t mean we all share the same views. One of the things that I believe that makes us a great country is our diversity.

When it comes to activism diversity is also important. A multi-prong approach is also the best way to bring about change.

New Generation Of Transgender Americans Wants To Change Laws, Not Just Minds
NPR
By Martha Bebinger: Heard on Morning Edition
November 28, 2017

In the kitchen of a small colonial house in Springfield, Mass., Edanry Rivera and Louis Mitchell do-si-do around a coffee maker, handing off the creamer and reaching for a refill.
[…]
"I can't change people who are so deeply rooted in their values," Rivera says. "So the only thing I can do is to focus on policy and legislation. We're always going to have a bias, but we need policy in place to reflect our values now in 2017."
[…]
"So policy's lagging behind," Rivera says. "There's this kind of inertia. Government needs to catch up."

"Yeah," says Mitchell, nodding as he leans back into a leather office chair in the living where he and Rivera are reviewing the poll results.

Mitchell, a United Church of Christ minister, agrees with a lot of what Rivera has been saying, but he wants to make sure she understands why older trans men and women are more focused on individual prejudice.

"We've actually been around to see some policy changes, and we've also seen where the policy changes have not necessarily made all of us safer," says Mitchell, who is African-American.

Both views are valid.

Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would not change the minds of racists but would cause discrimination to go from being overt to covert. It taught people not to use code words that were racist, sexist, or ageist. They didn’t fire you because you are old but because you make the most, it is just a coincidence that you all in your 50’s and 60’s.

Yes, we can pass protections and develop regulations to protect us like the CT Department of Education Guidance on Civil Rights Protections and Supports for Transgender Students but we also need to change the hearts and minds of the people. We need people to speak up when we encounter the heartless.

Is A Piece Of The Pie Better Than No Pie At All?

Would you rather have just a piece of the pie than no pie at all, or to put it another way would settle for the crust only and not thee filling?

Well in Ohio they are offering us the crust in their non-discrimination bill.

Ohio bill would ban discrimination based on gender ID or orientation
The Anthem News
By Becca King, Contributor
November 27, 2017

On Nov. 7, Ohio voters elected 11 openly gay and lesbian public officials. These include Megan Kilgore, the city auditor in Columbus, and Democrat Ryan Mess, who garnered the most votes of 13 candidates in the race for Cincinnati Board of Education.

In Ohio, LGBT people may be legally fired or denied an apartment for their sexual identity or orientation unless they live in one of 19 currently protected cities.  This makes the election of LGBT officials especially meaningful in Ohio.

Ohio House Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, sponsored a bill last June that would change that.  The Ohio Fairness Act (H.B. 160) would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing and employment. This reflects similar protections already in place in 22 states.

Whoa did you get that?

Protections for only housing and employment, there is no public accommodation protection in the bill. So you can’t be fired for being trans but you can be thrown out of a business for being trans. In other words, if you are a waitress you cannot be fired for being trans but if you come back a customer you can be told to leave.

This is the same route that Massachusetts and it was an uphill battle to public accommodation protection passed and even now it is not settled until the referendum next November.

What are your thoughts?

bike trail guide

Free Speech?

We tend to think about free speech as being able to say anything you want to say, but the courts have put limits on what is covered by “free speech” you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater and you cannot use “fighting words*.” However, it becomes a fine line between fighting words and tree speech.

UK transgender rights row intensifies as book fair is cancelled
Accusations of ‘transphobia’ have led to bitter divisions within Labour and the Women’s Equality party, feminist and anarchist movements
The Guardian
By Ben Quinn and Dulcie Lee
November 25, 2017

An annual book fair that has served for more than three decades as the most important meeting point for the British anarchist movement has become the latest casualty of widening splits over the issue of transgender rights.

Organisers say that they no longer have “the appetite or the energy” to stage next year’s London Anarchist Bookfair, following fraught scenes at the event last month. A group of feminists were confronted by other activists who accused them of distributing “transphobic” leaflets that promoted prejudice against transgender people.

But first a definition of anarchist from the Merriam-Webster dictionary,

1: a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power
2: a person who believes in, advocates, or promotes anarchism or anarchy; especially : one who uses violent means to overthrow the established order

The article goes on to say,

The acrimony follows highly publicised splits in universities, women’s organisations and political parties over the issue. Lily Madigan, a 19-year-old who has just won a vote in Kent to become Labour’s first women’s officer from a transgender background, has been at the centre of a row within the party.
[…]
Meanwhile, the Women’s Equality party has confirmed that its executive committee is considering complaints about one of its members, Heather Brunskell-Evans, an academic whose invitation to speak at King’s College in London was cancelled after she took part in a discussion on transgender issues on Radio 4. On the programme she called for caution to be exercised in relation to children who expressed confusion over their gender. Brunskell-Evans said the party told her that three members had alleged her “conduct” on the programme had “promoted prejudice against the transgender community”. She is also alleged to have said on Twitter: “we have to #ROAR about the harms of transgenderism for children and young people”.

So back to free speech; is it free speech to deny the existence of a group of people? Is it free speech to argue over the use of bathrooms? The questions are related but different, first question is about margination and oppression and the second question is about who can use what space.

If you believe that we does not exist then our use of bathrooms is a given. But if you believe that we exist then the question becomes are we women or not.

Here are my thoughts…

First medical science has proven that gender identity is not the same as birth sex, that our brains reflects more of our true gender than our birth gender. I believe that gender dysphoria is a form of intersex.

Second I believe that since we are intersexed that we should use the bathrooms of our gender identity.

Third, I believe that to deny us of our gender identity is a form of “fighting words.”

* Cornell Law School in Ithaca, NY Legal Information Institute,

Fighting words are, as first defined by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in Chaplinsky v New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), words which "by their very utterance, inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality."

Did It Really Take A Poll To Find This Out?

Pew Research did a poll on religion and gender identity and guess what they found?

Views of transgender issues divide along religious lines
By Gregory A. Smith
November 27, 2017

The American public is deeply divided along partisan lines over whether it is possible for someone to be a gender different from their sex at birth, a recent Pew Research Center poll found. A new analysis of the survey finds that the public also is sharply divided along religious lines.

Most Christians in the United States (63%) say that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by their sex at birth. Among religious “nones” – those who identify religiously as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – about six-in-ten (62%) say they think a person’s gender is not necessarily determined by the sex they are assigned at birth.

Surprise, surprise some “Christians” hate us and think we don’t exsist.

Among Christians, white evangelical Protestants (84%) are most likely to say that gender is determined by sex at birth. Many black Protestants (59%) and white mainline Protestants (55%) also feel this way. Catholics are divided on the question, with 51% saying gender is a function of one’s birth sex, while 46% say it is possible for someone to be of a gender different from their sex at birth.

Now the big surprise was that Catholics are divided despite what the Pope says.

In another question about our rights…

Religious differences also extend to questions about societal acceptance of transgender people. Most white evangelical Protestants (61%) say society has “gone too far” when it comes to accepting people who are transgender. And Pew Research Center polling conducted in the summer of 2016 found that seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants think that transgender people should be required to use the public restrooms that correspond with their birth gender.

By comparison, other Christian groups are more evenly divided on these questions. And most religious “nones” (57%) say society has “not gone far enough” when it comes to accepting people who are transgender, and that transgender individuals should be allowed to use public restrooms corresponding to their current gender identity (70%).

U.S. News and World Report said in an article that,

But unlike the global projections, the U.S. has seen, and will continue to see, a rise of the "religious none." A larger portion of the nation's population describes themselves as religiously unaffiliated, jumping up 7 percent from 2007 to 2014. And unlike other countries, religiously unaffiliated people in the U.S. tend to be younger than those who belong to a religious group.
[…]
Many of the nation's "religious nones" live in New England. Only one in three Massachusetts and New Hampshire residents put themselves in the "highly religious" category and about one in three say they are religiously unaffiliated.

Less than one in six Massachusetts residents say they are Christian, but the state has a larger portion of non-Christian faiths, including a 3 percent Jewish and 1 percent Muslim population.

I believe education has a lot to do with religious beliefs, you start thinking for yourself and not listening to someone telling you how to think. A caveat, many religions do have free thinkers but they tend to be in the more liberal religions like Unitarian-Universalism, United Church of Christ, and Episcopalians.

911, What Is The Nature Of Your Emergency?

When we call 911 we don’t know who will come to help and as the Trump administration is pushing the so called “religious freedom” legislation our worries are increasing.

Imagine this, you are on vacation or away on a business trip and you have to call 911, when the EMTs come and see that you’re trans raise their hands, saying sorry it is against their religion and walk away as you bleed out. It happened to Tyra Hunter in 1995 in Washington DC, she was in a car accident and the EMTs refused to treat her. In 1999 Robert Eads died of ovarian cancer because he could not find any doctors to treat him.

When doctors refuse to see transgender patients, the consequences can be dire
The Washington Post
By Laura Arrowsmith
November 26, 2017

Go back to California, the physician at a minor emergency center in a suburb of Tulsa told me. The words were flung — practically vomited — at me. I had gone to the center, a relatively new building that was beautifully decorated, on a Sunday morning in 2010 in terrible pain because of complications from surgery. The receptionist was pleasant, and the physician had entered the exam room smiling. He was about 50 years old and seemed friendly. But when I explained why I was there, the friendly smile quickly disappeared, and his face contorted into an expression of disgust and revulsion.
[…]
The doctor’s words reverberated in my head: “Go back to California.” He fled the exam room soon after he’d uttered them, without examining me or obtaining any further history.

It happens, even here in Connecticut. It happened to a trans woman who slipped and fell on an icy patch, in the emergency room she could hear the medical staff arguing about who was going to take care of “it.” She was told to go home and take a couple aspirin and see her doctor in the morning. Well it turned out that she fractured her back and hip, she walks with a cane today.

This has to change. No patient meeting a physician for the first time should fear being denied care or given incorrect treatment. The expression on a caring professional’s face should be one of concern and interest, not a snarl of angry disgust.

I volunteer at the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and one of the things that they have is a medical database of LGBT friendly healthcare providers, which I wish wasn’t necessary but unfortunately it is.

The World Is Changing!

Last night was my fiftieth high school reunion and I was nervous as hell, I didn’t know what to expect. Would I be shunned? Would I be sitting all alone at a table?

So I was apprehensive to say the least when I walked in to the club house and signed in… well it started off on the right foot. I got a hug from the wife of the class president and from some of the other women classmates welcoming me. All the women there were very friendly and supportive and got lots of hugs. All the guys were accepting and a high school friend that I have been friends with ever since second grade was there with his wife; I have been to parties at their house since I transitioned. So I had friends that I could hang out with if it got bad but it never did.

There was a lot reminiscing… do you remember the time we burnt down the mountain? Do you remember the time we set off the purple smoke grenade on the Fourth of July morning by the pond and played Jimmy Hendrix’s Purple Haze?

They also had the class historian talk about the cars, the price of milk and gas, the hits on the radio, the movies from 1967.

I sat at one of the tables for dinner and was talking to the classmate sitting next to me. He asked if he could buy me a drink. Then as I was saying my goodbyes he asked me for a date! I told him sorry, but I date women. He must have build up his courage all night to ask me out… he looked so dejected. He looked like a lost puppy that I almost want to say yes to cheer him up.

I also noticed and other commented that the ones with canes were the football players. Also there were about twenty of my classmate out of a class of about 170, who are no longer with us and there were 67 classmates who attended last night's union.

Thanks Liz for the dresses but I ended up wearing my standard LBD.

So as usual all my worrying were for nothing. The world has changed, being trans is a non-issue.

I leave you with the hit movie and song from 1967.

To Sir With Love

Saturday 9: The Man in Black

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: The Man in Black (1971)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Black is this week's signature color because Friday, November 24, was "Black Friday," when retailers cut their prices and consumers flock to the stores. Did you score any "Black Friday" bargains?
Nope, and I will not score any “Cyber Monday” bargains either. But I might go to Small Business Saturday.

2) Among the biggest the Black Friday advertisers are Target, Kohl's, Macy's and Best Buy. If you could have a $100 gift card to any one of those stores, which would you choose?  What would you buy?
Hmm… I am really not looking for anything right now; maybe another 128GB USB drive.

3) Feasting and football are also popular Thanksgiving weekend pastimes. Do your Thursday-Sunday plans include pigging out or watching a game?
Pigged out. I am not interested in any sports so I read out in the living room.

4) Thanksgiving weekend is a major time for travel. How far did you venture from home for the holiday?
About 150 miles down to central New Jersey and the traffic was bad on Thanksgiving morning but come home today it was heavy in spots such as going over the Tappen Zee bridge in New York.

5) This week's song, "Man in Black," is about a singer who refuses to wear bright colors. What color are you wearing as you answer these questions?
Lavender PJ

6) Johnny Cash first performed this song at Nashville's Vanderbilt University. When were you last on a college campus? What brought you there?
I was at Eastern Connecticut State University to talk to a class last week.

7) The average American man wears a 10.5 size shoe, the average woman wears a 7.5. Johnny Cash wore a size 13. Are your shoes bigger or smaller than the national average?
Much, much bigger.

8) He preferred his coffee very strong. To make sure what he was drank was to his liking, he carried a jar of instant coffee with him and would ladle it into his cup in restaurants. What about you? What's your standard coffee order?
A large black decaf. One time the coffee shop was pushing “Turbo Shots” and I said “really in decaf?”

9) While in the air force, Cash wrote short stories under the pseudonym "Johnny Dollar." Make up a pen name for yourself.
The “Dyslexic Writer”
P.S. There was a radio show names “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar”

For over twelve years, from 1949 through 1962 (including a one year hiatus in 1954-1955), this series recounted the cases "the man with the action-packed expense account, America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Johnny Dollar". Johnny was an accomplished 'padder' of his expense account. The name of the show derives from the fact that he closed each show by totaling his expense account, and signing it "End of report... Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar".

---

This evening I am going to my 50^th high school reunion, wish me luck. No one knows that I transitioned.

Republicans Being Republicans

Now with a trans woman in the Virginia House of Delegates what will the Republicans do about her? How will they treat another legislator, will they listen to her? Or will they be spiteful?

After Roem’s election, Va. GOP leader wants to do away with ‘Gentlewoman’ title
Washington Post
By Antonio Olivo
November 21, 2017

With Virginia’s first openly transgender elected official preparing to take her seat in the House of Delegates, the Republican leader of that chamber says it is time to end a tradition of addressing lawmakers by formal male and female pronouns.

Instead of the “gentleman” or “gentlewoman” from a given jurisdiction, lawmakers will all be referred to as “delegate” if Republicans maintain control of the chamber, House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox (R-Colonial Heights) said through a spokesman Tuesday.

Conservative lawmakers hailed the change as a way to avoid what they said could be a potentially awkward situation. But one of the longest-serving House Democrats called the decision “shameful” and said lawmakers “ought to be big enough to get over these hang-ups we have.”
[…]
His statement to The Washington Post on Tuesday came in response to questions about how Del.-elect Danica Roem (D) — who in a campaign ad spoke about the power of being referred to as “the gentlewoman” from Prince William County — would be referred to when the legislative session begins in January.

So the Republicans are once again being petty,
“They’re trying in some way to thread a needle with their own base,” said Bob Holsworth, a former Virginia Commonwealth University political-science professor. “They’re willing to change the tradition in this sense before they will explicitly acknowledge Danica Roem as a woman.”
But delegate–elect Roem has taken the high road once again.
Roem said she thinks it’s remarkable that Republicans are willing to upend years of tradition because of her victory. But, she added, in the end it doesn’t matter much as long as other transgender people know that it’s possible to win elected office.


“What matters the most is that I’m there,” she said. “What matters the most to the people of the 13th District is that the woman they elected to serve them will be working on their behalf. I will be the delegate from Prince William, and I will conduct myself as the gentlewoman from Prince William while I’m in Richmond and in any other official capacity in which I serve.”
Legislators do have some crazy rules but they are embedded in traditions.

In Connecticut the legislators do not talk directly to one another but say, “Though you Mister/Madam Speaker.” However, what they are doing in Virginia mean-spirited just so they do not have to call her gentlewoman, how low can they go.

Check And Mate

A trans woman has been fired for her job over her transition.

Transgender woman sues Chess Club for discrimination
It is still legal for Missourians to be fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes and denied basic services if they identify as gay or transgender.
KSDK
By Christina Coleman
November 22, 2017

Transgender woman Elaine Cao filed a lawsuit on Monday against her former employer, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

Cao said a manager fired her after she came to work presenting as a female. Cao started working for the center in June of 2015. She said she was fired about a year later.

Cao says working as an instructor wasn’t just a job for her, it was a passion.

“I was a lifelong chess player, I've been a chess player through all of my formative years and chess was something I really cared about," she said.

Cao says she was homeless for several months after she lost her job.

Local activist Keith Rose says discrimination against transgender people is a problem that needs to be addressed legally.

I wish her luck because it is going to be to win her case in today’s climate of hate and Jeff Sessions. The match is going to stuffed against her, she will not get any support from the U.S. Department of Justice and the state offers no protection for her either. And to make it even hard she is representing herself in the case.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am away today at my niece's in New Jersey, but for many people Thanksgiving and the Holidays are an especially lonely time, they might not have  estranged from their family since they came out to them. Their families and children have disowned them and for them Thanksgiving is a time when they feel their loss the greatest. Thanksgiving is a time where we reflect on all that we have been thankful for the year but for those of us it could also be a time a great sadness while they see others around them celebrating during the holiday seasons. So let us open our hearts and doors to them and invite them to the table.

On the lighter side... I leave you with some Thanksgiving cartoons ans what would Thanksgiving be without "Alice's Restaurant" and "WKRP" turkey drop.

One of my favorite sitcom skits was from WKRP in Cincinnati, "Turkey Drop"

I Think They Might Have Something Here!

Okay, I’m left handed and I have a learning disability, I know that being left handed makes up about ten percentage of the population unless you’re LGBT.

According to Kenneth Zucker, a researcher at the University of Toronto's Center for Addiction and Mental Health, homosexuals are more likely to be lefties than heterosexuals. Zucker analyzed data collected in 20 different studies over the past 50 years and discovered a correlation between left-handedness and homosexuality. The findings indicate that lesbians have a 91 percent greater chance of being left-handed or ambidextrous than straight women, while gay men are 34 percent more likely than straight men to not be right-handed. While Zucker says the research provides empirical evidence that links homosexuality to left-handedness, he also adds that "we don't have a definitive answer as to why the relationship exists."

Yeah, I know it is by Dr. Zucker but every once in awhile he does some good research.

So that leads me to what I want to write about this afternoon.

There's Growing Evidence For A Link Between Gender Dysphoria And Autism Spectrum Disorders
Forbes
By Zhana Vrangalova
November 15, 2017

Mounting evidence over the last decade points to increased rates of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and autism traits among children and adults with gender dysphoria, or incongruence between a person’s experienced or expressed gender and the gender assigned to them at birth. ASDs are characterized by difficulty with social interaction and communication as well as restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. Approximately 1-2% of the population is estimated to meet criteria for ASDs, about twice higher in men than women.

The potential link between ASD and gender dysphoria was noted by researchers as early as 1981, when they noticed that 10% of 30 children with a clinical diagnosis of autism had trouble answering a gender identity question (“Are you a little boy or a little girl?”) that fewer than 1% of neurotypical children of the same age struggle with.
[…]
Across all of these studies, almost without exception, rates of ASD or autism traits range from 5% to 54% among those with gender dysphoria, significantly higher than among the general population. (The individual studies and their findings are briefly summarized, in chronological order, at the end of this article.)

The article goes on to say that just because the children have characteristics of gender dysphoria does not mean that they are trans…

For example, individuals with ASD often fail to realize that others might not perceive them the same way they perceive themselves unless they conform to certain societal norms. Thus, an assigned-male-at-birth person who has privately transitioned to identifying as a woman but maintains a male-typical outwardly appearance might be confused and distressed when others treat them as a man.

It is interesting and there should be more research in to why left handiness, autism spectrum disorders, and dyslexia are more common in trans individuals.

There Is A Lesson To Be Learned Here

When you are interviewed by the media the first thing to remember is that it is their deck, and they can stack it anyway they want. The second thing to remember is that they can lie. And you should also realize is that their business is to sell advertisement and get the most people to view those ads.

Hit by “Trans-Friendly” Fire
Gendermom
November 21, 2017

When they interviewed me and my young trans daughter, both reporters seemed sympathetic to us and claimed to be trans-friendly.  So why did they turn around and write such transphobic articles?

Over the course of the summer, I was contacted by two young journalists. One wrote for an alternative American weekly newspaper, the other for a venerable British magazine. Both wanted to interview me about my experience as the mother of a young transgender child. They were respectful and sympathetic. One of them even Skyped at length with my 9-year-old daughter. (“How do you want your body to look when you grow up?” “I want really long hair!”)

When their respective articles appeared, the first one in June and the second earlier this fall, I felt sick and saw red. I also felt like the world’s biggest rube, having chattily handed over my daughter’s story to those whose intention was to debate her very existence.

Do research about the reporter, do research about the news agency that they work but beware they might freelance the article to another agency.

Perhap the most troubling feature of both of these articles is that they are, strictly speaking, largely “true” (with the notable exception of the bogus 66-80 percent statistic). Yes, some people change their minds. Yes, peer pressure exists. Yes, transition is not without its risks and complications. These are all important points to make. What’s wrong here is that the choices the authors have made about what to include and not to include add up to a highly misleading whole, one that makes transition look a lot scarier and more controversial than it actually is. When you’re telling a story, everything hangs on which details you include and which ones you leave out. For example, Herzog and McCann both highlight the potential health risks of taking cross-hormones, but make no mention of the far greater health risks that transgender people face: The widespread lack of access to any kind of quality medical care, let alone health care that is responsive to the particular needs of transgender patients. They also makes no mention of the alarmingly high rate of suicide attempts among trans people (upwards of 40 percent; but this rate goes down when people are able to transition). I’d call suicide a pretty significant health risk, wouldn’t you? Nor do either of them mention the fact that research shows children who transition exhibit levels of psychological health indistinguishable from their cisgender peers. In pieces that purport to be represent balanced presentations of the pros and cons of supporting the transition of young people, surely this kind of information merits inclusion, no?

Remember the reporters can pick and choose what they write (the same is true for bloggers, it is their blog and they can spin it anyway they want.).

When I did activist training at Fantasia Fair and other venues I make it a point to not to do any interviews and to think in sound bites of 10 seconds. From my website…

Tips For Being Interviewed By The Media

1. Don’t do it!
2. If you do, think of sound bites (7 or 8 seconds). Once when I was lobbying for ENDA down in Washington DC I gave a five minute interview and all they used was one sentence “I don’t think it will pass this year, I think we are in it for the long haul.” And they called me a “seasoned professional” which I got a chuckle out of since that was the first time I lobbied.
3. (Corollary to #2) Be prepared for them to use your statement out of context in the worst possible way.
4. Know what key words not to use and how to spin a negative question positively (Why do you think that the “bathroom bill” should pass?”*)
5. Don’t use abbreviations (see above)
6. You might want to talk to the reporter beforehand and mention the “AP Style Sheet” or GLAAD Media Guide for the correct use of pronouns.
7. And above all, realize that you are going to be stopped on the street and told “I saw you on the news last night!” That happened to me after I gave an interview; the clerk at the deli said that to me.
8. Also be aware that they may use your photos or video for other stories. They may use a picture of you walking in the background as they are talking about a trans person who committed a crime.

*Don’t answer that question! A better answer to that question is... The anti-discrimination bill is important because it protect all transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing, credit and public accommodation.

I have to give interviews because of my position with a trans non-profits but I don’t like it.

You heard the saying “Buyer beware!” well a corollary to it is “Interviewee beware!”

Turing Another Leaf… Naw

The Secretary of State issued a statement about the Transgender Day of Remembrance was this a pushback against Trump’s anti-LGBT policies?

Tillerson Issues Transgender Day of Remembrance Statement Despite Doing Nothing to Help Trans People
The New Civil Rights Movement
By David Badash
November 20, 2017

Tillerson Says Around the World Attacks on Transgender People Often 'Are Perpetrated by Government Officials, Undermining the Rule of Law'

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has issued a statement acknowledging Monday as the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The statement itself is noticeably thin, at least in comparison to those issued by his immediate predecessor, Secretary of State John Kerry.

"Transgender individuals and their advocates, along with lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex persons, are facing increasing physical attacks and arbitrary arrests in many parts of the world," Tillerson's statement reads. "Often these attacks are perpetrated by government officials, undermining the rule of law."
[…]
"Transgender persons should not be subjected to violence or discrimination, and the human rights they share with all persons should be respected," Tillerson added.

"On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, the United States remains committed to advancing the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all persons. These principles are inherent in our own Constitution and drive the diplomacy of the United States," Tillerson concluded.

So was this a more gentler, a more accepting Tillerson?

In the past he hasn’t been concerned to violence against LGBT around the world. He hasn’t spoken up about the violence against LGBT people in Chechnya's anti-gay torture and concentration camps. He hasn’t spoken against Turkey’s LGBT crack down; he didn’t sign the UN resolution on LGBT human rights.

So his actions speak louder than his words.

Raking Our Children Over The Coals Of Hate

Nothing is off limits for the haters and bigots, they are willing to attack the most vulnerable of us, our children. They don’t care if they inflict wounds that last a lifetime as long as they create their hate.

Caught in the crossfireChildren are victims in the latest identity-driven culture warSome feminists and transgender activists are on opposite sidesThe Economist
November 16, 2017

[…]
The fiercest fire is left-on-left. Some feminists reject the claim that trans women (people registered male at birth who have made the transition to a female identity) are indeed women, rather than men who eschew stereotypically male behaviour. But to trans people being thus “misgendered” feels downright cruel. Such feminists are called “transphobes” and accused of hate speech. The hard words fly both ways: witness Germaine Greer declaring that “just because you lop off your dick” does not make you a woman.

None of this is edifying. What is unforgivable is that children are caught in the crossfire. Soaring numbers are seeking help for gender dysphoria—the distressing conviction that the sex on their birth certificate is the wrong one. If they are unlucky, what happens next will have more to do with an adult battle over identity than with what is right for them.
[…]
Won’t someone think of the children?
It is bad enough that doctors, parents and gender-dysphoric children must make high-stakes choices against time without good evidence about what will happen. Worse is that children’s plight is being used by adults as an opportunity for moral grandstanding. The child’s interests depend not on the feelings of transgender activists—nor those of feminists—but on facts that still need to be established. Doctors need to know more about how to tell when gender dysphoria is likely to persist. Until they have that information, they should not rush in with drugs. Before acting, doctors should have reasonable grounds for thinking that they are doing good.

It is true that there is a lack of longitudinal studies but there are studies that have shown the trans children when properly diagnosed have a positive outcome. I say “properly diagnosed” because some of the studies quoted by the right did not adhere to the DSM and Standard of Care diagnoses. The studies included boys who liked to play with dolls and other non-typical masculine activities. They also counted as being detransitioners those who dropped out of the study.

Real the Economist should stick with topics on the economy.

You All Heard Them…

The Republicans calling us perverts, child molesters, and just demonizing us; trying to pass laws banning us from bathrooms.

Well there has never been a trans person who sexually attacked a person in a public bathroom.

So where do the Republicans get these ideas?

It must be because of Republican behavior with minors.

I am not just talking about Judge Roy Moore but all those whom support him and think pedophilia is okay.

I am talking about this sleazebag Republican who was the county campaign coordinator for President Donald Trump’s campaign and state Senator.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR AND 'FAMILY VALUES' REPUBLICAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING, FACES LIFE IN PRISON
Newsweek
By Carlos Ballesteros
November 19, 2017

Ralph Shortey, a former Oklahoma state senator and county campaign coordinator for President Donald Trump’s campaign last year, will plead guilty to a child sex trafficking charge after being accused of soliciting sex from a 17-year-old boy in March.

In exchange for his guilty plea, government prosecutors have agreed to drop three counts of child pornography against him.
[…]
“Mr. Shortey feels this is a necessary step in putting this painful and humiliating ordeal behind him, for both himself, his family and for the state of Oklahoma,” Shortey’s attorney Ed Blau said on Friday.

On March 9, Shortey surrendered to police on charges of engaging in child prostitution, transporting a minor for prostitution and engaging in prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church. He was released on a $100,000 bond a couple of hours after being booked.

He is not alone, another Republican sleazebag did this at a Republican conference in Washington DC.

How a conservative group dealt with a fondling charge against a rising GOP star
Washington Post
By Kimberly Kindy, Elise Viebeck
November 17, 2017

On a fall evening two years ago, donors gathered during a conference at a Ritz-Carlton hotel near Washington to raise funds for a 31-year-old candidate for the Ohio legislature who was a rising star in evangelical politics.

Hours later, upstairs in a hotel guest room, an 18-year-old college student who had come to the event with his parents said the candidate unzipped his pants and fondled him in the middle of the night. The frightened teenager fled the room and told his mother and stepfather, who demanded action from the head of the organization hosting the conference.

Now another Republican sleazebag who is also head of a “Family” organization stepped in to the fray. The father of the 18 year old wrote the head of a Christian family organization...

"If we endorse these types of individuals, then it would seem our whole weekend together was nothing more than a charade," the stepfather wrote to Tony Perkins, president of the Council for National Policy.

"Trust me . . . this will not be ignored nor swept aside," replied Perkins, who also heads the Family Research Council, a prominent evangelical activist group. "It will be dealt with swiftly, but with prudence.

You got that? He is the head of the Family Research Council the organization that has tried and succeed to pass legislation banning us from bathrooms, the organization that has Trump ear in getting us banned from the military and has described us as perverts and pedophiles; so what did he do about the letter?

The incident, described in emails and documents obtained by The Washington Post, never became public, nor did unspecified prior "similar incidents" Perkins referred to in a letter to candidate Wesley Goodman. The correspondence shows Perkins privately asked Goodman to drop out of the race and suspended him from the council, but Goodman continued his campaign and went on to defeat two fellow Republicans in a hotly contested primary before winning his seat a year ago.

There is a website has a long list of Republican sex offenders some of those on the list are,

Republican pastor Mike Hintz , whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.
Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
[…]
Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Are there Democratic sleazebag? Probably, but they don’t going around hiding behind “religious freedom,” and they don’t go trying to pass legislation to force us back into the closet, they don’t go around calling us perverts, child molesters, and demonizing us.

Some Important Thoughts About TDoR

There are two trains of thought about the Transgender Day of Remembrance, some are totally against it while some are in favor of it. The divide boils down to we should celebrate what is good about being trans while others believe that we should remember those who gave their lives for just being themselves.

Why I Don't Believe in Transgender Day of Remembrance
Them Us
By Aaryn Lang
November 20, 2017

My relationship with Transgender Day of Remembrance has been a rocky one. I haven’t attended a TDOR event in the past few years because I don’t find that they deeply honor trans life. When I think of my ancestors and the struggles they experienced just to get some semblance of basic decency in this world, I know that being able to draw breath and live my life authentically and openly is the true tribute to those who’ve died, more so than any vigil — especially one built on trans death as so little has been done to prevent living trans people from meeting similar, gruesome fates. I might be on board if the people who often hosted these vigils weren’t on payroll, if they actually took action leading up to TDOR and in the months following to interrupt the violence that continues to plague our communities.

Instead, what I often see are predatory nonprofits that capitalize off of the loss of bodies they wouldn’t employ, educate, or support, while reinforcing a narrative that makes “transgender” and “death” almost synonymous. What I often see are cisgender and privileged people, as well as non-melanated transgender people who are all too happy to perform remorse at these events, yet spend the rest of the year arguing against white supremacy’s role in transphobia on social media, and doing next to nothing to address the violence that they’re supposedly torn apart over. This perpetuates a cycle where the lives lost, and others like them who are living, but under precarious conditions, become mythical and secondary to the “concerned community” that feels that the two-hour event constitutes their service to the most vulnerable among us, even though little more has been done than the masturbation of their egos, while the heart and spirit of our community continue to disintegrate.

First I agree with the part about non-profits using it as a fundraiser, I am seeing more and more “LGBT” and also trans organizations with “Donate” buttons. I don’t like that, can’t you for once remove the donate button? It appears as Aaryn Lang says that you are using our deaths for your financial gains.

Second many of these “LGBT” organizations are not trans friendly, they have only gays and lesbians on their staff or have in the past backed lesbian and gay legislation at the determent of the trans community and now they are sponsoring the TDoR.

Third, I worry about the TDoR being used as a political tool of political parties to push their candidate or agenda. It is one thing to rally for legislation and is another thing to push a parties doctrine.

Many organizations are coupling the TDoR with Trans Awareness Week an idea that I like and many are also holding a Trans Pride event in another month other then November.

---

Last night I went to the MCC Hartford TDoR, which was organized by a trans person.

I have been attending TDoRs since 2001 so I have grown old attending them, at one time I was the organizer for them and then after about five years it was too much so we turned it over to the MCC Church.

Over the years I learned to avoid emotional triggers, but last night everyone was singing “Stand By Me” and standing holding hands, I was planning on sitting it out because I knew it was a trigger. However, a gay man that I knew kept on trying to get me to join them. It was a tossup between taking part or ignoring him, I didn’t want to make a scene so I joined him… it didn’t take but a moment for my emotions to start. I know so many trans people who have been assaulted, or have tried or have taken their own lives.

Is There An Opera In Your Future?

I know when I think of an opera I think of women singing soprano in Italian, but then there is the Queen rock opera Bohemian Rhapsody. Well now there is a trans opera.

Review: Two voices tell a deeply human transgender story 'As One'
Chicago Tribune
By John von Rhein
November 19, 2017

Various books, films and plays of recent years have dealt with the emotional and social stakes of coming out as a transgender individual in 21st century America. But no opera addressed the difficult journey faced by those individuals until “As One” burst on the scene at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 2014.

The chamber opera, with music by Laura Kaminsky and text by the Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Mark Campbell and filmmaker Kimberly Reed, and video projections by Reed, traces the psychological journey of a young transgender protagonist, Hannah, with insight and empathy, even humor. It makes the character’s coming to terms with her identity a poignant coming-of-age story just about every audience member can relate to.

The 90-minute work’s local premiere by Chicago Fringe Opera last week at the Center on Halsted marked another milestone in this enterprising alternative-opera troupe’s odyssey through substantial if smaller-scaled contemporary American repertory.
[…]
Kaminsky and her collaborators came up with the brilliant idea of having Hannah sung by a baritone (Hannah Before) and a mezzo-soprano (Hannah After). Both singers are onstage the entire time, sometimes singing separately, other times as one. Rather than disappear after Hannah has fully transitioned, Hanna Before remains a part of who she is and supportively guides her journey to self-acceptance.

I think that this would be one opera that I would go to see.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Every November 20th is the Transgender Day of Remembrance is when we memorize the trans-people who were murdered in the last 12 months.  We remember trans people who were murdered for who they were; not for money or passion but were murdered but because of hate. They were killed because they had the courage to live their lives as the person they were.

On a personal level I went to my first TDoR on 2001 and it was very emotional for me as I read the name of Ontwon Curtis, I cried while I read her name. She was a stranger to me but we shared a common trait, we were both trans. It never gets easy reading the names.

This year’s TDOR is particularly poignant because of not knowing what we face with President-elect Trump. Fear is running rampant in the LGBT community. Will we be banned from using the bathroom of our gender identity, will we be unable to change our gender and our name on Social Security, Medicare, passport and other federal documents?

The vigil is held all around the U.S. and the world and you can find a place for where you can attend a TDOR here.

A list of the names of the people who were murdered this year can be found below along with a list the TDOR locations in Connecticut. I will be attending the Hartford services.

---

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2017
Metropolitan Community Church of Hartford
155 Wyllys Street,
Hartford CT 06106
Monday November 20th @ 6:00 PM


Transgender Day of Remembrance 2017 - Vigil
650 West Ave,
Norwalk, CT 06850
Description
November 20 7pm – 8pm


Transgender Day of Remembrance
outCT
New London Parade Plaza
New London, Connecticut 06320
Monday, November 20 at 5:30 PM


New Haven Pride Center
Intl Transgender Day of Remembrance
Monday, Nov 20, 2017 @ 6:30 PM

---

Argentina
Sofía Mailén Santillán
Mercedes, Argentina
1-Dec-16
Beaten to death

A. Villegas
Quilmes, Argentina
14-Jan-17
Shot in the head

Cindy Crawford Revlon
Buenos Aires, Argentina
1-Jun-17
Decapitated

Pamela Tabarez
Rosario, Argentina
25-Jul-17
Shot multiple times

Eyelen
Tucuman, Argentina
18-Aug-17
Beaten


Brazil
Juninho da Mangueira
Guarus, Brazil
21-Nov-16
Shot at least five times.

Paola Bracho
Manaus, Brazil
24-Nov-16
Suffocated

Michele Rios
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
26-Nov-16
Cause unclear

Patricia Araujo not reported
Sao Paulo, Brazil
27-Nov-16
Shot in the head and burned

Dandara
Natal, Brazil
28-Nov-16
Shot in the head

Name unknown
Joao Pessoa, Brazil
2-Dec-16
Asphyxiation

M. Dias Machado
Pontal do Parana, Brazil
3-Dec-16
Shot at least three times

Will Rhillary Silva
Viamao, Brazil
7-Dec-16
Shot

Name unknown
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
7-Dec-16
Shot

R. da Silva de Sá
Maceio, Brazil
10-Dec-16
Shot in the head

G. Aquino de Godoy
Curitiba, Brazil
14-Dec-16
Shot in the head

D. de Souza
Campos, Brazil
17-Dec-16
Shot in the neck and back

J. R. T. Gomes
Crato, Brazil
18-Dec-16
Stoned to death

Gabriel Gomes
Goiania, Brazil
21-Dec-16
Shot multiple times at the same incident as F. Braz

F. Braz
Goiania, Brazil
21-Dec-16
Shot multiple times at the same incident as Gabriel Gomes

Paula Raio Laser 50
Fortaleza, Brazil
23-Dec-16
Shot

Jake Helen
Contagem, Brazil
31-Dec-16
Shot five times

Flávia Victoria Lima
Sorocaba, Brazil
31-Dec-16
Cause unclear

L. C. Marinho
Nova Cruz, Brazil
4-Jan-17
Stabbed

W. H. Soares dos Santos 16
Teresina, Brazil
6-Jan-17
Shot

Mierala da Silva
Bauru, Brazil
13-Jan-17
Beaten

Moranguinho
Paranangua, Brazil
15-Jan-17
Shot

Agatha Lios
Brasilia, Brazil
18-Jan-17
Cause not reported

Sandra
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
19-Jan-17
shot

Lady Dyana
Manaus, Brazil
19-Jan-17
Stabbed

J. A. dos Santos
Itabaianinha, Brazil
26-Jan-17
Shot to death

Paola Oliveira
Russas, Brazil
30-Jan-17
Stoned to death

Name unknown
Recife, Brazil
3-Feb-17
Drowned; legs were tied down

Agatha Mont
Itapevi, Brazil
4-Feb-17
Suffocated

Name unknown
Guaruja, Brazil
8-Feb-17
Stoned to death

Dandara dos Santos
Fortaleza, Brazil
15-Feb-17
Beaten and stoned to death by a mob

Name unknown
Caçapava, Brazil
17-Feb-17
Shot to death

A. da Silva Maciel
Distrito de São Sebastião, Brazil
18-Feb-17
Shot

Mirella de Castro
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
19-Feb-17
Suffocated

Camila de Souza Magalhães
Sao Gonçalo, Brazil
25-Feb-17
Beaten

Emanuelle Muniz
Anapolis, Brazil
26-Feb-17
Stoned to death

Lorrane
São Luiz, Brazil
26-Feb-17
Shot to death

Z. Marrocos
Guarabira, Brazil
28-Feb-17
Stabbed to death

Michelly Garcia
Pelotas, Brazil
3-Mar-17
Shot

Name unknown
Goiania, Brazil
6-Mar-17
Shot

Rubi
Luziania, Brazil
6-Mar-17
Shot

Sandra
Laranjeiras do Sul, Brazil
8-Mar-17
Beaten

Jennifer Celia Henrique (Jenni)
Florianopolis, Brazil
10-Mar-17
Beaten

Name unknown
Cachoeirinha, Brazil
12-Mar-17
Burned to death

Lexia
Santa Fe do Sul, Brazil
13-Mar-17
Stabbed

Camila Albuquerque
Salvador, Brazil
15-Mar-17
Shot

Bruninha
Ourinhos, Brazil
16-Mar-17
Stabbed

Paola
Street Joao Candido do Camara, Brazil
22-Mar-17
Stabbed to death

Paulina
Recife, Brazil
23-Mar-17
Shot multiple times

Uilca or Wilka
Loteamento Luiz Gonzaga, Brazil.
26-Mar-17
Stabbed in the neck

Name unknown
Acara, Brazil
2-Apr-17
Beaten

Name unknown
Campo Grande, Brazil
3-Apr-17
Not reported

R. Félix da Silva
Guarariba, Brazil
4-Apr-17
Shot to death

Bianka Gonçalves
Primavera do Leste, Brazil
7-Apr-17
Shot to death

Camila
Sao Jose do Campos, Brazil
10-Apr-17
Beaten

Vitoria Castro
Araguaina, Brazil
10-Apr-17
Beaten

Hérica Izidório
Fortaleza, Brazil
12-Apr-17
Beaten

Name unknown
Curitiba, Brazil
12-Apr-17
Beaten

Gaby
Feira de Santana, Brazil
12-Apr-17
Shot to death

Name unknown
Itabuna, Brazil
16-Apr-17
Shot to death

Samilly Guimarães
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
20-Apr-17
Shot to death

Marooni
Belem, Brazil
22-Apr-17
Stabbed to death

A. Ribeiro Marcossone
Curitiba, Brazil
23-Apr-17
Shot over 25 times

Eloá Silva
Joao Pessoa, Brazil
27-Apr-17
Shot multiple times

Name unknown
Barcarena, Brazil
29-Apr-17
Stabbed

Uilca
Vitoria de Santo Antao, Brazil
29-Apr-17
Shot to death

Layza Mello
Vilha Velha, Brazil
30-Apr-17
Shot

Name unknown
Belem, Brazil
30-Apr-17
Shot to death

Samaielly
Lauro de Freitas, Brazil
30-Apr-17
Shot to death

Sophia Castro
Contagem, Brazil
3-May-17
Cause unclear

C. A. Lima da Silva
Monhangape, Brazil
6-May-17
Shot to death

R. C. Silva Pereira
Barretos, Brazil
7-May-17
Deliberately struck by a vehicle

Thadeu Nascimento
Grande do Retiro, Brazil
7-May-17
Shot and beaten

Jennifer
Itaitinga, Brazil
9-May-17
Shot multiple times

Fernanda
Ponta Grossa, Brazil
10-May-17
Shot

Chaiane
Cachoeira do Sul, Brazil
13-May-17
Stabbed

Ketlin
Juazeiro do Norte, Brazil
13-May-17
Stabbed

Name unknown
Fortaleza, Brazil
13-May-17
Stabbed

Name unknown
Morro Agudo, Brazil
15-May-17
Beaten to death

Pâmela
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
21-May-17
Stabbed to death

Lalá
Feira de Santana, Brazil
25-May-17
Shot to death

Grace Kelly
Lauro de Freitas, Brazil
25-May-17
Suffocated

Joyce Jane Padilha
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
26-May-17
dismembered

Sheila Medeiros
Tres Pontas, Brazil
29-May-17
Cause not reported

Laryrssa Moura
Governador Valadares, Brazil
31-May-17
Shot in the back

Natasha
Castanhal, Brazil
5-Jun-17
Multiple gunshot wounds

A. Alves Nascimento
Criciúma, Brazil
5-Jun-17
Shot to death

Natasha
Varginha, Brazil
6-Jun-17
Shot multiple times

Name unknown
Salvador, Brazil
10-Jun-17
Shot in the neck, belly, shoulder, and back.

Renata Vieira
Uberlândia, Brazil
14-Jun-17
Beaten to death

E. Shyne
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
15-Jun-17
Tortured

Julhão Petruk
Fortaleza, Brazil
15-Jun-17
Shot multiple times

Name unknown
Caraguatatuba, Brazil
16-Jun-17
Stabbed

Bárbara
Maceió, Brazil
18-Jun-17
Struck by a vehicle

Name unknown
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
19-Jun-17
Shot to death

Camily Victoria
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
22-Jun-17
Shot to death

Denise
Aracaju, Brazil
24-Jun-17
Shot to death

C. Barroso de Oliveira
Ananindeua, Brazil
24-Jun-17
Shot to death

Nicolly Santos
Vitória de Santo Antão, Brazil
24-Jun-17
Stabbed multiple times

Ney Oliveira
Apuarema, Brazil
25-Jun-17
Stabbed to death

Salomé Bracho
São Luís do Curu, Brazil
25-Jun-17
Shot to death

Tabata Brandão
Rondonópolis, Brazil
25-Jun-17
Shot to death

Carla
Maceió, Brazil
28-Jun-17
Stabbed to death

Lola
Sorriso, Brazil
2-Jul-17
Cause not reported

Rayane
Fortaleza, Brazil
2-Jul-17
Shot

Larissa
Fortaleza, Brazil
2-Jul-17
Multiple gunshot wounds

Vicky Spears
Diadema, Brazil
3-Jul-17
Shot

Anna Sophia
João Pessoa, Brazil
8-Jul-17
Shot in the head

Bruna dos Santos
Pelotas, Brazil
9-Jul-17
Beaten and shot

Cauã
Porto Alegre, Brazil
9-Jul-17
Shot

Thalia
Rio Verde, Brazil
14-Jul-17
Shot

Sophia
Campo Mourão, Brazil
17-Jul-17
Stabbed to death

Michele
Caxias, Brazil
17-Jul-17
Shot

Leona Albuquerque
Salvador, Brazil
17-Jul-17
Shot multiple times

Camila Guedes
Monte Mor, Brazil
20-Jul-17
Stabbed

Gil Pereia da Costa
Rio Branco, Brazil
20-Jul-17
Shot twice

Gabriela Sousa
Maracanaú, Brazil
21-Jul-17
Shot

E. A. da Silva
Maceio, Brazil
21-Jul-17
Shot

Name unknown
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
22-Jul-17
Stabbed to death

Natalia Pimentel
Várzea Grande, Brazil
25-Jul-17
run over multiple times

Aurinete
Patos do Piauí, Brazil
31-Jul-17
Stabbed

Name unknown
João Pessoa, Brazil
1-Aug-17
Dragged and shot in the head.

Mary Monttila
Palmeira dos Índios, Brazil
2-Aug-17
Stabbed on the neck.

Charliane
Itabuna, Brazil
2-Aug-17
Shot

Bruna Laclose
Pinheiro Machado, Brazil
6-Aug-17
Sstabbed

Paulinha
Palmares, Brazil
8-Aug-17
Stabbed to death.

T. J. Gomes da Silva
João Pessoa, Brazil
12-Aug-17
Multiple gunshot wounds

Dianna
Limoeiro, Brazil
18-Aug-17
Shot

Evelin Ferrari
Caruaru, Brazil
22-Aug-17
Shot

Lilly
Cachoeira, Brazil
27-Aug-17
Shot to death

Daniele Jesus Lafon
Poços de Caldas, Brazil
2-Sep-17
Stabbed with a pair of scissors

Flávia
Santos, Brazil
3-Sep-17
Shot

Rai
Petrolândia, Brazil
3-Sep-17
Stoned to death

Ana Carolina Nascimento
Araraquara, Brazil
5-Sep-17
Beaten to deat

Nicole
Sorriso, Brazil
5-Sep-17
Stabbed to death

Alessandra
São Paulo, Brazil
7-Sep-17
Shot

Bruna Monteiro
Taguatinga Sul, Brazil
8-Sep-17
Shot to death

Lorane
Camocim de São Felix, Brazil
9-Sep-17
Shot

Larissa Paiva
Serra, Brazil
14-Sep-17
Serra, Brazil

Safira
Salvador, Brazil
15-Sep-17
Shot to death

Name unknown
Camaçari, Brazil
16-Sep-17
Shot

Ana Coutti
Cabo Frio, Brazil
18-Sep-17
MUltiple gunshot wounds

Kaleane
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
20-Sep-17
Shot in the head

Spencer
Campinas, Brazil
23-Sep-17
Beaten and stabbed

D.R.P.
Campinas, Brazil
24-Sep-17
Stabbed to death

Pâmela
Moreilândia, Brazil
25-Sep-17
Shot and beaten

Danhy Zn
Leme, Brazil
25-Sep-17
Not specified

Rayssa
Uberaba, Brazil
26-Sep-17
Shot twice

Lu Brasil
Altamira, Brazil
26-Sep-17
Cut and strangled

Renatha Lemos
Nova Mamoré, Brazil
30-Sep-17
Burned

Natália
Fortaleza, Brazil
30-Sep-17
Shot


Canada
Sisi Thibert
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
18-Sep-17
Stabbed to death


Chile
Vanessa Valenzuela
Viña del Mar, Region Valparaiso, Chile
28-Apr-17
Beaten with hammers and sticks by five people who yelled "kill the fag."


Colombia
Alejandro Polanco Botero
Risaralda, Colombia
30-Nov-16
Shot four times in the head

Vikichy
Cali, Colombia
20-Jan-17
Stabbed in the chin and stomach

Silvana Fabian Pineda
La Dorada, Colombia
28-Jan-17
Multiple gunshot wounds

Angelo Ramos
Garzon, Colombia
9-Feb-17
Not reported

Name unknown
Chaparral, Colombia
16-Feb-17
Beaten, and was violently sexually assaulted prior to death

C. Camilo Valencia
Valle del Cauca, Colombia
19-Feb-17
Shot

Mafe Rojas Camilo
Tolima, Colombia
3-May-17
Tortured, beaten, shot

Andrea Chaguendo Suárez
Cali, Colombia
31-May-17
Stabbed

Juliana Orrego Monsalve
Valle de Cauc, Colombia
2-Jul-17
Shot multiple times

Malvilis Trujillo
Tolima, Colombia
27-Aug-17
Not reported


Costa Rica
Kenicha
Pococí, Costa Rica
15-Aug-17
Asphyxiation


Dominican Republic
Jessica Rubi Mori
La Romana, Dominican Republic
3-Jun-17
Dismembered

Carolina Alexis Zapata
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
22-Jul-17
beat over the head with a stick


Ecuador
W. Fabricio Ponce
Banabi, Ecuador
20-Dec-16
Tortured and burned


El Salvador
Name unknown
San Salvador, El Salvador
20-Nov-16
Beaten to death

Name unknown
San Salvador, El Salvador
17-Jan-17
Shot and thrown into the road

T. A. Orellana
San Luis Talpa, El Salvador
18-Feb-17
Shot at the same time as D. Rodriguez

D. Rodriguez
San Luis Talpa, El Salvador
18-Feb-17
Shot at the same time as T.A. Orellana

Elizabeth
San Luis Talpa, El Salvador
20-Feb-17
Found with her hands and feet bound, with wounds to her face and neck.

Name unknown
Ilopango, El Salvador
20-May-17
Shot to death

Misty
Usulutan, El Salvador
27-Aug-17
Strangled


Honduras
Sherlyn Montoya
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
4-Apr-17
Tortured; her body was discovered in a bag

Tato Eduardo Ayestas
El Paraíso, Honduras
23-Apr-17
Stabbed multiple times


India
Vasu Swamy
Bangalore, India
16-Dec-16
Cause not reported

Shama
Tej Mohan Nagar, India
30-Apr-17
Stabbed

Kajal
Patna, India
29-Jul-17
Throat slit


Italy
Unnamed Transwoman
Rome, Italy
10-Nov-17
Stabbed to death


Malaysia
Meera
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
23-Feb-17
Victim was shot and stabbed

Name unknown
Flat Sri Plateau, Bandar Sri Permaisuri, Cheras, Malaysia
5-May-17
Exact cause not reported. Was found in her apartment, bound


Mexico
Hannia Camacho Rodriguez
Victoria, Mexico
23-Nov-16
Shot three times

Name unknown
Sinaloa, Mexico
1-Jan-17
Cause unclear

Michelle de la Cruz González
Coahuila, Mexico
6-Jan-17
Beaten with a hammer

Name unknown
Guerrero, Mexico
7-Jan-17
Shot

J.C.N
Estado de Mexico, Mexico
11-Jan-17
Shot 16 times

Name unknown
Magdalena Contreras, Mexico
14-Jan-17
Stabbed

Anahí Tapia Llamas
Guadalajara, Mexico
18-Jan-17
Two gunshot wounds. Victim was then thrown into the street

Name unknown
Calimaya, Mexico
1-Feb-17
Mutilated

Name unknown
Municipio Centro, Mexico
5-Feb-17
Shot to death

Byanka Yañez
Matamoros, Mexico
24-Feb-17
Stabbed

Name unknown
Municipio de Chalco, Mexico
1-Mar-17
Stabbed

Name unknown
Tlajomulco, Mexico
1-Mar-17
Cause unknown; body was found in an abandoned suitcase

H. Ramirez Calderon
Guanajuato, Mexico
20-Mar-17
Shot multiple times

Paola
Tamaulipas, Mexico
20-Mar-17
Beaten, her body was thrown in the street after she was killed

Yadira Lopez Marroquin
Monterrey, Mexico
16-Apr-17
asphyxiated

Monse Morga Javier
Guerrero, Mexico
17-Apr-17
Shot to death

Yadira López Marroquín
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
18-Apr-17
Strangled

Name unknown
Michoacan, Mexico
4-May-17
Stabbed to death

Ivanna Landuchy
Tamaulipas, Mexico
12-May-17
Shot

Jennifer López
Guerrero, Mexico
20-May-17
Stabbed to death

Caricia
Guerrero, Mexico
26-May-17
Shot

Name unknown
Guerrero, Mexico
28-May-17
stoned to death

Name unknown
Puebla, Mexico
1-Jun-17
Exact cause not reported. Discovered bound with a bag over her head.

Fernanda/Tavita Montes
Colima, Mexico
4-Jun-17
Asphyxiation

Denisse de León
Ciudad Victoria, Mexico
10-Jun-17
Shot to death

Kenya
Estado de Mexico, Mexico
18-Jun-17
Cause not reported

Adriana Cruz Serrano
Veracruz, Mexico
20-Jun-17
Shot to death

Name unknown
Sinaloa, Mexico
1-Jul-17
Shot

Name unknown
Estado de Mexico, Mexico
4-Jul-17
Shot

Yadira Lopez Marroquin
Puebla, Mexico
6-Jul-17
Stabbed

Claudia Muñoz García
Altamirano, Mexico
15-Jul-17
Hit by a car

Name unknown
Reynosa, Mexico
17-Jul-17
Beaten with a stone

Name unknown
Nuevo Leon, Mexico
27-Jul-17
Shot to death

Name unknown
Morelos, Mexico
30-Jul-17
Shot to death

La Chapopota
Puebla, Mexico
13-Aug-17
Blunt force trauma to the head

Cristal
Morelos, Mexico
13-Aug-17
Shot to death

Name unknown
Morelos, Mexico
20-Aug-17
Multiple gunshot wounds

Name unknown
Chihuahua, Mexico
21-Aug-17
Not specified

La Peluchina
Colima, Mexico
23-Aug-17
Throat slit

Name unknown
Acapulco, Mexico
27-Aug-17
Shot to death

Name unknown
Durango, Mexico
27-Aug-17
Beaten

Name unknown
Chihuahua, Mexico
31-Aug-17
not reported; discovered with a bag over her head

Mendez Cuevas
Durango, Mexico
1-Sep-17
not reported

Name unknown
Estado de Mexico, Mexico
1-Sep-17
Not specified

Manuela
Fresnillo, Mexico
3-Sep-17
Stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver

Brenda Murillo Alba
Baja California Norte, Mexico
12-Sep-17
Stabbed

Name unknown
Chihuahua, Mexico
19-Sep-17
Shot to death


The Netherlands
Bianca
Arnhem, The Netherlands
29-Sep-17
Stabbed over twenty times


Pakistan
Imli
Lahore, Pakistan
21-Jan-17
Wrists slit, allegedly by her boyfriend

Muskan
Lahore, Pakistan
27-Jan-17
Throat slit. Victim was also beatene

Sitara
Sialkot, Pakistan
9-Apr-17
Shot to death

Sufaid
Nowshera, Pakistan
14-Aug-17
Shot to death

Chanda Sharmeeli
Karachi, Pakistan
30-Aug-17
Shot to death


Paraguay
Name unknown
Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
6-Dec-16
Shot


Philippines
Heart De Chavez
Metro Manila, Philippines
10-Jan-17
Shot

J. R. P. Mangalili
Bulacan, Philippines
6-Feb-17
Deliberately ran over by a vehicle

Name unknown
Philippines
13-Feb-17
Beaten

Charlotte Oquias Lapasaran Logronio
Davao, Philippines
22-Feb-17
Shot

Jheayn
Metro Manilla, Philippines
10-Apr-17
Beaten

J. R. P. Mangalili
Bulacan, Philippines
2-Jun-17
Deliberately struck by vehicle


Russia
Name unknown
Voronezh, Russia
19-Jan-17
Beaten and strangled to death, after which her apartment was set on fire


Saudi Arabia
Amna
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
1-Feb-17
Tortured to death by the police after chargers of "cross-dressing" and having "same-sex" relationships.

Meeno
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
1-Feb-17
Tortured to death by the police after chargers of "cross-dressing" and having "same-sex" relationships.


South Africa
Sihle
Eastern Cape, South Africa
6-Aug-17
Stabbed


Sweden
Madeleine Delbom
Borlänge, Sweden
24-Nov-16
Strangled and stabbed to death


Thailand
Ying
Nakorn Pathom, Thailand
13-Dec-16
Suffocated

Puriwit Chanasit (Keng)
Hatyai Songkla, Thailand
6-Jan-17
Murdered

Nampuang
Pranaknrnsri Ayuthaya, Thailand
12-Feb-17
Stabbed

P. J.
Doi Saket, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2-Mar-17
Stabbed

Rapee
Kantharalak, Srisaket, Thailand
14-Mar-17
Beaten


United States of America
India Monroe, aka India Thedarkvixen
Newport News, Virginia, USA
21-Dec-16
Multiple gunshot wounds.

Mesha Caldwell
Canton, Mississippi, USA
4-Jan-17
Shot to death

Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA
7-Jan-17
Undetermined

Jojo Striker
Toledo, Ohio, USA
8-Feb-17
Shot to death

Jaquarrius Holland
Monroe, Louisiana, USA
19-Feb-17
Shot

Tiara Richmond aka Keke Collier
Chicago, Illinois, USA
21-Feb-17
Shot

Chyna Gibson, aka Chyna Doll Dupree
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
25-Feb-17
Shot to death

Ciara McElveen
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
27-Feb-17
Multiple stab wounds.

Alphonza Watson
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
22-Mar-17
Shot to death

Kenne McFadden
San Antonio, Texas, USA
9-Apr-17
Drowned

Chay "Juicy" Reed
Miami, Florida, USA
21-Apr-17
Shot to death

Mx. Bostick
New York, New York, USA
4-May-17
Attacked with a metal pipe on the 24th of April.
Note: There has been a lot of confusion as to the gender identity of this individual. What we do know is that they were born male, and that they did for a period of time live as a female. At the time of their death, they were homeless and presenting as male. As such, we have put a gender neutral designator on this name, and are using they/them pronouns. As with every case presented, any additional information would be desired.

Sherrell Faulkner
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
16-May-17
Passed away from injuries sustained in a November 30th, 2016 attack

Imer Alvarado
Fresno, CA
17-May-17
Shot
Note: Alvarado did not identify as a transgender woman, but as a gay male. He was, nevertheless, presenting in female attire at the time of his murder, and this may have had a part in this death.

Kendra Adams, aka Josie Berrios and Kimbella Rosé
Ithaca, New York, USA
13-Jun-17
Murdered and burnt

Ebony Morgan
Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
2-Jul-17
Multiple gunshot wounds

TeeTee Dangerfield
College Park, Georgia, USA
1-Aug-17
Multiple gunshot wounds.

Gwynevere River Song
Waxahachie, Texas, USA
12-Aug-17
Shot

Kiwi Herring
Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
22-Aug-17
Shot by police in suspicious circumstances
Note: While Herring was killed by the St. Louis Police Department, allegedly while brandishing a knife at officers, there were circumstances surrounding this death that were anti-transgender in nature, including threats and actions from a neighbor that led to the confrontation that led to Herring's death.

Anthony "Bubbles" Torres
San Francisco, California, USA
9-Sep-17
Shot
Note: Like Imer Alvarado, above, Bubbles did not identify as a transgender woman. He was, nevertheless, presenting in feminine attire at the time of his murder, and this may have had a hand in this death.

Derricka Banner
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
12-Sep-17
Shot to death

Ally Lee Steinfeld
Licking, Missouri, USA
21-Sep-17
Ally was stabbed, including wounds to the genitals. Her eyes were also gouged out. Her body was burned in an attempt to conceal evidence of the crime, and some of Ally's bones were put into a garbage bag placed in a chicken coop near the residence.

Stephanie Montez
Robstown, Texas, USA
26-Oct-17
Multiple gunshot wounds

Candace Towns.
Macon, Georgia, USA
31-Oct-17
Shot to death

Venezuela
Alexandra Peña Vizcaya
Chiquinquira, Venezuela
12-Feb-17
Multiple gunshot

Name unknown
Barquisimeto, Venezuela
28-Feb-17
Shot multiple times

Alejandra Diaz
Baruta, Venezuela
25-May-17
Shot

Name unknown
Venezuela, Venezuela
29-Jul-17
Not reported

Name unknown
Chiquinquira, Venezuela
20-Aug-17
Beaten and stabbed