Worst Year For Violence

This year is shaping up to be very deadly for us.

Hate crimes are increasing, discrimination is increasing, and it seems like all the riffraff are crawling out of the swamp.

Violence Against Transgender People is On The Rise
WNYC
October 16, 2018

Twenty years ago, two men brutally beat and tortured Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old gay college student in Laramie, Wyoming. Shepard died six days later — on October 12th, 1998.

But it took until 2009 for President Barack Obama to sign the Matthew Shepard Act, which updated the federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

But a law on the books doesn’t mean people are actually protected. Some states still haven’t expanded their own hate crime language and people in the transgender community say they feel especially vulnerable.

As transgender people in the U.S. gain more visibility, they also face increasing discrimination, harassment and violence.

Over the last five years, violence against this community has been on the rise — and 2018 is shaping up to be among the deadliest on record. So far, at least 22 transgender women have been murdered, most of them women of color, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Then out in Chicago last week…

Murders Of Two Chicago Transgender Women Mirror Anti-Trans Violence Across U.S.
WBEZ
By Char Daston
October 18, 2018

Advocates say murders of transgender women have been on the rise nationwide in the last five years. At least 22 trans women have been murdered so far in 2018, according to the Human Rights Campaign, and the majority have been trans women of color.

Tracking the exact number of deaths can be difficult. Police investigations often identify trans victims by names they no longer use.

Chicago has seen two trans women murdered in the last five weeks: Dejanay Stanton, 24, and 31-year-old Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier. A memorial service for Carter Frazier will be held Saturday.

Do you want change well go out and vote November 6^th.

Almost half of the voters didn’t go out and vote last elections and the winner is going to the candidates who can get the most people to the polls.

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I am away this morning teaching two classes in Public Health down at Southern Connecticut State University.