Black transgender women consist of nearly half of the 36 known murders of trans and gender non-conforming people over the last year, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The number of such murders has risen over the past few years, and transphobia and anti-trans policies have made these groups even more susceptible to poverty, social isolation, illness, and violence, the HRCs report said.The report covers the 12-month period from the day following 2023 Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) 2023 (November 21, 2023) through TDOR of this year (November 20, 2024). It found that 77.8% of all victims were trans women, 61.1% were women of color, and half were Black trans women. Additionally, 54.3% were under the age of 35; 21.7% were killed by intimate partners, and 8.7% were killed by friends or family members. Only 11.1% of the victims were trans men. Related I am a trans man incarcerated in a womans prison where feminism is a four-letter word I was maliciously told that feminism is considered an act of attempting to interfere with prison operations by an employee. The HRC began tracking these murders in 2013, and the organization has counted 327 murders since that time. Two-thirds of these deaths occurred in the following 10 states (ranked from highest number of deaths to lowest): Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, and North Carolina. In these states, 10% occurred in Texas and 9% occurred in Florida. Both have anti-trans laws on their books. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Since 2013, 38.2% of all cases havent resulted in arrests, and only 48.1% resulted in a criminal conviction. Nearly 69.3% of all the murders were committed with a firearm. The more recent murders have occurred amid a political climate where Republicans introduced over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures nationwide in 2023 and over 500 in 2024 of these, 85 were signed into law in 2023 and 40 were signed into law in 2024. Many of the bills that became law targeted gender-affirming care for trans minors, banned trans individuals from playing sports, or rolled back LGBTQ+-inclusive school policies that affirming queer identities.Proponents of this legislation have demonized trans people and their allies with hate-filled rhetoric and misinformation about indoctrinating, sexualizing, and mutilating children that embolden anti-trans stigma and violence. Furthermore, right-wing influencers have weaponized this rhetoric to spread hateful anti-trans messages on social media and to attack corporations and businesses that support their LGBTQ+ employees and customers. Trans and gender-expansive people (the reports term for anyone whose gender expression differs from the biological sex they were assigned at birth, including nonbinary people, Two-spiritpeople, and cross dressers) face transphobia and anti-trans stigma from multiple sources, from state and federal policies and discriminatory institutional practices in schools, workplaces, and doctors offices in their communities, to rejection, abuse, and violence in their interpersonal relationships, the report said.These multiple forms of stigma result in lower access to status, opportunity, and resources, higher risk of poverty and homelessness/housing insecurity, social isolation, and worse physical and mental health outcomes for trans people, all of which results in increased risk for violence, the report added.The epidemic of violence against transgender and gender-expansive people is a national tragedy, HRC President Kelley Robinson wrote in the report. Each life stolen from us in this way is the result of a society that demeans and devalues anyone who dares challenge the gender binary. This year, weve seen an explosion of violent and hateful rhetoric aimed at the LGBTQ+ communitywords that make both physical violence and discriminatory legislation more palatable for those in need of a scapegoat. This is one of many reasons why, last year, HRC declared a State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ people for the first time in our over 40-year history. To help prevent future violence, the HRC urged lawmakers to pass the Equality Act federal legislation that would add gender identity and sexual orientation to pre-existing anti-discrimination laws and to pass similar laws on the local level; prohibit the use of anti-LGBTQ+ and trans panic defenses by assailants in courtrooms; address the over-policing, police brutality, misconduct and harassment issues that disproportionately harm Black citizens; decriminalize sex work; increase LGBTQ+ data collection at the federal and state levels; and increase access to name and gender marker updates on identification documents.The actual overall number of murdered individuals is likely higher, the report added, but such deaths are often under-reported due to misgendering by family, police and media; causes of death being unknown or not being publicly provided by legal authorities; made unavailable and also due to victims of violence who dont contact police for fear of harassment.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.