Latina trans woman shot dead on Boxing Day, making 2020 far and away the deadliest year in the US since records began
A demonstrator waves the trans Pride flag in Madrid, Spain. (Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Alexandria Winchester, a 24-year-old Latina transgender woman, was shot dead on Boxing Day in the Bronx, New York.
She was a client of the Ali Forney Centre, which helps homeless LGBT+ youth, which posted about her death and said she may have known her killer.
“This week we learned that one of our clients, Alexandria Winchester, a young transgender woman of colour, was murdered on the streets of our city,” the organisation said on Facebook.
“The details about her murder are still emerging, and it is believed she knew her murderer. We do not know whether she was targeted because of her identity.
“We are shattered, but our dedication is not broken. We are working with our community partners to host a vigil. As we mourn this loss, we continue our fight for trans lives, and we hold space for our trans coworkers and clients to bring light to her life and death, to say her name, to hold community, and to affirm that trans lives matter and trans lives are beautiful.”
Lindsey Clark, associate director of the HRC’s Transgender Justice Initiative, said in a statement: “Alexandria mattered to her community and to the world. The loss of another transgender person in 2020 is devastating.”
Alexandria was at least the 44th trans or gender non-conforming person to be murdered in the US in 2020, the Human Rights Campaign reports, amid an epidemic of violence against the trans community.
The sobering figure makes 2020 the worst year since the advocacy group started keeping track of the violent deaths of trans people in 2013 — and it surpassed the previous record in October, with three months left in the year.
“This epidemic of violence, which is particularly impacting transgender women of colour, must and can be stopped,” said HRC president Alphonso David in a statement at the time.
“We must work to address the factors that underpin this culture of violence and openly discuss how the intersection of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia work to deprive transgender and gender non-conforming people of equal access to opportunity and necessities like employment, housing and health care.”
The new total, which the HRC suspects is an underestimate, surpasses the 27 reported killings of trans people in all of 2019, 26 reported killings in 2018, 29 in 2017, 23 in 2016, 21 in 2015, 20 in 2014 and 19 in 2013.
