Three in four trans people killed in the US in past year were people of colour

75 per cent of all transgender individuals killed in the US in the past 12 months were people of colour, a report has revealed. 

Published by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and its Public Education and Research programme, ahead of Trans Day of Remembrance (20 November), the research highlighted that Black trans woman were disproportionately the victims of deadly violence.

Between November 2023 and November 2024, at least 36 trans or gender-expansive people have been killed, up from 33 in the previous year, the study revealed.

Three-quarters of those victims were people of colour, and close to 78 per cent were transgender women. The findings showed that 61.1 per cent were trans women of colour and half the total number were Black trans women. 

And more than 54 per cent of those killed were under the age of 35, with 14-year-old Pauly Likens, who was found dead in Sharon, Pennsylvania, in June, the youngest ever recorded by the HRC. Twenty-three victims were killed by an intimate partner, a friend or a member of their family, the research showed. 

Since 2013, when the human rights group began recording the deaths of trans and gender-expansive, 372 people have lost their lives. 

‘Disturbing reality’

Tori Cooper, the director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, said: “Over half of the victims reported were Black trans women, a disturbing reality that reflects the trend of violence that continues to plague our community which disproportionately faces racism, misogynoir, sexism, transphobia and a myriad of other societal issues.” 

HRC president Kelley Robinson was quick to lay the blame at the feet of those in the public eye who push hate.

“In the [past] year, we’ve seen harmful legislation and dangerous rhetoric create unsafe spaces for those who exist outside the gender binary, and the tone set by these bills has emboldened hate on a terrifying scale,” she said. 

“Now more than ever, we must continue to fight for our transgender and gender-non-conforming siblings to ensure their voices are heard and their memory isn’t lost.”

Meanwhile, Transgender Europe and Central Asia has released its annual report, which showed that 350 trans people had been killed across the world between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024, up from 321 the previous year.

Trans Day of Remembrance, first marked in 1999, honours the memory of people who have been murdered in acts of transphobic violence, and hundreds of vigils took place around the UK.

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