350

Today, the 20th November, is International Transgender Day Of Remembrance. Much has been written on many, many websites, blogs and social media about this, yet very little will have been written in mainstream newspapers, there will not be a piece on the BBC ~ or indeed any other broadcasters ~ news bulletins.  Yet over the last year there have been reliable reports of 350 people murdered, simply because they are, or were thought to be, transgender. 

This frightening figure needs a few caveats, these are the reliable reports that can be substantiated through official records ~ this means that where the gender identity of the victim is not recorded and in the public domain that victim is not included. Clearly the number is much higher, unless you can believe that in the whole of Africa there was only one victim of transphobic murder, unless you can believe that only 2 trans people were murdered in Russia, unless you believe that there were no victims in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yeman, Iraq, Iran and Turkey then the real number is much higher.

TDOR 2020 data taken from Trans Murder Monitoring shows that:

• 350 trans and gender-diverse people were murdered, 6% more than in the TMM update 2019;
• 98% of those murdered globally were trans women or trans feminine people;
• 62% of murdered trans people whose occupation is known were sex workers;
• People of colour make up 79% of the 28 trans people murdered in the USA;
• 11 trans people murdered in Europe; 50% were migrants;
• 82% of all the murders registered happened in Central and South America; 43% in Brazil;
• 38% of the murders took place on the street and 22% in their own residence;
• The average age of those murdered is 31 years old; the youngest being 15 years old.

It feels strange that this is ignored, just doesn't enter on the public consciousness, these last few years here in the UK we have heard so many strident, yet miss informed, attacks on Trans people (mostly trans women!) that get the attention of media, indeed many of us suspect that these attacks are actually fuelled and encouraged by our partisan media. Surely it must be time for this to stop, surely it must be time that we like other minority groups got support and protection from our media and our Government ~ but no we have the exact opposite, the Government's vacillation and then refusal to act in accordance with their own consultation on reform of the GRA and the media's support of transphobic attacks by both celebrities and professional hate mongers alike has led to an environment where we are now the last minority that it is socially acceptable to hate!

On the whole we do not ask for much, we want to be accepted as who we are, we want people to understand that we are the experts on who we are, we want to be left in peace to just get on with our very normal lives, we want to be allowed to live!

Sorry, today no pictures, no jokes ~ today it's just not funny.