800+ transgender people murdered in 4 years
Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran. He is the…
More than 800 transgender people have been murdered worldwide in the last four years, according to the Trans Murder Monitoring project.
The monitoring project, organized by Transgender Europe, reported that the majority of the murders occurred in Central and South America, which accounted for 643 of 816 reported murders.
Murders were also reported in Asia (59), North America (53), Europe (53), Oceania (4) and Africa (4).
The pattern overlaps some of the countries with anti-LGBT laws, but differs markedly in Africa, where many countries have such laws, and in the Americas, where fewer countries outlaw homosexual behavior.
The yearly totals have grown from 2008, when 141 case were reported, to last year’s 248. It’s unknown how much of the increase is caused by higher murder rates, how much by the increased prominence of transgender people, and how much by improved reporting of murders.