By Dr. Latonya Riddle-Jones For MediaNews Group

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed annually on November 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia, and to draw attention to the continued violence endured by transgender people. (Pixabay)

On a daily basis, members of the LGBTQ community face the challenge of dealing with a part of society that does not accept them for who they are.

Sometimes, negative feedback comes in the way of hateful words, but other times it’s much worse, especially for those in the transgender community, who are often victims of violence.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed annually on Nov. 20 to memorialize those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia, and to draw attention to the continued violence endured by transgender people. It began in 1999, when advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith held a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman killed in 1998, and today it honors all the transgender individuals lost in the decades since.

Violence spiking in 2020

There is a dangerous trend right now in the Unite States and Puerto Rico involving a growing number of murders in the trans community, with the majority of victims being Black or Latinx trans women.

According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), 2020 has already seen at least 33 transgender or nonconforming people fatally shot or killed in other violent ways. That is the highest number on record since HRC began tracking these deaths in 2013.

Each of these fatal cases is unique, but at the center of each one is the transphobia and hate that the perpetrators of this violence have for their victims. And when trans women of color are the victims, issues of race also come into play.

Lack of acceptance

As an LGBTQ-focused health clinic in Detroit, Corktown Health Center cares for many transgender patients. And we hear from them a familiar story.

This shows how far society still has to go when it comes to accepting human beings and treating everyone with dignity and respect.

Suicide risks

Even if there is not a fatal or violent incident, continued mistreatment leads to some dangerous mental health realities for transgender people:

According to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute’s report on “Suicide Thoughts and Attempts Among Transgender Adults,” the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and attempts among transgender adults is much higher than in the general population:

• 98 percent of respondents who had experienced four instances of discrimination and violence in the past year thought about suicide that year.
• Access to gender-affirming medical care has been associated with a lower prevalence of suicide thoughts and attempts among LGBTQ individuals.

That last point is a role that Corktown is proud to take on with our inclusive and culturally competent care of all patients, which is at the center of our core beliefs that all patients should be treated with respect, regardless of how they identify. Our team offers support to transgender patients both for physical health care and mental health treatment, which is just as important.

Fighting back

There is some positive movement. For example, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office and Equality Michigan, a nonprofit which conducts anti-violence advocacy for the LGBTQ community, have partnered on an initiative to boost support and services for crime victims. The prosecutor’s office will connect LGBTQ crime victims with case managers from Equality Michigan, which they realized was necessary after seeing an uptick in anti-LGBTQ violence.

In 2018, 431 hate crime incidents were reported to law enforcement, according to FBI statistics. In 70 incidents, or 16 percent, the victims were targeted for their sexual orientation, and we know there is underreporting.

The HRC’s “Dismantling a Culture of Violence” report offers a detailed breakdown of how the dehumanization and stigma directed at the trans community helps allow these deaths to happen, and how we can fight back against this deadly trend.

On Nov. 20, Transgender Day of Remembrance, let’s honor the memory of all those who we’ve lost needlessly, and work together to improve as a society in how we treat members of the trans and other marginalized communities.

Dr. Latonya Riddle-Jones is medical director at Corktown Health Center in Detroit, and an assistant professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Corktown Health Center is the only health clinic in Michigan focused on the needs of LGBTQ patients. Visit corktownhealth.org.