We belong. We’re valid. We’re not. Going. Anywhere.

It’s Transgender Awareness Week, opens a new window (November 13th - 19th) again. And Transgender Day of Remembrance, opens a new window (November 20th). Again. The day that we remember the transgender individuals who were murdered this year. That we remember the ones we can, because they weren’t deadnamed in their obituaries, because they were found.

A deadname is the name that the transgender person went by before they changed their names. Not every trans person has a deadname, but many do. I don’t want to have to type this up. I don’t want to have to explain, year after year, about those who get killed for being who they are. I don’t want to have to stay polite, stay calm, and casually explain how many confirmed deaths there were this year.

You might have seen my name on a few other LGBTQ+ Services, opens a new window posts, and other pieces I’ve done for the site. I’m Tara Wright, opens a new window, a library page, and a nonbinary trans person. So this information isn’t just clinical for me. It’s personal.

As of the time of this writing, the final numbers for the world haven’t been released by the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, opens a new window. However, as of this day of writing, the number of transgender people killed this year in the US and Puerto Rico is 45, opens a new window. That’s more than this time last year. There were also 6 deaths after last year’s post went to publication. I have included their names here as well.

My want to not have to do this isn’t because I don’t want to participate in the activism. It’s because I wish that this didn’t have to be. That people weren’t getting killed for being trans, or even for being mistaken as trans (which has been reported before as well).

It’s exhausting. Every year it feels like a reminder of breaking through a statistic. Trans individuals already have high statistics for self-inflicted death, to add in the statistic of being murdered, it’s just. It’s so exhausting. And those numbers go higher if you’re a trans person who isn’t white.

Last year I was sharp, but polite. This year? I’m just tired. Having to explain, to justify, year after year, that people like us are getting murdered for being us? It’s draining. Constantly having to prove that we’re people, that our lives have worth? It’s infuriating. But I don’t even have the energy to be mad this year.

And the worst part is, it’s not even just outside the LGBTQ+ community that anti-trans hostility comes from. While much of the violence comes from outside the community, open hostility and aggression still comes at us from within. And despite what some online are latching onto, the T belongs. Transgender individuals deserve to be safe, full stop. I don’t care if they’re hetero. I don’t care if they’re ‘passing’. I don’t care whatever arguments that people bring up for why someone ‘isn’t really trans’. You don’t get to decide that. Only they do.

We belong. We’re valid. We’re not. Going. Anywhere.

Stop trying to shove us out of the community we belong in.

Stop killing us, and our Black, Latino, Indigenous, Puerto Rican sisters, brothers, and siblings for being who we are.

Do better.

• Asia Jynae Foster, 22, in Houston, Texas. November 20^th, 2020.
• Kimberly Fial, 55, in San Jose, California. November 22^nd, 2020.
• Chae’Meshia Simms, 30s, in Richmond, Virginia. November 23^rd, 2020.
• Jaheim Pugh Jaheim Barbie, 19, in Prichard, Alabama. December 13^th, 2020.
• Courtney “Eshay” Key, 25, in Chicago, Illinois. December 25^th, 2020.
• Alexandria Winchester, 24, in the Bronx, New York. December 26^th, 2020.
• Tyianna Alexander, 28, in Chicago, Illinois. January 6^th, 2021.
• Samuel Edmund Damián Valentín, in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. January 9^th, 2021.
• Bianca “Muffin” Bankz, 30s, in Atlanta, Georgia. January 17^th, 2021.
• Dominique Jackson, in Jackson, Mississippi. January 25^th, 2021.
• Fifty Bandz, 21, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. January 28^th, 2021.
• Alexus Braxton, 45, in Miami, Florida. February 4^th, 2021.
• Chyna Carrillo, 25, in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. February 18^th, 2021.
• Jeffrey “JJ” Bright, 16, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. February 22^nd, 2021.
• Jasmine Cannady, 22, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. February 22^nd, 2021.
• Jenna Franks, 34, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. February 24^th, 2021.
• Diamond Kyree Sanders, 23, in Cincinnati, Ohio. March 3^rd, 2021.
• Rayanna Pardo, 26, in Los Angeles, California. March 17^th, 2021.
• Aidelen Evans, 24, in Port Arthur, Texas. March 18^th, 2021.
• Jaida Peterson, 29, in Springfield, Missouri. April 8^th, 2021.
• Remy Fennell, 24, in Chicago, Illinois. April 21^st, 2021.
• Natalia Smut, 24, in Milpitas, California. April 23^rd, 2021.
• Iris Santos, 22, in Houston, Texas. April 23^rd, 2021.
• Tiffany Thomas, 38, in Dallas, Texas. April 24^th, 2021.
• Keri Washington, 49, in Clearwater, Florida. May 1^st, 2021.
• Jahaira DeAlto, 42, in Boston, Massachusetts. May 2^nd, 2021.
• Thomas Hardin, 35, in York, South Carolina. May 2^nd, 2021.
• Whispering Wind Bear Spirit, 41, in York, Pennsylvania. May 4^th, 2021.
• Sophie Vásquez, 36, in Brookhaven, Georgia. May 4^th, 2021.
• Danika “Danny” Henson, 31, in Baltimore, Maryland. May 4^th, 2021.
• Serenity Hollis, 24, in Albany, Georgia. May 8^th, 2021.
• Poe Black, 21, in Niland, California. May 11^th, 2021.
• Oliver “Ollie” Taylor, 17, in Gervais, Oregon. May 12^th, 2021.
• Tierramarie Lewis, 36, in Cleveland, Ohio. June 12^th, 2021.
• EJ Boykin, 23, in Lynchburg, Virginia. June 14^th, 2021.
• Taya Ashton, 20, in Suitland, Prince George’s County, Maryland. July 17^th, 2021.
• Shai Vanderpump, 23, in Trenton, New Jersey. July 30^th, 2021.
• Miss CoCo, 44, in Dallas, Texas. August 7^th, 2021.
• Pooh Johnson, 25, in Shreveport, Louisiana. August 23^rd, 2021.
• Zoella “Zoey” Rose Martinez, 20, in Maple Valley, Washington. August 31^st, 2021.
• Disaya Monaee, 32, in Chicago, Illinois. September 6^th, 2021.
• Briana Hamilton, 25, in Chicago, Illinois. September 17^th, 2021.
• Kiér Laprí Kartier, 21, in Arlington, Texas. September 30^th, 2021.
• Royal Poetical Starz, 26, in Miami Gardens, Florida. October 2^nd, 2021.
• Mel Groves, 25, in Jackson, Mississippi. October 11^th, 2021.
• Jessi Hart, 42, in Banks, Oregon. October 17^th, 2021.
• Jo Acker, 26, in Boise, Idaho. October 26^th, 2021.
• Rikkey Outumuro, 39, in Centralia, Washington. October 30^th, 2021.
• Marquiisha Lawrence, 28, in Greenville, South Carolina. November 4^th, 2021