Wednesday, January 03, 2018

How TransGriot Will Be Counting Trans Murders In 2018

Image result for anti-trans murders
When the clock struck midnight to start 2018, it also closed out my count of anti-trans murders at 24 persons

Others were higher for other reasons like counting from the previous TDOR to the next one, or starting their count on October 1, or including one person twice as I saw on one list.  One list even counted the police involved shootings of Kiwi Herring and Sean Hake and wanted to start an argument with me as to why I DIDN'T include either in my count.

Short answer is unless the cops involved were indicted for murder, you can't legitimately count them as such.

The inconsistency in the trans murder counts last year didn't sit well with me because I'm a 'just the facts' person, and there are times when I need to know for media interview or lobbying purposes exactly how many people were lost due to anti-trans violence in the current year.

That's why when you see the inevitable lists of US trans deaths or posts about them on TransGriot this year, my count on TransGriot of those deaths will run from January 1-December 31, 2018   

Not November 20, 2017-November 20, 2018 in the traditional TDOR way.  Or October 1, 2017-November 20, 2018 as one so-called 'official' list does it . 

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TransGriot will count the trans deaths that occur from January 1-December 31 of the same year.  I''ll continue to use the Remembering our Dead standards.  Suicides will not be counted, and once again. no police involved shootings unless the police officer in question is charged with murder.

Accuracy and consistency in how we count the deaths of our trans siblings matters now more than ever, especially with a hostile anti-trans federal administration in place.

That's why when I start recording the number of deaths in 2018, it will be people who were actually killed in 2018.

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