Arrest Made In Zella Ziona Smith Case

That was quick!  Montgomery County,MD police have announce they have made an arrest in the Zella Ziona Smith murder case..

20 year old Rico Hector Leblond of Germantown was arrested and charged with first degree murder in the Zella Ziona Smith case.   She was shot in the head Thursday at 5:49 PM during an altercation between herself and Leblond while in a service alley between the Montgomery Village Plaza and Montgomery Village Crossing and died at 8:12 PM at a nearby hospital.

Police said that Ziona and Leblond knew each other and had 'some degree of friendship' prior to her murder. Her death was ruled a homicide by the Montgomery County Office of the Chief Medical Examiner

Leblond is being held without bond, and has a Monday bond review scheduled in Rockville, MD at 1;00 PM.

Will be keeping an eye on this case to see if justice is served in it.  

Number 22- Another Trans Person Killed In Maryland

According to the Metro Weekly, another young trans woman has been murdered, this time in Gaithersburg, MD.

And as you probably guessed, the person was subsequently misgendered by FOX5 stenographers

21 year old D. Smith (not using the deadname) was shot in the head yesterday at 5:49 PM during an altercation between herself and the shooter near the intersection of Lost Knife Rd and Contour Rd near the Montgomery Village Plaza and Montgomery Village Crossing shopping centers.

An eyewitness to the crime told FOX5 that he saw the shooter standing over Ms. Smith and firing.  He attempted to chase down the shooter, who reloaded and attempted to shoot him but the gun fortuitously jammed.    A Montgomery County police helicopter and K-9 units were called in to assist in the search for the perpetrator but have been unsuccessful in locating him so far.

Smith was transported to a nearby hospital where she died from her injuries at 8:12 PM EDT..

This makes the 22nd trans person killed in what is unfortunately shaping up to be a potentially record breaking year for anti-trans murders   And once again I'm not happy this person will not make it to their 30th, much less their 25th birthday.

This is still a developing news situation that has been complicated further by the transphobic misgendering of Ms. Smith by DC media,  

If anyone in the DC metro area has photos of Ms. Smith or knows her femme name, please get that info to me as soon as possible.

Rest in power, Zella.   We won't rest until the perp who took you away from us far too soon is captured and doing time for his crime

TransGriot Update: Was just advised by Elizabeth Rivera moments after completing this post that our murdered trans person's femme name was Zella Ziona.

This also means we have lost another trans woman of color

Argentine Trans Activist Diana Sacayan Murdered

There has been an unfortunate spike in anti-trans murders in Pope Francis' home country, with three happening this month.   Ominously, all three have been trans activists.

The latest was respected Argentine activist Diana Sacayan, who was found dead by fellow activists in her Buenos Aires apartment Tuesday with multiple stab wounds.  Speculation is that she was murdered over the weekend  

Sacayan was active in MAL, Moviemento Antidiscriminatorio de Liberacion, the local LGBT human rights organization in Argentina, and she was active in international activist circles as an alternate member of the Trans Secretariat of the International Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Assn (ILGA)

In 2012, she made history in her home country by being part of the first group of Argentine trans persons to change their gender markers without having to seek approval from healthcare professionals under the provisions of Argentina's groundbreaking Gender Identity Law.  

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner handed Sacayan her new government ID in a live televised ceremony




Buenos Aires police are searching for two men who may have known Ms. Sacayan, and the building superintendent reported that the door to her apartment was broken from the inside, indicating she may have known her attackers.

Rest in power, Diana.   Hope the people who did this will be swiftly caught and punished for this crime.  

Arrest Made In Keisha Jenkins Murder

Thanks to a tip from a concerned citizen to Philadelphia PD homicide detectives, one of the wastes of DNA who participated in the brutal October 6 attack on Keisha Jenkins has been arrested.

That tip led them to 24 year Pedro Redding, who was arrested Sunday and charged in the murder of Jenkins.   Redding has a prior history of criminal activity, was denied bail,  and was arraigned by a judge on murder, conspiracy and weapons charges.

Redding is part of a pack of men who are suspected of committing other robberies in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia where he lived..  The Jenkins case at this time is not being investigated as a hate crime

Three other people are being sought by detectives in this ongoing murder investigation

Trial Postponed For Accused Murderer Of Ty Underwood

Right on the heels of the bad news we received out of Dallas in the Tovar case comes word from Smith County east of Dallas.

Jury selection in the trial of 21 year old Carlton Ray Champion, Jr has been postponed and the trial date continued until December.  

Champion was arrested January 29 on a parole violation in Gregg County, transferred to Smith County and charged with first degree murder in the killing of 24 year old Ty Underwood.

Underwood and Champion had been dating prior to her murder

Champion's defense attorney asked the judge for more time to prepare a defense in the murder case. and the request was granted.

We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this case as it develops to see if Ty gets justice, or like Kenney, Carlton Champion gets off for killing a trans woman.

Janette Tovar Won't Receive Justice

Been hearing rumblings from my Dallas area trans family this might be happening in the Janette Tovar case,, and what has been feared by the Dallas trans community and Janette's cousin Marisa Anguiano has sadly come to pass.

It was confirmed by the Texas Observer that Janette's killer, Jason Kenney is getting ten years probation.

When he enters a Dallas County courtroom tomorrow, the 29 year old Kenney is expected to plead guilty to felony aggravated assault as part of a plea deal.   He has basically done two months of jail time for assaulting her in an October 2012 domestic dispute that turned violent.

Tovar and Kenney had been in a relationship for a year when Kenney slammed Tovar’s head into the concrete in the 830 block of West Davis Street, then continued to assault Tovar when they returned home to 918 W. 8th St. 

Tovar subsequently died of according to an autopsy performed by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office of blunt force trauma to the head.

It's just another infuriating slap in the face to not only Janette Tovar's family and all who loved her, but the Dallas area trans community.  Janette Tovar's murderer is walking the streets.

It's also jacked up cases like this that help grease the skids for more anti-trans murders..

Trans Woman Number 16 Has Been Murdered- RIP Tamara

Once again I'm waking up to hear about another trans woman of color being killed.  This time it was in Kansas City, MO and the trans woman in question is a Latina.

36 year old Tamara Dominguez is the latest name we will be lighting a candle for at this November`s TDOR memorial services.   She was mugged,. then run over multiple times in a church parking lot by what is described as a man driving a black Chevy Avalanche SUV at 3:00 AM on Saturday.  

Dominguez was rushed to a hospital, but died on Monday.

Kansas City PD suspects it is a hate crime, but are reluctant to call it that because this is still an active investigation and  are looking for that SUV and its driver.

Dominguez is now the 16th trans person and the third Latina killed in what is shaping up to be a bloody year of trans feminine murders.

And the same question I asked of the Black cis community is also applicable to the Latino cis community as well.  When will the lives of your trans Latina sisters matter enough for you to speak up and condemn the murders being aimed at them?

#TransLatinaLivesMatter

How about demonstrating your support of your Latina trans sisters by signing this We The People White House petition calling for a federal investigation into the unacceptable levels of anti-trans violence aimed at trans women of color?   It needs 100K signatures by September 10 to trigger a formal WH response to it and we have at the time I am writing this 2,448 signatures.

The family is also trying to raise $3.500 for the funeral and to send Tamara's body back to Mexico for burial, so if you have some cash burning a hole in your purse or wallet, please consider donating to help her

As usual, stay tuned to this TransGriot channel for any updated news I get concerning this latest hate crime aimed at our community..

Don't Even Dare Part Your Lips To Say 'All Trans Lives Matter'...

When it is my young trans people who are being slaughtered along with trans Latinas in 2015.

Please do not part your lips to say that vanillacentric privilege laden 'All Trans Lives Matter' crap.  Not in the mood to hear that from some white trans people, especially after a week in which the deaths of FOUR Black trans women in different parts of the country were announced, one of them was in Texas, and the four trans people in question were all under 35.

As my Texas trans elder Sharyn Grayson said to me earlier in the week when we were talking about it, "Our babies are being killed."

Yes ma'am they are, and some of the people doing it share my ethnic heritage.   It's why I have zero tolerance for that 'All Trans Lives Matter line.  It's insulting and problematic to say for the same damned reasons as that jacked up marinating in white supremacy 'All Lives Matter' response to ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬.

Let Moni school you on something right now.  There are because of whiteness and white supremacy, some trans lives that matter more than others.  The narrative about trans femininity has been focused on white trans women ever since Christine Jorgenson stepped off the plane in 1953, and now in the 2K15 attention and focus is finally being paid to trans women of color for something besides our murders, and some of y'all are still hatin' about that..

I repeat,  we have had FOUR Black trans women's deaths announced in this week alone and five in this month of August that still isn't over yet.  This is a crisis situation that deserves immediate attention and action to solve it.
‪
#‎BlackTransLivesMatter‬

Some of you may not care about Black trans peoples lives, but I, my trans elders and our Black cis trans allies damned sure do. Those kids are my next generation of trans people, and it deeply concerns me, my trans elders and cis Black allies they are being eviscerated before they have even had a chance to live their lives and make whatever contributions to society they would have possibly made.  

If you're saying 'so what?' to that point or the problematic life expectancy average of a Black trans woman being age 35, better rethink that.   If my 34 year old self hadn't kept a cool head and gotten myself out of a potentially dangerous situation in 1996, I wouldn't be here to talk about it, much less make the contributions to trans kind that I have made since then. 

This blog wouldn't exist either.

We Black trans peeps have talents that we can contribute to this community.  We may also be the ones destined to do some great things for humankind in general.  But we can't do that or make those contributions to society while buried in a grave.

I'll bet if the script was flipped and we had young white trans women under 30 dying at the same rate as Black and Latina ones have been in 2015, we would already have the 100,000 signatures on that White House We The People petition calling for the federal investigation of anti-trans violence and then some. 

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton would be saying it from the Democratic campaign trail, and Hollywood's trans supportive allies would already be talking about 'stopping the orgy of violence aimed at young  trans people.'

So no, don't even dare part your lips to let that infuriating and insulting 'All Trans Lives Matter' comment pass through your lips when some of these trans kids have yet to be buried..

It's fairly obvious some trans lives matter more than others, and we need to keep it real on that point.

And Kandis Makes 15

This is getting out of control now.   This is the third Black trans woman killed or has had her death announced this week

This is 35 year old Kandis Capri of Phoenix, AZ.   She was shot to death on Tuesday and pronounced dead from the four gunshot wound she received at a Phoenix hospital.   Her purse and phone is missing, and her mother was notified by tight lipped Phoenix PD t 5:30 AM local time on Wednesday.

I say tight lipped because they haven't said anything about this case, the Phoenix media has been mute about it, and what I know about it I had to read an article in The Guardian with Kandis' mother Andria Gaines just to get the basics.that I've written here.

As of this writing Phoenix PD hasn't even published a number so that people with potential leads to solve this case an call either Crimestoppers or the detectives working the case.   But with Phoenix having some amazing activists in the area, hope that will change soon..

Kandis Capri makes number 15 in a year that is rapidly becoming a deadly one for US based trans women, and we still have 4r months to go.  far too many of those deaths have been overwhelmingly of Black and Latina trans women, and far too many of them this year have been under 30.

If #BlackTransLivesMatter Black America, prove it to me and your trans kin.  Sign the Fran Watson created White House We The People petition (that I have already signed) that seeks to begin a federal investigation into the anti-trans violence that is snuffing out far too many young Black trans people.

We have talents as trans people we can contribute to the greater African-American community and society.  But we can't do that if we're lying dead in a grave.

Rest in power and peace Kandis.

Missing NC Trans Woman Angel Elisha Walker's Remains Found

As if we trans peeps didn't have enough grief to deal with right now with two murders this week while awaiting confirmation from Phoenix about still another Black transwoman being killed, been advised courtesy of a QNotes story by Matt Comer that the remains of 20 year old trans woman Angel Elisha Walker were found Thursday after a search of a property in Johnston County, NC by law enforcement officials.

She disappeared October 30, 2014 while driving her 2000 silver Pontiac Sunfire westward from Salisbury, NC and was reported missing by her mother on November 11.  Walker's burned out car was found two weeks after the investigation began in Sampson County, NC.

Walker's remains were found by law enforcement officials at 7:30 PM EDT on a property outside Smithfield, NC in the woods behind a house there.

23 year old Angel Arias, a known member of the Latin Kings street gang, was arrested and charged with murder and felony larceny of a motor vehicle.   He is being held without bond in the Johnston County jail on unrelated drug charges pending a return to Rowan County.

Will be keeping an eye on his case as well to see if justice is served in it.   Rest in power and in peace Elisha.

H/T QNotes

Damn, Damn, Damn! Ashton Is Number 14

Okay, at this point I am starting to feel like Florida Evans in terms of hearing the news about another trans person that won't ive to see their 50th, much less their 40th or 30th birthdays.  

I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of writing these posts about another young Black trans person being murdered before they have even had a chance to live their lives.

Meet 25 year old Ashton O'Hara of Detroit, who was murdered on July 14.  Ashton is sadly now the 14th trans person murdered in this deadly year of 2015 that has exceeded in 8 months the entire total of US trans murders for all of 2014.   And once again, Ashton is another trans and gender variant person under the age of 30  who has been taken away from us far too soon. 

We've had five murders announced in August alone and this month still isn't over yet.  And yeah, this is the second one in Detroit in 2015.  Amber Monroe was the other one, and the last report I had was her killer has yet to be found.

Once again, when will our #BlackTransLivesMatter?  And far too often, the people killing us are other Black people.   That was the case in this latest murder in which we already have an arrest in this case.

O'Hara's suspected killer, 37 year old Larry B.Gaulding is facing a first degree murder charge in a trial set to begin on September 24.   Let's pack the courtroom and ensure that justice is served in this case.

One thing I am happy to see is that a dialogue has been opened up between the Detroit PD and the local community that will hopefully result in a reduction in crimes aimed at the trans population.  

We also need other cis Black folks to stop cosigning on the conservafool driven hatred of trans people for their nefarious political purposes.  We're tired of y'all in Black Cis World thinking that the way to be a 'good Christian' is to mimic white fundamentalists conservafools who have a deep seated hatred of blackness and Black people. .  

As per usual, I'll be keeping up with this case as well in order to see if Ashton got justice.

Mia Henderson Case Update

Thanks to Jen Fischetti, I have been advised that the Baltimore PD has solved the case involving our departed sister Mia Henderson.

You may recall that the 26 year old Henderson's lifeless body was found in an alley near the 3400 block of Piedmont Ave in the Hanlon-Longmont neighborhood back on July 16, 2014.

On August 6, the Baltimore PD announced they were filing murder charges against Shawn Oliver, who is currently incarcerated at a state penal facility in Hagerstown, MD on an unrelated conviction.

Turns out that Oliver was attempting to rob Henderson, and she fought him before she was killed   That fight led to the discovery of DNA evidence under Mia's fingernails.

Of course, her family is pleased with the new developments in this case along with the Baltimore area trans community..  Stay tuned to these TransGriot electronic pages to see if Henderson gets justice in this case and Oliver gets to do some additional time in the Hagerstown Iron Bar Motel.

We Mourn A 13th Trans Woman's Murder This Year

Another trans person has been murdered, and this time the scene shifts to my home state of Texas.

The 13th trans woman murdered this year is 22 year old Shade (pronounced like the singer Sade) Schuler, whose badly decomposed body was found in an open field July 29 near Dallas' medical district.

It took Dallas PD detectives nearly two weeks to positively identify her, and as you probably guessed  as per the pattern with murdered Black trans women, Shade was promptly misgendered in the local media.

FYI, the violator of the AP Stylebook standards for reporting on trans people this time was The Dallas Morning News.   The Dallas Police Department has also been guilty of misgendered Shade as well in their press releases.

With this now 13th murder, we have surpassed all the trans people killed in 2014, and once again, still have four months to go in this year.

Anyone with information on this Shade Schuler case is asked to call Dallas PD Detective Chaney in the Homicide Unit at 214-671-3650, and refer to case number 174511-2015. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 214-373-TIPS (8477).

And as usual, as I receive information concerning this latest murder of an under 30 trans woman of color we are now just finding out about, I`ll pass it on to you.

And the question I asked in the last post is still relevant today.  When will #BlackTransLivesMatter to you Black America?

Rest in power and peace, Shade.  We will not rest until justice has been served in your case.

We The People Petition To Formally Investigate US Trans POC Murders

As many of you TransGriot readers know, I have been tracking since the inception of my blog nearly a decade ago the murders of trans women of color and whether or not they have received justice in their cases.

I have been alarmed by the fact that we have already matched the number of trans women killed in the US in all of 2014 (12) in just 8 months, and this year still has 4 months left to go.  I am also particularly concerned and incensed about the fact that the majority of trans women that have been murdered are not only trans women of color, but under age 30.

I am pleased to not only affix my signature to this (Signature #23), but also signal boost this We The People petition that started today.   It seeks to get 100,000 people to sign on to this effort to get the federal government to investigate this unacceptable slaughter of trans women of color, of which far too many of them have been under 30 years of age.

We have to get the 100,000 signatures by September 10 to get a formal response from the White House on the requested action stated in the petition.

Here's the link to the petition and I hope you will join me in taking just a few moments of time out of your busy day to sign it.

If you do, thank you.  I and my community deeply appreciate the support, and please share this news in your influence circles.

RIP Amber Monroe

Was made aware of this by Melanie Davis that we have now had a 12th transwoman killed in 2015, this time in Detroit.

Her name was Amber Monroe, and she was just 20 years old and a student at Wayne State University in Motown.   Her body was found early yesterday morning, and she had been shot, according to a statement by Equality Michigan .

“Our hearts are heavy with grief that we have lost another vibrant member of our community too soon. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of Amber’s family and friends whom she clearly loved deeply,” said Yvonne Siferd, Director of Victim Services for Equality Michigan.

“We have no idea yet whether this attack was fueled by transphobia, but we do know that Amber’s murder is the 12^th murder of a transgender woman in the United States this year, and the 10^th murder of a transgender woman of color. Transgender women, and especially transgender women of color, are disproportionately affected by violence.

Her life was just beginning; I know that this loss will leave so many people with a hole in their lives and with more questions than answers. Let’s come together to celebrate her life, and work for real change so that our transgender sisters can be free from persecution. I know we can do better. We have to do better.”

Yes, we as a society MUST do better.  With this third murder of a transwoman in the last 17 days, I know I'm getting fracking tired of writing the story about another young Black trans woman being killed.   We are being hunted, and nobody seems to give a rats anus about it.

Papi Edwards, 20, Louisville, January 9

Lamia Beard, 30, Norfolk on January 17

Ty Underwood, 24, Tyler TX on January 26

Yazmin Vash Payne, 33, LA on January 31

Taja de Jesus, 36, San Fran February 1

Penny Proud, 21, New Orleans February 10

Bri Golec, 22, Akron on February 13

Kristina Grant Infiniti, 47, Miami on February 15

London Chanel, 21, Philadelphia on May 18

Mercedes Williamson, 17, Alabama on May 30

India Clarke, 25, Tampa on July 22

K.C. Haggard, 66, Fresno on July 23

Amber Monroe, 20, Detroit on August 8#SayHerName

This is still a developing story and Detroit Police are still investigating what happened, so as further details get passed on or I find out about them, I'll pass them on to you TransGriot readers.

This crap needs to strop.   With this murder we have matched in eight bloody months what it took all of 2014 to accomplish, and these are just the ones we know about.   Ten of the 12 trans women killed have been trans women of color.  

What also irks me the most is that nine of the now twelve murdered trans women were under 30 years of age, and one was just 17 years old.

I'm also tired of my young trans sisters being misgendered and posthumosly slimed by the media after they are murdered. 

So tell me Black America, when will #BlackTransLivesMatter to you?   Today?   Next week?  Next month?  Next year?  How many more young Black trans people must die before you start caring enough to work with us to stop the murders of trans people? 

When will you  send the message that Black trans people are part of the Black community too? 

Your fellow trans people are waiting to hear that answer instead of loud and wrong condemnation from sellout ministers cooning it up for white cconservafool fundamentalists and deafening silence from our legacy organization like the NAACP and the Urban League.

Rest In Power and in peace, Amber.   You are loved, and your trans family and our allies won't rest until justice is done in your case..
.

Tyra Hunter Death 20th Anniversary

Today is the 20th anniversary of a needless tragedy that occurred on this date in 1995.

A 24 year old trans woman by the name of Tyra Hunter needlessly died after a car accident at 50th and C Streets in SE Washington DC of survivable injuries because of a transphobic EMT.

That happened a mere 16 months into my own physical body morphing.  The Hunter case still bothers me 20 years later because the blatant medical transphobia on display could have easily happened to me or any other trans person.

The fact it was fellow African-Americans involved in his episode of transphobic hate along with it happening in the early stages of my own transition is probably why this Hunter case has stuck with me for so long.   It was also one of the events that began to push me toward the trans human rights activism path.

I find myself on this 20th anniversary of Tyra's death pondering many what if questions and coming up with some possible resolution scenarios for them.:.

What if Tyra had gotten the care she needed to save her life?   What would a now 44 year old Tyra Hunter's life be like now?   Would she be flexing her hairdressing skills and owning her own shop by now?  Would she have found love?   Would she still be living in the DC area?

What kind of contributions would Tyra be making to our community and society in general if she were still here?

But no matter what scenarios I come up with good, bad or middle of the road for a 44 year old Tyra Hunter, I know deep down in my soul that they are questions we will never find out the answer to. 

The reason why is because she is resting in power and peace due to the transphobic actions of one DC Fire Department EMT named Adrian Williams  and subsequently at the now closed DC General Hospital from Dr Bastian because these people entrusted with the responsibility of saving human lives failed to see her as a human being..

#WeExist.  Black trans people exist.   And on this day we in Black Trans World and our allies must rededicate ourselves to reminding our fellow cis Black people that our Black trans lives matter, too.

The one thing that we can take away from this tragedy is that medical transphobia kills.   In Tyra Hunter's memory, we need to as a community be vigilant in ensuring the avoidable tragedy that happened to Tyra Hunter on this sad August 7 day 20 years ago never happens to another trans person of any ethnic background ever again.

Another Black Trans Woman Killed In Florida

It is my sad duty to inform you once again that another Black trans woman has been murdered, this time in Tampa, FL.

25 year old India Clarke's body was found after the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department received a phone call at 9 AM EDT this morning from an employee at the University Area Community Center located at 14013 N. 22nd Street.   The employee reported that a deceased body was lying next to the basketball courts.

Clarke was last seen alive by her parents at their home on Sunday and as usual, the local media violated the AP standards for respectfully covering trans people by misgendered her.   Eric Glasser of WTSP-TV took his disrespectful reporting a step further by not only misgendering India, but putting  her chosen name in quotation marks, and aggravatingly injecting an old arrest.into this story.

Do you media peeps do that crap to white women and white people in general who are murdered?  I doubt it.  So why do you media peeps continue to racistly disrespect the lives of Black trans people by doing that BS?

If you live in the Tampa area, please pass along any updates concerning this case, arrest of suspects or pending funeral arrangements so I can post them on the blog.

India is now the tenth trans woman murdered in 2015, and what is pissing me off is that once again, the murdered trans person in question not only shares my ethnic background, but is under 30..

Once again I ask the question of my African-American cis brothers and sisters?  When will #BlackTransLivesMatter?   When will your trans brothers and sisters see ministers and politicians decry the loss of these lives as loudly as you do for cisgender Black people?

Detectives are asking for anyone with any information to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at 813-247-8200.

My condolences to your family and friends who loved you.  Rest in power and peace, India.

TransGriot Update: A candlelight vigil in Clarke's memory is planned for Friday, 8 PM EDT at Lykes Gaslight Square in Tampa.

Rest In Peace, Mercedes

It's my sad duty to inform you TransGriot readers about the murder of another US trans woman.

According to the Advocate, 17 year old Mercedes Williamson's body was found May 30 by George County Alabama police.

Her alleged killer, 28 year old Josh Brandon Vallum, was charged with Williamson's murder several days after police recovered the teen's body.

He is reportedly a longtime member of the Latin Kings gang, and confessed to his father on June 1 that he'd killed someone.   Bobby Vallum reported the conversation to the police, who found Williamson's partially decomposed body hidden under debris on the property around  9 AM on June 2.

Mercedes Williamson's life was sadly ended before she even had a chance to live it.   That's what pisses me off about these murders of our trans kids.   I hope and pray justice is served in this case.

rest in power and peace, Mercedes.

El Salvador Trans Activist Murdered

As I like to remind you peeps on a regular basis about, trans rights are an international human rights issue.

I also need to point out that the US and Brazil aren't the only nations in which we have had an obscene number of trans women murdered inside their borders.  They happen in Central and South America, and in 2015 alone there have been seven killed in El Salvador this year that we will be unfortunately reading their names at TDOR.

Being a trans activist is tough to begin with, but in some parts of the world you are literally putting your life on the line when you do so.   The seventh trans person killed this year in El Salvador is a concrete example of that.

She is 29 year old Francela Mendez Rodriguez.  She has been a member of the Salvadoran trans advocacy group Colectivo Alejandria ever since it was founded in 2010.  She has not only worked tirelessly in her nation to advance the cause of trans human rights in El Salvador, she has also worked in local HIV prevention programs.

On May 30 Mendez was visiting her friend Consuela Flores Martinez at her home in the town of Sonsonate, 40 miles west of San Salvador when a group of unknown assailants murdered both of them.

It was a murder condemned on June 4 by David Morales, the Attorney For The Defense of Human Rights in El Salvador, and said in a La Prensa Grafica interview, " The LGBT population is victimized by discrimination, rejection and intolerance which can be seen in grave violations of their human rights.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also condemned Mendez's murder, and urged the Salvadoran government in a June 8 statement to initiate an exhaustive investigation to be conducted with due diligence, and to prosecute and punish those responsible.

In particular, the IACHR encourages the State of El Salvador to follow lines of investigation that take into account whether the killing of Francela Méndez is related to her work in defense of the human rights of LGBTI persons, or whether it was committed because of her gender identity. The Commission welcomes the message by the Attorney General for the Defense of Human Rights of El Salvador, David Morales, who according to media reports, had requested the District Attorney’s Office to investigate this killing without discrimination, and reportedly stated that the impunity of the killings of trans persons encourages their repetition.

Rest in power, Francela.   May the people who committed this heinous crime be caught and punished for it.

The 29-year-old had been a member of Salvadoran trans advocacy group Colectivo Alejandría since it was founded in 2010, working tirelessly for human rights and in HIV prevention programs. - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/leading-trans-activist-murdered-el-savador090615#sthash.Rwezp2P0.10yH9172.dpuf

And Now There Are Eight...RIP London Chanel Allen

After the initial flurry of trans women that were killed in the first two months of 2015, things had gotten quiet on that front in the United States until today.

News stations in Philadelphia are reporting that 21 year old London Chanel Allen was stabbed tin the back and neck after a fight between her and her 31 year old attacker that occurred in an abandoned rowhouse on North Philadelphia at 12:40 AM EDT in the 2200 block of Ingersoll Street

She was rushed to Hahnemann University Hospital where she was pronounced dead just after 1 AM., police said.

"My heart goes out to her family, friends and the community as we mourn her death," said Nellie Fitzpatrick, Director of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia. “I know that the police department will work tirelessly to fully investigate the case."

Allen had a Texas connection.  She was born in Victoria, just 127 miles southwest of Houston and moved to Philadelphia several years ago.   She'd reconciled with her mother Veronica Allen, was in the process of getting her name change done and moving back to Texas when she was murdered

“She was going to go to court to change her name and then she was going to come home," Veronica Allen said. “That’s what we were working towards, but that man took it away from me."

A candlelight vigil is set to be held this Friday at that location, and a bank account has been set up to collect funds to pay to return  London's body back to Texas for burial

But once again, we sadly have another young trans woman of color dead before her 25th birthday.

RIP London

TransGriot Update:  31 year old Raheam Felton has been arrested and charged with London's murder.