Last year, it was Kyra Cordova. Two years before that, it was Stacey Blahnik. In 2002, it was Nizah Morris. This year, it’s Diamond Williams. All transgender women of color, all murdered in Philadelphia.
And these are the ones we know about. What about all of the nameless women whose lives were cut short by violence, discrimination, poverty or the fatal mixture of all three? Why is it that their lives are not seen as being as valuable as that of any other Philadelphian? Where can they be safe? And when will it no longer be acceptable that their simple identity puts them at risk?
Some of those questions were explored at a demonstration Tuesday night in Center City. Community leaders and members, representing all facets of the LGBT and ally population, participated in a somber gathering to remember Williams, brutally murdered earlier this month in Strawberry Mansion by a man with whom she was allegedly sexually engaged. Williams, a North Philadelphia native, was remembered for her spirit, energy and passion, especially for music and her friends.
The event was tinged with a sense of anger — at the circumstances that led Williams to her killer’s house, at accused murderer Charles Sargent’s brutal disregard for her life and at the boundless, unanswered questions revolving around violence and transgender women.
One other thing that did emerge from the demonstration was a sense of unity and solidarity. The event brought together transgender women and men, LGB people, teens, seniors, black people, white people, allies and everyone in between. Many of these people had not lived the transgender experience, or the person-of-color experience, but those barriers did not seem evident Tuesday evening. All in attendance were there to support Williams, as well as the victims who came before her, to prevent victims from coming after her.
That commitment is something that needs to be continued indefinitely, and not as reactive but proactive. The questions that abound about how to stem violence against transgender women need to be confronted through a tangible search for answers.
And that effort takes the investment of the entire community. Just as there was a directed response from all corners of the community to the spate of LGBT youth suicides a few years back — which took the form of direct outreach to the youth themselves as well as marked action on underlying issues that could factor into the epidemic, such as youth conversion therapy or religious-based bigotry — this systemic issue requires a purposeful response.
The LGBT and ally community needs to make protecting its trans members a priority, exploring the tough questions again and again — until being a transgender woman of color is not a risk factor for murder.