7 Trans Women of Color Have Been Murdered in 2017

In just the first two months of 2017, seventrans women have been murdered in the United States, according to the New York City Anti-Violence Project.

Three of those seven homicides took place in Louisiana. Jaquarrius Holland was shot on February 18; Chyna Gibson was gunned down in a parking lot on February 25; and Ciara McElveen was stabbed to death in New Orleans two days later; All three of the above victims were trans women of color.

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The other four women killed this year: Mesha Caldwell, a black trans woman, killed January 4 in Canton, Mississippi; Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, a two-spirit trans woman, killed January 6 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Keke Collier, another black trans woman, shot in Chicago on February 22; Jojo Striker, killed February 8 in Toledo, Ohio--also a trans woman of color.

"NCAVP has already responded to seven homicides of transgender women of color within the first two months of the year," said NCAVP's Executive Director Beverly Tillery. "As a society we can stop this epidemic by hiring trans women of color, making sure they have safe places to live and standing up when we see or hear them being demeaned and attacked and simply by valuing their lives. The moment to act is now."

The NCAVP reported the murders of 23 trans and gender non-conforming people in 2016.