The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender & Gender-Expansive Community in the U.S.

We say “at least” because the stories detailed in this report very likely undercount the number of transgender and gender-expansive people who were killed.

Although advocates, bloggers and media groups have elevated the epidemic of violence against trans and gender-expansive people in the past several decades, data collection is often incomplete or unreliable when it comes to violent and fatal crimes against the trans community. Some victims’ deaths may go unreported or misreported, while other victims may not initially be identified as trans or gender-expansive.

In this report, we shed light on the epidemic of violence taking the lives of trans and gender-expansive people. We remember the individuals who were taken from us in the past year and provide an analysis of data we have collected since 2013— the year the Federal Bureau of Investigation began reporting on hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias. Based on these statistics, we provide action items that can help end the violence.

In life, each of the individuals memorialized in this report went to extraordinary lengths to live authentically. In death, we must honor their truth and bravery with action.

This report comes amidst an overwhelming wave of anti-transgender legislation. In 2023, for the first time in their 40+ year history, the Human Rights Campaign declared a National State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans, in response to the over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced into state houses across the country, more than 85 of which were passed into law. This trend continued into 2024, where over 500 additional anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced, and over 40 passed into law across 14 states.

The vast majority of the bills introduced since 2023 have specifically targeted transgender people in an attempt to take away the transgender community’s basic freedoms. Included in this are attempts to ban access to safe, effective, age-appropriate gender-affirming medical care; limit the community's access to school sports, school restrooms and locker rooms; and remove inclusive books and references to LGBTQ+ identities and experiences from school curricula (often referred to as “Don’t Say LGBTQ” or “Don’t Say Gay” laws).

Against this backdrop of discriminatory legislation, attacks on the transgender and gender-expansive community, as well as the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, are on the rise. Proponents of anti-trans legislation in state houses and Congress have often relied on hate-filled rhetoric that demonizes transgender people and their allies, perpetuates misinformation, and legitimizes anti-trans stigma, violence, and hate. The 2024 election saw the U.S. Republican party spending over $82 million on anti-trans political ads that furthered transphobic messaging while attacking pro-equality candidates for their support of transgender people. Right-wing influencers have weaponized this rhetoric to further attack corporations and businesses for their workplace inclusion programming, with the express goal of having them abandon efforts to support their LGBTQ+ employees and customers.

Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislative attacks are translating to anti-LGBTQ+ violence. Since the start of 2022, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, an LGBTQ+ media advocacy org) has recorded over 1,850 incidents of anti-LGBTQ+ violence, including bomb threats to gender-affirming healthcare providers and children’s hospitals; property damage and arson to LGBTQ+ centers, businesses, and bars; anti-LGBTQ+ protests and gatherings against venues that host drag events or school libraries offering gender-inclusive, age-appropriate readings; assaults against LGBTQ+ people and allies, and more.

2023 also saw the highest number of anti-LGB and anti-trans and gender-expansive hate crimes reported by the FBI to date. Over 2,800 hate crimes were recorded against LGBTQ+ people in 2023, accounting for almost one in four (22.8%) of all hate crimes recorded that year. A total of 542 of these incidents were gender identity-motivated hate crimes committed against transgender (n=393) and gender-expansive (n=149) people, accounting for over 4% of all hate crimes recorded in that year. This number is an undercount, given that FBI data reporting does not capture all hate crimes, as not all jurisdictions track anti-trans hate crimes, nor do all jurisdictions report hate crimes to FBI databases.

These attacks are occurring against a community which is already vulnerable and marginalized. As detailed in the recently updated HRC report “Dismantling a Culture of Violence," transgender and gender-expansive Americans exist in a society where they risk encountering transphobia and anti-trans stigma from multiple sources, from macro/societal level state and federal policies and discriminatory institutional practices in schools, workplaces, and doctors’ offices in their communities, to rejection, abuse, and violence in their interpersonal relationships. These multiple forms of sigma result in lower access to status, opportunity, and resources, higher risk of poverty and homelessness/housing insecurity, social isolation, and worse physical and mental health outcomes—all of which results in increased risk for violence.

This stigma, bias and discrimination compounds for transgender and gender-expansive people who hold multiple marginalized identities. Transgender women and transgender people of color are at elevated risk of fatal violence, and the risk is compounded for Black transgender women, who comprise the vast majority of victims of fatal violence against trans and gender-expansive people.

In/Exclusion criteria for victims

We include victims who identify as transgender, non-binary, gender-expansive, or some other non-cisgender identity at the time of their death, or who were gender-expansive in their gender presentation, or who were cisgender but presumed to be trans.

Throughout the report, we take every effort to ensure our memorials reflect the most accurate depiction of each individual’s identity, based on their own words, the accounts of loved ones, and the ways in which they presented themselves and interacted with the world.

When there are conflicting reports about the name, pronouns, and/or gender identity of a victim, we use those which were utilized by the victim themselves on social media or in their daily lives; in the absence of this information, we use the pronouns and names utilized by those closest to them. As a result, names and gender in our reporting may not always match those in official reports and/or legal documentation, particularly for those who were unable to obtain legal recognition and updated identification documents that matched their identity at the time of their death.

Expanding our inclusion criteria – inclusion of non-trans victims

As noted above,this year’s report now includes people who are cisgender and gender non-conforming in their gender expression/presentation, as well as those who were presumed to be trans and whose presentation or the presumption thereof was a motivating factor in their death. The decision to expand our inclusion criteria was made in acknowledgement that these victims lost their lives to the same transphobic forces, and thus should be memorialized and included in discussions of the epidemic of anti-trans violence.

Reporting time period

HRC has been tracking fatal violence against the trans community since the start of 2013. Throughout this report, trends are discussed for two time periods:

1. “The past year” covers the 12-month period that spans from the day following 2023 Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) 2023 (November 21, 2023) through TDOR of this year (November 20, 2024).
2. “All years” / “Since tracking began” covers the almost 12 years since HRC began tracking fatal violence in 2013

Data collection

The information presented in this report reflects the most recently available data on all included cases, as identified to the best of our ability.

Data on each case are gathered daily through review of news reports, police reports, case records, and discussions with local advocates and loved ones of the victims.

All information is then recorded in an internal database and reviewed on a quarterly basis to confirm accuracy and update with emergent information as available.

Because new details may emerge as cases work their way through the justice system, and as law enforcement agencies release new information, data in this report may not always reflect what was noted in original reporting, or what may emerge in the future.

Since January 2013, HRC and other advocates have identified 372 transgender and gender-expansive individuals who were victims of fatal violence in the United States.

As of this report’s release on November 19, 2024 , we have recorded 36 fatalities since the last Transgender Day of Remembrance, including 30 deaths to-date in the calendar year of 2024.

Fatal violence impacts transgender and gender-expansive people of all ages, races, gender, gender identities, and from rural and urban areas. However, people living at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities have been disproportionately impacted relative to others. Specifically, Black transgender women, who face multiple layers of violence due to their gender identity, gender, and race, comprise 61% of all victims of fatal violence against transgender and gender-expansive people.

Below, we present a summary of trends that have emerged in our 12 years of tracking fatal violence against transgender and gender-expansive people, focusing on trends from all years, as well as in the last 12 months. Unfortunately, even as the numbers change, many of the patterns remain the same, year over year.

In doing so, this data provides us with one of many useful tools in fighting for justice for transgender and gender-expansive people across the U.S. and combatting violence against them, while ensuring their memories are kept alive.

MOST VICTIMS ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR

Fatal violence against transgender and gender-expansive people disproportionately affects people of color.

Since 2013, over 84% of victims were people of color (n=314), defined as identifying as any race/ethnicity other than exclusively white.

More than two-thirds (68.6%) of victims identified as Black (n=255), either exclusively or in combination with other racial/ethnic identities.

• 14.5% of victims were Hispanic/Latine (n=54).

• 13.2% of victims were white (n=49).

In the 12-month period between TDOR 2023 and TDOR 2024, people of color accounted for three-quarters of victims with a known race/ethnicity (75%; n=27), with Black people specifically accounting for more than 6 in 10 victims (61.1%; n=22).

An additional fifth of all victims in the last 12-months were white, reflecting the fact that calendar year 2024 saw the second highest percentage of victims who were white out of all years since HRC began tracking in 2013, with 16.7% of all victims since January 1, 2024 identifying as white (a total of 5 people).

MOST VICTIMS ARE WOMEN

Transgender women account for the vast majority of fatal violence victims.

Since 2013, at least 308 transgender women have lost their lives to fatal violence—over four in five (82.8%) of all cases identified.

In addition, 33 (8.9%) were transgender men, and 31 (8.3%) were people who do not exclusively identify as men or women, which includes the following identities:

• Cross-dresser
• Femandrogyne
• Genderfluid
• Gender non-conforming
• Non-binary
• Queer
• Questioning
• Transgender person
• Two-spirit / 2S
• Transgender men and transgender women who also identified with another or more gender identities

At least 28 transgender women have been killed since TDOR 2023—more than three-quarters (77.8%) of the victims in this twelve-month period.

• More than one-in-ten (11.1%; n=4) victims identified in this period were transgender men.

• And the remaining 11.1% (n=4) identified as some other non-cisgender identity.

FATAL VIOLENCE IMPACTS CITIES AND STATES NATIONWIDE

To date, cases have been recorded in 199 cities and towns, across 41 states, territories and the District of Columbia. Fatal violence is found in blue states and red states, in cities and rural areas. It is also concentrated in some pockets of the country, including both those with larger transgender populations (and larger populations overall), and more restrictive anti-transgender legislative environments.

Almost two-thirds (62.6%) of all victims identified to date were killed in just ten states: Texas, Florida, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, and North Carolina.

Texas and Florida, two states with some of the most extensive slates of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in place, are home to the highest number of fatalities, with 37 reported in Texas, and 33 reported in Florida since 2013.

At the same time, California, which has non-discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity, and which has declared itself a sanctuary state for transgender youth seeking medical care, is home to the third highest number of fatalities, with 25 fatalities, since 2013.

When looking at specific cities, 10 or more victims have been reported in six cities: Chicago (n=16), Houston (n=13), Atlanta (n=10), Baltimore (n=10), Miami (n=10), and Philadelphia (n=10).

Fatalities in the last 12 months have been reported across 32 cities and towns in 22 states. This includes three states where fatalities were recorded for the first time: Minnesota, Utah, and Nevada.

Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas were each home to three fatalities in the last 12 months, and California, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and Washington State were close behind with two fatalities recorded in each. Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Utah each reported one death.

In the last 12 months, there have been arrests in over half (55.6%; n=19) of all cases.

In the last 12 months, over 30% of the 23 victims with a known killer were killed by an intimate partner (21.7%; n=5), friend, or family member (8.7%; n=2).

GUNS INVOLVED IN MOST FATALITIES

Gun violence is a major contributing factor to the number of fatalities against transgender and gender-expansive people.

Since 2013, at least 258 trans and gender-expansive people have been killed with a gun—approximately seven in ten (69.3%) of all identified fatalities.

Guns were used in all police involved killings, three-quarters (73.9%) of killings by a friend or family member, and almost two-thirds (62.5%) of all killings by an intimate partner.

In the last 12 months alone, two-thirds of all fatalities, or 24 out of 36, involved a firearm/gun violence.

HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING INSECURITY

Transgender people disproportionately experience homelessness and housing insecurity, placing them at increased risk for fatal violence. Homelessness can start early in life; many trans youth experience family rejection of their gender identity and subsequence violence or abuse, causing them to run away or be kicked out of their home by parents and guardians. Homelessness can also occur throughout adulthood, as a result of economic insecurity and poverty that stems from limited economic opportunities. Workplace discrimination and stigma, can place transgender and gender-expansive people at risk of being underpaid, or under/unemployed. Additionally, lack of affordable housing, and lack access to trans-inclusive shelters can force transgender and gender-expansive people onto the streets, or force them to rely on the underground economy to survive, which includes sex work, drug sales and other currently criminalized work. Involvement in these systems increases the risk of violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual assault, health disparities, police harassment and fatal violence.

Since 2013, over 13% of all victims of fatal violence were currently or recently experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity at the time of their death—a total of 49 people.

In the past year, six victims were experiencing homelessness at the time of their death—or one-in-six (16.7%) of all transgender people killed in the last 12 months.

What Can We Do?

Several factors contribute to the high risk for violence experienced by trans and GNC people. Ending this epidemic requires addressing and eliminating anti-transgender stigma and discrimination across all facets of society and embracing people of all genders for who they are.

Read the following sections to learn how you can take action to help end the violence.

SUPPORT LAWS AND POLICIES THAT PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION BASED ON GENDER IDENTITY.

Too often, transgender and gender-expansive people lack explicit protections from discrimination. By including gender identity in non-discrimination policies, we can ensure transgender and gender-expansive people feel safe in their jobs, in public accommodations and in their daily lives.

SPEAK OUT AND FIGHT BACK AGAINST ANTI-LGBTQ+ LEGISLATION

The 2023 state legislative session was the worst year on record for LGBTQ+ rights, with more than 80 anti-LGBTQ+ bills signed into law across more than 20 states. Over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across 41 states. The 2024 legislative session saw the passage of more than 40 additional bills, driven by a coordinated effort from right-wing organizations to ban transgender youth from playing school sports or using restrooms/locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity, to ban teachers and schools from affirming chosen names and pronouns, and to block or severely restrict access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth (and, in some states, even transgender adults). Such bills ingrain discrimination and hate into law, perpetuate stigma and marginalization of transgender people, and harm the health and well-being of transgender youth (while also denying them access to supportive resources).