BIO

I am from Port St. Joe, FL and a senior at Florida State University graduating this spring. My research interests lie specifically in gender-based violence, anti-LGBTQ+ violence, and journalistic ethics relative to hate crime reporting. Post-graduation, I will be traveling to Barcelona for a service-based internship, and I begin graduate school in Fall 2022 at Florida State.

Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in America: Building a Database of Transgender Homicides

Abstract

Violence against the transgender community is a serious social issue, and researchers argue that anti-transgender homicide is an increasingly violent epidemic that proves transphobia is still prominent and dangerous in American society. Addressing this violence requires understanding anti-transgender bias, yet a comprehensive database on victims of anti-transgender violence does not currently exist. Therefore, our research team has been working to create such a database of all known anti-transgender homicides in the United States between 2015 and 2020. Once completed, the comprehensive database will be used to examine (a) broad patterns in incidents over time and (b) individual, situational, and contextual features of fatal violence directed at the transgender population. Preliminary results from these data collection efforts as well as the narratives of transgender people lost to this form of violence will be presented.

Keywords: LGBTQ+, hate crimes, violence, database, transgender