BIO

Hello! My name is Danielle Basdekis and I am a second year at Florida State. I am from Oneonta, NY and I plan to attend law school after I graduate. I am interested in civil rights law and my research interests include gender studies, as well as government and law research!

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: Transgender, violence, hate crime