Transgender Woman Murdered by Transphobic Ex-Boyfriend of Mother
According to information reported in The Guardian, Time and multiple media outlets in 2015, over 22 transgender people were murdered in the United States.
The fear is that as more and more attention is paid to transgender individuals that such violence will only rise.
In the year 2014 there were about only 12 officially reported transgender-targeted murders.
Perhaps more so than gay, lesbian or bisexual people, transgender people ignite terrible fear, suspicion and paranoia in the populace.
The heated and emotional debate over which sexual identity is allowed to use public restrooms in the United States have assumed a rabid, demoralizing fever pitch in recent months.
Online shows like Transparent, starring Jeffrey Tambor as a grandfather-aged man and the conflicts he encounters as he undergoes sexual reassignment surgery and the debut of Bruce Jenner as Cailyn Jenner has startled and challenged the public’s perception of sexuality.
For over a generation, Bruce Jenner was the epitome of toughness, manliness and being a guy’s guy, especially in the 1970’s and the 1980’s.
Then he introduced himself to the public as a transgender woman.
In an instant, a celebrity who we as the public thought we knew as a man and as a heterosexual was erased from the public consciousness.
While most people may accept the idea of Caitlyn Jenner or roll their eyes or look the other way, she is a global sports icon after all, most transgender people do not experience the same level of semi-acceptance.
There is something scary about transgender people to homophobic and violent people. The blurring of sexuality. Also the act of deciding that one was born in the wrong gender is terrifying to people who believe such gender identities should be resolute.
Whatever it is, most people react to transgender people with violence.
28-year-old Rae’Lynn Thomas was shot twice and murdered by in her own home by her mother’s ex-boyfriend James Allen Byrd. Byrd, estranged boyfriend of Thomas’ mother, was allowed to stay in the home by the mother.
Byrd hated Rae’Lynn for sexually transitioning into a woman and often referred to her as, “the Devil.”
Byrd was arrested on murder charges and is being held on $2 million bail.
It is a crime that should never have happened. However, as issues related to transgender people continue to be topics of importance, more violence will follow.
Rae’Lynn Thomas was the 19th transgender person killed in the United States of America in 2016.
