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12 Dec, 2019 13:00

There is NO trans murder epidemic. But someone IS using trans deaths for political gain in America

There is NO trans murder epidemic. But someone IS using trans deaths for political gain in America

Advocacy groups continue to stoke fears on what they call an "epidemic" of murders within the trans community. Worries heard far and wide as politicians and news agencies repeat the warning. But how true is the rhetoric?

A dishonest cause 

In early Spring, Jazzaline Ware was home alone in Memphis, Tennessee. How she spent this day no one can say for certain. In recent times she’d moved on from a previous life of petty theft, and was proud she no longer needed to steal to survive. Her existence seemed to be going in an upwards trajectory. Making it all the more tragic when she suddenly died due to natural causes.

It was roughly three weeks until her body was discovered when alarmed friends called in a welfare check after not hearing from her for so long. As a person who wasn’t known to the public at large, in any normal case her story would have ended there. Those who loved her would mourn, and their own small world would be feeling a tremendous loss.

But due to her status as a transgender individual, an agenda took hold and her life and death became nothing more than yet another misleading statistic in the battleground that is Trump’s America.

For the past handful of years, organizations like GLAAD and The Human Rights Campaign have been keeping a tally of any and all transgender people killed on a yearly basis. These lists are published and then politicians, news agencies, activists, and various other entities tout it as proof of a startling trend of hate fueled murders.

Fingers on the scale

When browsing any year’s list, it becomes apparent that something is not quite right.

For example, 2017 includes three people who were shot by police after charging them with knives. That same year Kashmire Redd was tallied as well. This individual was engaged in a domestic dispute with his partner, Doris Carrasquillo, when he began hitting her. In an act of self-defense she stabbed him once to which he then stumbled outside and died. She was eventually cleared of all murder charges due to the nature of the incident.

The HRC however “mourns” Mr. Redd’s life and raises him as a reminder “that the transgender community is disproportionately represented in domestic violence,” and that “they face “additional unique barriers” in seeking safety and support from domestic violence.” Never-mind the trans person in that case was the abuser.

The HRC has a habit of lying through omission. In 2016 they discussed the murder of Demarkis Stansberry. Writing that he “was shot in the head and killed” before then revealing his enjoyments in life. This is in a packet that says trans people “continue to face discrimination, harassment, and even violence simply because of who they are.” So it’s a big deal that nowhere do they deem it necessary to inform their readers that Demarkis wasn’t a victim of hate. He was killed in an accidental shooting by a close friend who thought a gun wasn’t loaded.

Most deaths on any year’s list has nothing to do with a person’s gender identity.

Just breaking down 2019’s is evidence enough of that. Claire Legato was shot after trying to break up a fight between her mother and a neighbor. Jordan Cofer was just one of nine people killed in the Dayton, Ohio mass shooting. A tragic situation to be sure, but not a murder motivated by his status as a trans person. Johana Medina died after facing health complications while in custody of ICE. Layleen Polanco died from complications with epilepsy while being held at Rikers Island. Bailey Reeves was shot and killed but is not believed to have been the intended target. Kiki Fantroy was shot in an argument after turning down a proposition for sex, and police have explicitly stated it wasn’t a hate crime. Finally there is Bubba Walker who died in a house fire. It’s being investigated as a potential homicide but as of now there is no definitive proof one way or the other.

GLAAD claims the reasoning for their list is to “remember the names of the [trans] people whose lives have been lost to anti-trangender violence.” And the HRC calls theirs “Violence Against the Transgender Community”, an absurd claims given most of the murders counted aren’t linked to hate crimes at all. More baffling still is when people like Jazzaline Ware are included. Natural causes of death be damned.

As should be obvious by now, there is a blatant rush to add names to the list before any appropriate information has been revealed. This clearly happened with Ms. Ware and Bubba Walker. In the case of the former the HRC hasn’t even bothered to remove her name even after it has come out she wasn’t murdered. As an organization they appear to be perfectly happy distorting the truth. On the darker end of things, it benefits them to have a higher tally.

The agenda made obvious

Researching the trans death statistic has made it abundantly clear that social manipulation is in play. What else can explain why major advocacy groups are lying? Who has the most to benefit from convincing marginalized people they’re going to die?

There’s a lot of power in keeping a community afraid. It’s a tactic seen all across the political divide. Come the next election, pay attention to how the left and the right make use of campaign ads, memes, and the various ways respective news sources falls in line. Fox News will rail on about how so-and-so is going to take your guns, and MSNBC will fear monger about white nationalists sitting outside ready to take your life. As it pertains to the trans community and the so called “epidemic” leading to their deaths, it’s important to know just what the HRC actually is.

It is the largest LGBT lobbyist group and it has deep ties to establishment Democrats. During their annual dinner, guests such as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris have given speeches. Former HRC president Chad Griffin even worked for Bill Clinton, and he campaigned for Hillary.

The ultimate goal of the HRC is to push Leftwing ideals and to get certain politicians into office. As I have previously reported on, during the HRC National Dinner in 2017, Mr. Griffin gave an eye opening speech. He discussed 'HRC Rising,' or what he labeled as the single largest grassroots expansion in the organization's history before then proceeding to say: "It's critical we organize and mobilize the 10 million-plus LGBTQ voters in this country. Which by the way, is a voting bloc that is larger than the margin of victory of every presidential election since 1984.” 

Let that sink in. They are merely using gay and trans people as tokens to fill a voting booth. It is not a coincidence politicians like Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Beto O’Rourke tweet out the names of supposedly murdered trans people, not caring that Jazzaline Ware died of natural causes. It’s the same reason Time Magazine, The New York Times, ABC News, and countless other agencies of misinformation discuss the rise of trans murders, all without doing any journalistic due diligence to get to the bottom of if it’s even true.

Huffington Post is one example of major news organizations that still put Jazzaline Ware in their reports on the rise of trans murders. The media simply do not care what the truth is. The HRC and other such groups say murder is on the rise, so that’s what becomes reported as “fact.” Which says a lot about our current media climate. It is at its core propaganda. Propaganda meant to scare a conglomerate of people into voting a specific way.

The truth is in the data 

That alone is disgusting, but adding to the grotesque nature of the ordeal is that we are not having national conversations about the issues that actually are leading to the deaths of various individuals. The real causes have been swept under a rug, and it’s a disservice to communities that do need help.

Often overlooked and not discussed is that many murders take place where inner city crime and gang warfare is common. Just this year, two trans people have already been murdered on or around Eastern Avenue. This is a boundary road that separates Washington DC and Maryland and it is notorious for violence and prostitution.

Going through the various years where data is available, one thing stands clear, sex work is common among many of those who are killed. Very few murders are considered bonafide hate crimes. Prostitution itself is a highly unsafe field of work, and it’s not just trans people who experience violence while selling themselves for sex. The reality that isn’t being talked about is that the people dying are living very dangerous lives. That certainly doesn’t mean their deaths are justified, as any murder is tragic and wrong, but to say we’re in the midst of an epidemic of anti-transgender violence is misleading. 

Look at the deaths presented near the top of this article that stem from just 2019 alone. That’s already eight people from a list of 24 that currently have nothing to do with whatever their gender was. Of the other 16, the majority offer no evidence of a motive. We simply do not know why many of them were killed, making it highly irresponsible to sum it up as something to do with their identity. Especially if there are other underlying factors that should be the topic of discussion instead, like gang violence. 

Tainting the rainbow 

Murder in all its forms is despicable, but so too is distorting facts to fit an agenda. LGBT advocacy groups are turning corpses into props and it is beyond disrespectful to those who have died. Instead of focusing on what can be done to prevent future crimes, hence saving potential lives, we are instead being directed towards a scenario that isn’t even real.

The trans murder rate is a lie. It may get repeated every year, but that doesn’t make it true. What is true however, is that the deaths of these people are going to waste. Pivotal conversations this country needs have been pushed to the side. 

LGBT activists may use the rainbow to signify what they are, but the bright colors are merely nothing more than a facade, because under the flag, something much darker exists. What else can be said about people who express progressive ideals while at the same time acting so callous and evil?

As a transgender individual myself, I know I’d be livid if I died and my lifeless corpse was strung up and presented as something it’s not. People are not props, and the politicians, advocacy groups, activists, and journalists who are treating them as such are only revealing just how fraudulent they are. Don’t believe their lies.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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