THIS is where all the rhetoric ends up. THIS is the climax of all the political micro aggressions. As the republican party uses trans fear-mongering as a tactic to ostensibly win votes, what did they think the result on the ground is going to be?

A 20-year-old trans woman of colour named Taya Ashton was shot dead on July 17 in her own home in Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland, becoming the 31st trans person to be killed just this year in the USA. 

Investigators are saying that there was ‘no evidence suggesting Taya’s murder was due to her gender identity’ and that the slaying was random but they were also looking into it as a possibility.

As President Biden promises more protections, violence and murder against non-binary, trans or gender non-conforming people is on the rise. This year is expected to beat last year’s chilling tally of 44. 

In a statement, the director for the National Black Justice Coalition, David Johns said: ‘Not enough has been done to address the epidemic of violence facing the transgender community. In fact, there have been more policy attacks and physical incidents of violence in recent months. We must also fight to eliminate the transphobia that is too often tolerated or used as an excuse for bias, stigma, and hate crimes. Each of us has to answer the call to ensure our trans siblings can live in a world without fear of being a victim of this epidemic. The question is what are we going to do.’

As awareness increases in the media and politically, it also exposes trans people living their every day lives to people who have already been riled up by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene or yes, even JK Rowling, to think that they are invading your bathrooms, cheating at sports or diminishing women’s rights. Let alone trying to ‘turn your kids trans’.

Can someone provide us with a similar number of women who’ve been murdered this year by trans women, or men posing as trans women infiltrating their safe spaces? No, didn’t think so.