LYNCHBURG, Va. — Ebony Morgan has become the 15th transgender person to be killed in the U.S. this year. Morgan was shot multiple times in the early hours of Sunday morning in Virginia.
Morgan was found alive in Lynchburg and transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Today, GLAAD called on the media to do a better job of reporting these murders and bringing needed attention to a community under vicious and violent attack. “In order for people to be aware of the horrific violence affecting the community, the public needs to know it is happening,” read GLAAD’s report.
GLAAD has published a list of the transgender people killed in 2017 — all of whom are transgender women of color:
- Ebony Morgan was killed on July 2 in Lynchburg, Virgina. She was 28 years old.
- Ava Le’Ray Barrin was killed on June 25 in Athens, Georgia. She was 17 years old.
- Josie Berrios (also known as Kendra Adams and Kimbella Rosé) was killed on June 13 in Ithaca, New York. She was 28 years old.
- Kenne McFadden was found on April 9 in San Antonio, Texas, but due to misgendering by police and the media she was not identified as a transgender woman until June 6. She was 27 years old.
- Sherrell Faulkner was attacked on November 30, 2016 and died on May 16, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was 46 years old.
- Brenda Bostick was attacked on April 25 and died on May 4 in New York City. She was 59 years old. (There have been conflicting reports about the name this person used and their gender. It now seems clear that this person was assigned male at birth and lived at least part of her life as Brenda. Therefore we refer to her as Brenda and use female pronouns out of respect for that identity.)
- Chay Reed killed on April 21 in Miami, Florida. She was 28 years old.
- Alphonza Watson killed on March 22 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was 38 years old.
- Jaquarrius Holland killed on February 19 in Monroe, Louisiana (identified as trans on February 28). She was 18 years old.
- Ciara McElveen killed on February 27 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 21 years old.
- Chyna Gibson killed on February 25 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was 31 years old.
- Keke Collier killed on February 21 in Englewood, Chicago. She was 24 years old.
- JoJo Striker killed on February 8 in Toledo, Ohio. She was 23 years old.
- Mesha Caldwell killed on January 4 in Canton, Mississippi. She was 41 years old.
- Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow killed on January 1 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She was 28 years old.
* Initial police reports from Fresno, California identified homicide victim Imer Alvarado as a transgender woman, but Alvarado’s friends say he identified as a gay man who occasionally dressed in drag. Police have not arrested a suspect nor revealed a motivation for the murder, which happened on May 17.
