paulina ibarra

In 128 cities in 17 countries last week, people gathered to remember transgender victims of violence. This year alone, more than 160 transgender people have been murdered - and that's just the ones we know of. Barack Obama recently signed into law the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which includes gender identity in its protections. But a national employment non-discrimination act still lags behind, and the hate crimes bill was too late for 21-year-old Tyli'a Mack, stabbed in the streets of Washington, D.C. not far from the offices of Transgender Health Empowerment, an advocacy organization, and Paulina Ibarra, 24, stabbed to death in her Hollywood apartment. Too often transgender people only turn up in the media as victims of violence, misgendered and wrongly portrayed as gay or lesbian, and discussions of gender identity. It is important to remember those who have been victims of violence, but we need to also remember the lives of transgender men and women, and not pay attention only when another murder makes headlines.