The history of
violence against LGBT people in the
United States is made up of assaults on
gay men,
lesbians,
bisexuals, and
transgender individuals (
LGBT), legal responses to such violence, and
hate crime statistics in the United States of America.[1] The people who are the targets of such
violence are believed to violate
heteronormative rules and they are also believed to contravene perceived protocols of
gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBT may also be targeted for violence. Violence can also occur between couples who are of the same sex, with statistics showing that violence among female same-sex couples is more common than it is among couples of the opposite sex, but male same-sex violence is less common.[2]
Extensive violence has been directed against the
LGBT community of the United States for decades. Since the 1969
Stonewall riot against one of the many police raids on gay bars altered the goal of LGBT rights activists from assimilation to acceptance, there have been many more reported and unreported instances of violence against LGBT people in the United States. Every year, dozens of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals are murdered in the US, and the murder of black transgender women is especially prevalent.[3] Attacks against LGBT people generally center on the idea that there is a normal way for people to live, which encompasses all expressions, desires, behaviors, and roles associated with the gender each person was assigned to at birth, known as
heteronormativity and
cisnormativity. Over time the number of these acts of violence has increased greatly, whether due to the changing religious and political views, increased community visibility, or other factors. There have been political protests intended to bring about harsher penalties for these crimes.[4]
A
hate crime is defined as the victimization of individuals because of their actual or perceived
race,
ethnicity or national origin, sexual orientation, religion, gender, gender identity, or disability.[5] Hate crimes against LGBTQIA people often occur because the perpetrators are
homophobic or
transphobic. Acts of violence which are committed against people because of their perceived sexuality can either be psychological or physical and they can include
murder. These violent actions may be caused by cultural,
religious, or political
mores and biases. Victims of violence who are both LGBT and
persons of color may have trouble distinguishing whether the violence was based on their sexuality/gender identity or whether
racism also played a significant factor.[6] An intersectional approach would examine how these forms of discrimination combine in unique ways.
In 2014, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that 20.8% of hate crimes reported to police in 2013 were founded on
sexual orientation. Sixty-one percent of those attacks were against gay men.[7] Additionally, 0.5% of all hate crimes were based on perceived
gender identity. In 2004, the FBI reported that 14% of hate crimes due to perceived sexual orientation were against lesbians, 2% against heterosexuals and 1% against bisexuals.[8]
The FBI reported that for 2006, hate crimes against gay people increased from 14% to 16% in 2005, as percentage of total documented hate crimes across the U.S.[9] The 2006 annual report, released on November 19, 2007, also said that hate crimes based on sexual orientation are the third most common type, behind race and religion.[9]
In 2008, 17.6% of hate crimes were based on the victim's perceived sexual orientation. Of those crimes, 72.23% were violent in nature. 4,704 crimes were committed due to
racial bias and 1,617 were committed due to sexual orientation. Of these, only one murder and one
forcible rape were committed due to racial bias, whereas five murders and six rapes were committed based on sexual orientation.[10]
Santa Clara CountyDeputy District Attorney (DDA) Jay Boyarsky attributed a surge in anti-gay hate crimes, from 3 in 2007 to 14 in 2008, to controversy over
Proposition 8. However, the DDA cautioned against reading too much from small statistical samples, pointing out that the vast majority of hate incidents do not get referred to the
District Attorney's office.[11]
In 2011, the FBI reported 1,572 hate crime victims targeted based on a sexual orientation bias, making up 20.4% of the total hate crimes for that year. Of the total victims. 56.7% were targeted based on anti-male homosexual bias, 29.6% were targeted based on anti-homosexual bias, and 11.1% were targeted based on anti-female homosexual bias.[12] It is important to note, however, that not all hate crimes are reported to law enforcement; a report issued by the
Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2017 acknowledged that a majority of the 250,000 hate crimes known to have taken place between 2004 and 2015 were not reported to police.[13]
The United States, however, does not make reporting on hate crimes mandatory, meaning the FBI data gathered over the years is not an accurate representation of the correct number of hate crimes against LGBT Americans. Community-based anti-violence organizations are extremely valuable when reporting on or gathering statistics about hate crimes.[14]
In recent years LGBT violence has been on the rise in the United States. The biggest act of violence occurred in Orlando when
Omar Mateen attacked the
Pulse nightclub in the city killing 49 and wounding 53 others.[15] This was not only the biggest attack on LGBT people but one of the biggest mass shootings in the United States history. By June 2018, the FBI had declined to classify the incident as an anti-gay hate crime, as evidence suggested that Mateen had scouted several different targets before choosing Pulse and that he did not know it was a gay nightclub.[16] There were also 28 Americans who identified as LGBT and were killed in 2016 alone. The United States has passed some legislation to combat increasing violence against LGBT people. In the late 1990s, the Hate Crime Statistics Act (P.L. 101–275) was passed[17] to try to prevent further hate crimes and enhance criminal sentences for people who do commit them. While this act was passed more than 20 years ago, local police officers often have no training on identification of hate crimes based on sexual preference. In 2009, the
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed, which added gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to federal hate crime law.
Measures to stop violence against LGBT people
Several organizations have been established over the years to educate people about anti-LGBT violence or prevent such violence.
Lambda Legal is an organization aimed at protecting civil rights, while
True Colors Fund and the
Human Rights Campaign are aimed at helping homeless LGBT youth to receive healthcare, housing, and education. There are organizations throughout the United States that have been established to provide care for LGBT people, such as the
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.[18]
Effects of violence against LGBT People
There are many effects of
violence against LGBT people on both their psychological or
mental health and
physical health. Violent acts, including domestic and sexual abuse, towards the LGBT community may lead to
depression,
PTSD, suicidal behaviors, or trauma.[19] According to the authors of "The Effects of Polyvictimization on Mental and Physical Health Outcomes in an LGBTQ Sample", many people, especially LGBT, experience effects of anti-LGBT violence: "Although adverse outcomes may result from many different types of trauma exposure, the experience of interpersonal trauma or violence is particularly damaging compared to non-interpersonal trauma, and individuals with histories of interpersonal trauma are at increased risk for developing
psychiatric conditions, including
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
depression,
dissociation, and
substance use issues."[20]
Hate crimes also affect the physical health of LGBT people. Victims of anti-LGBT violence may not want to follow their previous
lifestyle. According to the authors of the research article, "Psychological Sequelae of Hate-Crime Victimization Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults", it takes time to recover from the violence.[21] During their experiment, they observed that psychological distress increases for people who experienced violence within the previous 2 years. People who had been victimized more than 2 years ago had more mental issues including depression, anxiety, trauma, and many more: "It might also increase the length of time needed for recovery from a hate crime. In post hoc analyses of distress levels according to year of victimization, we observed that respondents tended to manifest elevated psychological distress if their most recent victimization occurred within the previous 2 years. Among respondents who had been victimized 3 to 5 years earlier, hate-crime victims had more symptoms of depression, anxiety, anger, and traumatic stress than non-bias crime victims."[21]
Violence against LGBT people does not exclude youth. LGBT youth might experience violence or rejection at school or from their family. For example, "Family violence against gay and lesbian adolescents and young people: a qualitative study."[22] mentions that family reactions to a youth
coming out were violent. This then also affects a person's health and
quality of life. The author then states how family violence against LGBT youth affects them: "Studies show that rejection and family violence in the out-coming process and the non-provision of social support have a direct impact on the health of homosexual adolescents and young people, with consequences such as: social isolation, depression, suicidal ideation and attempt, low performance, low self-esteem, higher social exposures and an increase in internalized homophobia."[22]
Violence against LGBT people since 1969
The following is a list of LGBT people that have been victims of violence. For many, there is evidence that the attack was related to their LGBT identity, but for others there is no documentation that there was a connection between their identity and the attacks.
1969-1979
March 9, 1969 [23] – Howard Efland, a gay man who had checked into the Dover Hotel in
Los Angeles, under the pseudonym J. McCann, was beaten to death by officers of the
Los Angeles Police Department.[24]
June 28, 1969 – Police, in the early morning hours, raided a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, located in the
Greenwich Village neighborhood of
Manhattan,
New York City. This event sparked the
Stonewall riots, which were a series of demonstrations by members of the LGBT community.
July 5, 1978 – A gang of youths armed with baseball bats and tree branches assaulted several men in an area of
Central Park in New York City that was known to be frequented by homosexuals. The victims were assaulted at random, but the assailants later confessed that they had deliberately set out to the park to attack homosexuals. One of those injured was former figure skater Dick Button, who was assaulted while watching a fireworks display in the park.[27][28]
November 27, 1978 – Openly gay San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk, along with Mayor
George Moscone,
was assassinated by political rival
Dan White at San Francisco City Hall. Outrage over the assassinations and the short sentence given to White (seven years) prompted the
White Night riots.[29]
January 1979 – Tennessee Williams was beaten by five teenage boys in
Key West. He escaped serious injury. The episode was part of a spate of anti-gay violence inspired by an anti-gay newspaper ad run by a local
Baptist minister.[30]
September 7, 1979 – Robert Allen Taylor was stabbed to death near Loring Park in Minneapolis. A local reporter interviewed the murderer from jail and was told, "I don't like gays. Okay?"[31]
October 8, 1979 – 17-year-old Stephen Charles of
Newark, New Jersey, was beaten, shot, and left for dead at
Wolfe's Pond Park on
Staten Island by Robert DeLicio,
Costabile "Gus" Farace, Farace's cousin Mark Granato, and David Spoto. They also beat Charles' friend, 16-year-old Thomas Moore of
Brooklyn. Moore was critically injured but managed to get help at a nearby residence. Moore identified the four men via a lineup four days after the incident. Farace, the leader of the attack, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was paroled after eight years, in 1988. He himself was murdered on November 17, 1989.[32]
1980–1989
October 7, 1981 – Diane Delia, a transgender woman and drag queen performer was murdered by her husband, Robert Ferrara and her lover, Robyn Arnold.[33]
1982 – Rick Hunter and John Hanson were beaten by Minneapolis police outside the Y'all Come Back Saloon on January 1, 1982. Hennepin County Hospital emergency room staff employees testified in court that the police called the two men a homophobic slur while the men were being treated for their injuries.[34]
1982 – Robert Altom died after being attacked by Cecil Corrie Turner outside the former JB's Paradise Room on North Vancouver Avenue in
Portland, Oregon.[35]
July 7, 1984 – In
Bangor, Maine, Charlie Howard and his boyfriend Roy Ogden were attacked by three teenagers, they caught Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the
Kenduskeag Stream, where Howard drowned. Ogden escaped and pulled a fire alarm.[36]
April 28, 1985 – Stephen Matthew Eldridge, a 27-year-old gay man, was stabbed 44 times by Jimmy Luna, a worker of a hospital who was hired by Maureen McDermott, a nurse who was Eldridge's roommate in
Van Nuys, CA. Two other men were also involved in the murder. McDermott also insisted Luna to cut off Eldridge's penis to make it look like a "homosexual murder" because she thought the police would not take it as seriously as other killings. Luna was sentenced to life and McDermott was sentenced to death.[37] Luna and the two men he hired to assist him attempted to kill Eldridge multiple times and failed.[38]
January 17, 1987 – Shelby bookstore murders: Three men were killed and two more were seriously wounded after being shot execution-style at an
adult bookstore known as a meeting place for homosexuals. Three or four gunmen were involved in the attack and the gunmen set the bookstore on fire after the shooting. Two members of the
White Patriot Party were charged for the shooting, though one was acquitted at trial and the second had his charges dropped. The case is unsolved.
December 15, 1987 – 26-year-old Anthony Milano, a gay man and artist, was killed in
Levittown, PA. His attackers, Frank Chester and Richard Laird, were sentenced to death in Pennsylvania in 1988. Frank Chester was resentenced to life in prison.[39]
May 13, 1988 – Rebecca Wight was killed when she and her partner, Claudia Brenner, were shot by Stephen Roy Carr while hiking and camping along the
Appalachian Trail. Carr later claimed that he became enraged by the couple's lesbianism when he saw them having homosexual relations.[40]
May 15, 1988 – Tommy Lee Trimble and John Lloyd Griffin, two gay men, were harassed and later shot by Richard Lee Bednarski in Dallas, Texas. Bednarski was later convicted of the two murders but was sentenced to 30 years rather than life in prison. The judge who issued the sentence, Jack Hampton, said later that he did so because the victims were homosexuals who would not have been killed if they "hadn't been cruising the streets" for men. Hampton's comments caused considerable controversy. He was later
censured for his remarks and ultimately lost a bid for judicial re-election in 1992.[41][42]
November 22, 1988 – Gordon Ray Church, a gay man, was raped, tortured, and murdered by Michael Archuleta and Lance Wood in Utah. Wood was sentenced to life in prison, while Archuleta, who was believed to have been the primary instigator, was sentenced to death.[43]
December 1988 – Venus Xtravaganza, a 23-year-old transgender performer, was found murdered on Christmas. It was estimated that she had been dead for 4 days. Her body was found in the Duchess hotel in New York City.[44]
July 2, 1990 – Julio Rivera was murdered in New York City by two men who beat him with a hammer and stabbed him with a knife because he was gay.[46]
1991 – Paul Broussard, a Houston-area banker, was murdered. He was attacked by 10 young men along with Clay Anderson and Richard Delaunay, who survived. All ten of the attackers were eventually convicted, with sentences ranging from probation and fine for the respective hospitalization and funeral bills to the 45-year imprisonment of Jon Buice, who confessed to inflicting the fatal stab wound.[47]
October 27, 1992 – U.S. Navy Petty Officer Allen Schindler was murdered by a shipmate who stomped him to death in a public restroom in Japan.[48] Schindler had complained repeatedly about anti-gay harassment aboard ship.[48] The case became synonymous with the debate over gay people serving in the US military that had been brewing in the United States culminating in the "
Don't ask, don't tell" bill.[49]
1993 – Brandon Teena, a
trans man, was raped and later killed when his birth gender was revealed by police to male friends of his.[50] His attacker, John Lotter, was sentenced to death. The events leading to Teena's death were depicted in the movie Boys Don't Cry.[51]
November 30, 1993 - Nicholas West, 23, was kidnapped and murdered in Tyler, TX by three men. They robbed him, beat him and drove him to a remote Smith County location where they shot him, multiple times.[52][53]
March 9, 1995 – Scott Amedure was murdered after publicly revealing a crush to acquaintance Jonathan Schmitz on an
episode of The Jenny Jones Show about secret crushes. Three days after the episode's taping, Schmitz purchased a shotgun and killed Amedure by firing two shots into his chest. Schmitz then turned himself in to police.[54][55]
November 20, 1995 – Chanelle Pickett, 23, an African American trans woman, died at the home of William C. Palmer after a fight that, according to Palmer, ensued after Palmer discovered that she was transgender and demanded she leave his home. Patrons of the
Playland Café, where they had met, said that Palmer was a regular there with a well known preference for transsexuals.[56]
January 4, 1996 – Fred Mangione, a gay man, was murdered in Texas by two Neo-Nazi brothers. His partner, Kenneth Stern, was also attacked, but survived. One of the attackers, Ronald Henry Gauthier, later received a 10-year probation sentence.[59]
May 1996 – Julianne Williams, 24, and Lollie Winans, 26, were murdered at their campsite along the Appalachian Trail on Virginia's Skyline Drive in
Shenandoah National Park. They were bound and gagged and their throats were slit. To date, there has been no conviction in the murders.
August 1, 1996 – Nick Moraida, a 34-year-old Latino gay man, was murdered during a robbery. His murderer,
Richard Cartwright, was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on May 19, 2005.
February 21, 1997 – Otherside Lounge bombing, a lesbian nightclub in
Atlanta, was bombed by
Eric Robert Rudolph, the "
Olympic Park Bomber;" five bar patrons were injured. In a statement released after he was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for his several bombings, Rudolph called homosexuality an "aberrant lifestyle".
October 7, 1998 – Matthew Shepard, a gay student, in
Laramie, Wyoming, was tortured, beaten severely, tied to a fence, and abandoned; he was found 18 hours after the attack and succumbed to his injuries less than a week later, on October 12. His attackers, Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney are both serving two consecutive life sentences in prison.[60]
February 19, 1999 – Billy Jack Gaither, a 39-year-old gay man, was brutally beaten to death in
Rockford, Alabama. His attackers, Steve Mullins and Charles Monroe Butler were found guilty of murder and were both sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.[61]
July 1, 1999 – Gay couple Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder was murdered by
white supremacist brothers Benjamin Matthew and James Tyler Williams in
Redding, California. James Williams was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison, to be served after his completion of a 21-year sentence for firebombing
synagogues and an abortion clinic.[62] Benjamin Williams claimed that by killing the couple, he was "obeying the laws of the Creator".[63] He died by
suicide in 2003 while he was awaiting trial. Their former pastor described the brothers as "zealous in their faith" but according to him, they were "far from kooks".[64]
July 6, 1999 – Barry Winchell, a 21-year-old infantry soldier in the United States Army, was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat as he slept in his barracks at
Fort Campbell after being harassed for his relationship with Calpernia Addams. His assailants, Calvin Glover (18) and Justin Fisher (26) were charged with his murder. Glover was sentenced to life in prison and Fisher was sentenced to 12.5 years but only served 7.
September 1999 – Steen Fenrich was murdered, apparently by his stepfather, John D. Fenrich, in
Queens, New York. His dismembered remains were found in March 2000, with the phrase "gay nigger number one" scrawled on his skull along with his
social security number. His stepfather fled from police while being interviewed, then killed himself.[65]
October 15, 1999 – Charles "Sissy" Bolden was found shot to death in
Savannah, Georgia. Police arrested Charles E. Wilkins, Jr., in July 2003; he admitted the killing and was charged with two other homicides, according to the Savannah Police Department.
2000–2009
On April 29, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend federal law to classify as "hate crimes" attacks based on a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity (as well as mental or physical disability).[66] The U.S. Senate passed the bill on October 22, 2009.[67] The
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law by President
Barack Obama on October 28, 2009.[68]
July 3, 2000 – Arthur "J.R." Warren was punched and kicked to death in
Grant Town, West Virginia, by two teenage boys who reportedly believed Warren had spread a rumor that he and one of the boys, David Allen Parker, had a sexual relationship. Warren's killers ran over his body to disguise the murder as a
hit-and-run. Parker pleaded guilty and was sentenced to "life in prison with mercy", making him eligible for parole after 15 years.[69] His accomplice, Jared Wilson, was sentenced to 20 years.[70]
September 22, 2000 – Ronald Gay entered a gay bar in
Roanoke, Virginia, and opened fire on the patrons, killing Danny Overstreet, 43 years old, and severely injuring six others. Ronald said he was angry over what his name now meant, and deeply upset that three of his sons had changed their surname. He claimed that he had been told by God to find and kill lesbians and gay men, describing himself as a "Christian Soldier working for my Lord"; Gay testified in court that "he wished he could have killed more fags", before several of the shooting victims as well as Danny Overstreet's family and friends.[71]
June 16, 2001 – Fred Martinez Jr., a 16-year-old transgender and
two-spirit student, was bludgeoned to death near
Cortez, Colorado, by 18-year-old Shaun Murphy, who reportedly bragged about attacking a "fag".[72][73]
August 25, 2001 Gary Raynall was found brutally beaten to death in Leawood, Kansas. The case is still unsolved and family members believe his death was a hate crime.[74]
May 17, 2002 – Gary McMurtry "Brazon" a 36-year-old Ohio drag queen performer was stabbed with a sword by Michael Jennings. Jennings was sentenced to 25 years to life.[75]
June 12, 2002 – Philip Walsted, a gay man, was fatally beaten with a baseball bat. According to prosecutors, the
neo-Nazi views of Walsted's assailant, David Higdon, led to what was originally a robbery escalating to murder. Higdon was sentenced to life in prison, plus an additional sentence for robbery.[76]
August 6, 2002 – Rodney Velasquez, a 26-year-old Latino gay man, was found murdered in the bathtub of his
Bronx apartment.[77]
October 3, 2002 – Gwen Araujo, a teenage
trans woman, was murdered by at least three men who were charged with committing a hate crime. Two were convicted of murder, the third manslaughter; however, the jury rejected the hate crime enhancement.
December 12, 2001 – Terrianne Summers, a 51-year-old trans woman and activist for transgender rights, was shot and killed in her front yard in Florida. No arrests were made, and police did not investigate her murder as a hate crime.[79] Terrianne's high visibility as a trans woman due to her work as an activist has led her to be included in lists of anti-LGBT hate crimes, although lack of police interest in her murder means the motives behind the killing may never be known.
May 11, 2003 – Sakia Gunn, a black 15-year-old lesbian, was murdered in
Newark, New Jersey. While waiting for a bus, Gunn and her friends were propositioned by two men. When the girls rejected their advances, declaring themselves to be lesbians, the men attacked them. One of the men, Richard McCullough, fatally stabbed Gunn. In exchange for his pleading guilty to several lesser crimes including aggravated manslaughter, prosecutors dropped murder charges against McCullough, who was sentenced to 20 years.[80][81]
June 17, 2003 – Richie Phillips of
Elizabethtown, Kentucky, was killed by Joseph Cottrell. His body was later found in a suitcase in
Rough River Lake. During his trial, two of Cottrell's relatives testified that he lured Phillips to his death, and killed him because he was gay.[82] Cottrell was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison.[83]
July 23, 2003 – Nireah Johnson and Brandie Coleman were shot to death by Paul Moore, when Moore learned after a sexual encounter that Johnson was
transgender.[84] Moore then burned his victims' bodies. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 120 years in prison.[85]
July 31, 2003 – 37-year-old Glenn Kopitske was shot and stabbed in the back by 17-year-old Gary Hirte[86] in
Winnebago County, Wisconsin. Prosecutors contended that Hirte murdered Kopitske to see if he could get away with it.[87] Hirte pleaded insanity, claiming he killed Kopitske in a murderous rage after a consensual sexual encounter with the victim, because he felt a homosexual act was "worse than murder". The 'temporary insanity' mitigation plea was not upheld, he was found guilty, and received a
life sentence.
August 2003 – Emonie Spaulding, a black 25-year-old trans woman, was shot to death in Washington, D.C., by Derrick Antwan Lewis after he discovered she was trans.[88]
December, 2003 – Jason Galehouse, 26, and Michael Wachholtz, 26, two gay men were raped, tortured and murdered by Steven Lorenzo, in
Tampa, Florida. Galehouse's body was never found. Lorenzo was sentenced to death.[89]
June 5, 2004 – 23-year-old Jesse Valencia was murdered on
Columbia, Missouri by his gay lover, Steven Arthur Rios, who was married and was a police officer. Rios was sentenced to life in prison.[90]
July 22, 2004 – 18-year-old Scotty Joe Weaver of
Bay Minette, Alabama, was murdered. His burned and partially decomposed body was discovered a few miles from the mobile home in which he lived. He was beaten, strangled and stabbed numerous times, and his body was doused in gasoline and set on fire. Three people were charged with capital murder and robbery in connection with the crime, two of whom were Weaver's roommates: Christopher Gaines, aged 20, Nichole Kelsay, aged 18, and Robert Porter, aged 18. Nichole Kelsay had been Weaver's friend throughout most of his life.[91] Gaines plead guilty to capital murder in May 2007 and was sentenced to life without parole. In September 2007, Porter also plead guilty and was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment.[92] Nichole Kelsay plead guilty and received a 20-year sentence.[93]
July 28, 2004 – Roderick George, a 40-year-old man, died in Montgomery, Alabama from a gunshot wound. He had been found in his car on July 27. The suspect in the case, Anthony T. Johnson, confessed to the crime, claiming that George made sexual advances and even "lunged at" Johnson. Police charged Johnson with capital murder.[94]
October 2, 2004 – Daniel Fetty, a gay man who was
hearing-impaired and
homeless, was attacked by multiple assailants in
Waverly, Ohio. Fetty was beaten, stomped, shoved nude into a garbage bin, impaled with a stick, and left for dead; he succumbed to his injuries the next day. Prosecutors alleged a hate crime. Three men received sentences ranging from seven years to life.[95]
January 28, 2005 – Ronnie Antonio Paris, a three-year-old boy living in
Tampa, Florida, died due to brain injuries inflicted by his father, Ronnie Paris, Jr. According to his mother and other relatives, Ronnie Paris, Jr., repeatedly slammed his son into walls, slapped the child's head, and "
boxed" him because he was concerned the child was gay and would grow up a sissy. Paris was sentenced to thirty years in prison.[96][97]
On February 27, 2005, in
Santa Fe, New Mexico, 21-year-old James Maestas was assaulted outside a restaurant, then followed to a hotel and beaten unconscious by men who called him "faggot" during the attack. Although all of his attackers were charged with committing a hate crime, none was sentenced to prison.[98]
March 11, 2005 – Jason Gage, an openly gay man, was murdered in his
Waterloo, Iowa, apartment by an assailant, Joseph Lawrence, who claimed Gage had made sexual advances to him. Gage was
bludgeoned to death with a bottle, and stabbed in the neck, probably post-mortem, with a shard of glass.[99] Lawrence was sentenced to fifty years in prison.
October 19, 2005 – Billy Sanford, a 52-year-old man, was attacked by handyman Marcus Dewayne Kelley, 26, in
Montgomery, Alabama. Kelley claimed that Sanford had made repeated sexual advances toward him. Kelley beat Sanford with a hammer, putting him in a coma.[100] Kelley was apprehended November 14, 2005.[101] Sanford remained in a coma through at least December 6, 2005.[102]
October 25, 2005 – Emanuel Xavier, an openly gay poet and activist, was surrounded and brutally beaten by a group of fifteen to twenty teens on the streets of Bushwick which left him permanently deaf in his right ear.[103]
November 26, 2005 – James Oliver Bailey, an 80-year-old man, was murdered in his home in Lake Jordan, Alabama. He was murdered by Chris Nieves of
Marbury, Alabama who hit the elderly man with a two-by-four and later claimed that Bailey made sexual advances toward him.[100][102]
February 2, 2006 – 18-year-old
Jacob D. Robida entered a bar in
New Bedford, Massachusetts, confirmed that it was a
gay bar, and then attacked patrons with a hatchet and a handgun, wounding three.[104] He fatally shot himself three days later.[105]
June 10, 2006 – Kevin Aviance, a female impressionist, musician, fashion designer and "oldest daughter" of the legendary House of Aviance was robbed and beaten in
Manhattan by a group of men who yelled anti-gay slurs at him. Four assailants pleaded guilty and received prison sentences.[106]
July 30, 2006 – Six men were attacked with
baseball bats and knives after leaving the San Diego
Gay Pride festival. One victim was injured so severely that he had to undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery. Three men pleaded guilty in connection with the attacks and received prison sentences. A 15-year-old juvenile also pleaded guilty.[107][108]
October 8, 2006 – Michael Sandy was attacked by four young heterosexual men who lured him into meeting after chatting online, while they were looking for gay men to rob. He was struck by a car while trying to escape his attackers, and died five days later without regaining consciousness.[109][110]
February 27, 2007 – Andrew Anthos, a 72-year-old disabled gay man, was beaten with a lead pipe in
Detroit,
Michigan, by a man who was shouting anti-gay slurs at him. Anthos died 10 days later in the hospital.[111]
March 15, 2007 – Ryan Keith Skipper, a 25-year-old gay man, was stabbed to death in
Wahneta, Florida. Four suspects were arrested for the crime. The Sheriff called it a hate crime.[112]
March 16, 2007 – Ruby Ordeñana, a 24-year-old Latina transgender woman, was found naked and strangled to death in San Francisco, California, at 5:40 am.[113][114] Donzell Francis, who was suspected of raping and strangling Ordeñana, was convicted on December 23, 2009, and sentenced to 17 years and 18 months in prison for forcible oral copulation, robbery, assault causing great bodily injury, and false imprisonment of another transgender woman.[115]
May 12, 2007 – Roberto Duncanson was murdered in
Brooklyn, New York. He was stabbed to death by Omar Willock, who claimed Duncanson had flirted with him.[116]
May 16, 2007 – Sean William Kennedy, 20, was walking to his car from Brew's Bar in
Greenville, South Carolina, when Stephen Andrew Moller, 18, got out of another car and approached Kennedy. Investigators said that Moller made a comment about Kennedy's sexual orientation, and threw a fatal punch because he did not like the other man's sexual preference.[117]
September 9, 2007 – A gay bashing occurred in the Towers West
Quiznos on the campus of
Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tennessee.[118] A student, Robert Gutierrez, and a non-student hurled homophobic abuse at two gay students and beat one up.[118] A report was filed with the
Vanderbilt University Police Department, and Gutteriez was reportedly suspended, although it could not be confirmed.[119] Gutteriez dismissed it as "just a fight",[119] but the dean of students suggested it was "a premeditated, unprovoked attack".[118] The victims were not named to protect their anonymity.[119]
October 2007 – Steven Domer, a 62-year-old gay man, was murdered in Oklahoma.[120]
December 8, 2007 – 25-year-old gay man Nathaniel Salerno was attacked by four men on a Metro train in Washington, DC. The men called him "faggot" while they beat him.[121]
January 8, 2008 – Stacey Brown, a black 30-year-old trans woman, was found dead in her apartment. She had been shot in the head.[122]
July 1, 2008 – Ebony Whitaker, an African American trans woman, was shot and killed in Memphis.[123]
February 2008 – Duanna Johnson, a trans woman, was beaten by a police officer while she was held in the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Tennessee. Johnson said the officers reportedly called her a "faggot" and "he-she", before and during the incident.[124] In November 2008, she was found dead in the street, reportedly gunned down by three unknown individuals.[125]
February 4, 2008 – Ashley Sweeney, a trans woman, was shot in the head. Her body was found in Detroit, Michigan.[126]
February 10, 2008 – Sanesha Stewart, a 25-year-old black trans woman, was stabbed to death in Bronx, New York.[127]
February 12, 2008 – Lawrence "Larry" King, a 15-year-old junior high school student, was shot twice by a classmate at E.O. Green School in
Oxnard, California. He was taken off life support after doctors declared him
brain dead on February 15.[128] According to
Associated Press reports, "prosecutors have charged a 14-year-old classmate with premeditated murder with hate-crime and firearm-use enhancements".[129][130][131]
February 22, 2008 – Simmie Williams Jr. was a black gender-nonconforming 17-year-old, who was shot dead on a street corner in
Broward County, Florida.[132]
March 16, 2008 – Police say Lance Neve was beaten unconscious in
Rochester, New York because Neve was gay. A man attacked Neve at a bar leaving him with a fractured skull and a broken nose. Jesse Parsons was sentenced to more than five years in prison for the assault.
May 29, 2008 – Eighteen-year-old Steven Parrish, a member of the 92 Family Swans subgroup of the
Bloods, was murdered by Steven T. Hollis III and Juan L. Flythe on orders from gang leader Timothy Rawlings Jr., in
Baltimore County, Maryland after they found "gay messages" on his cell phone. They felt having a gay member would make their gang appear weak. Hollis III pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison, Flythe was given a life sentence with all but 30 years suspended, and Rawlings was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. A fourth man, Benedict Wureh, pleaded guilty to being an
accessory after the fact and was sentenced to time served, about 17 months.[133]
June 9, 2008 – Jeremy Waggoner, an openly gay hairstylist from
Royal Oak, Michigan, was brutally murdered in Detroit. His murder is still unsolved.[134]
July 17, 2008 – Eighteen-year-old Angie Zapata, a trans woman, was beaten to death in Colorado two days after meeting Allen Ray Andrade. The case was prosecuted as a hate crime, and Andrade was found guilty of first degree murder on April 22, 2009.[135]
August 20, 2008 – Nahkia Williams, a black trans woman, was shot to death in
Louisville, Kentucky. Damon Malone was charged with her murder, robbery, and burglary, and sentenced to 35 years in prison.[136]
September 7, 2008 – Tony Randolph Hunter, 27, and his partner were attacked and beaten near a gay bar in
Washington, D.C. Hunter later died from his injuries on September 18. Police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.[137]
September 13, 2008 – 26-year-old Nima Daivari was attacked in
Denver, Colorado, by a man who called him "faggot". The police that arrived on the scene refused to make a report of the attack.[138]
September 21, 2008 – 22-year-old trans woman Ruby Molina's nude body was found facedown on the bank of a river in isolated and undeveloped area in Sacramento, California.[139]
November 7, 2008 – The home of openly gay Melvin Whistlehunt in
Newton, North Carolina, was destroyed by arsonists. Investigators found homophobic graffiti spray-painted on the back of the house.[140][141]
November 14, 2008 – 22-year-old Lateisha Green, a trans woman, was shot and killed by Dwight DeLee in
Syracuse,
New York, because he thought she was gay.[142] Local news media reported the incident with her legal name, Moses "Teish" Cannon.[143] DeLee was convicted of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime on July 17, 2009, and received the maximum sentence of 25 years in state prison. This was only the second time in the nation's history that a person was prosecuted for a hate crime against a transgender person and the first hate crime conviction in New York state.[144][145][146]
December 26, 2008 – Taysia Elzy, a 34-year-old trans woman, and her partner, 22-year-old Michael Hunt, were shot to death and left for dead in their apartment by 20-year-old Chris Conwell.[148]
December 27, 2008 – 24-year-old Nathan Runkle was brutally assaulted in
Dayton, Ohio, outside a gay nightclub.[149]
February 15, 2009 – Efosa Agbontaen and Branden McGillvery-Dummett were attacked in New York City by four young men with glass bottles and box cutters who used anti-gay slurs during the attack. Agbontaen and McGillvery-Dummett both required emergency room treatment for their injuries.[151]
February 18, 2009 – Two men were arrested in
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, for the stabbing death of gay veteran Michael Goucher.[152]
March 1, 2009 – Three men entered a bar in
Galveston, Texas, and attacked patrons with rocks. One of the victims, Marc Bosaw, was sent to the emergency room to have twelve staples in his head.
March 14, 2009 – A gay couple leaving a Britney Spears concert in
Newark, New Jersey, were attacked by 15 teens. Josh Kehoe and Bobby Daniel Caldwell were called "faggots" and beaten. Caldwell suffered a broken jaw.[153]
March 23, 2009 – Two gay men were attacked in
Seaside, Oregon, and left lying unconscious on a local beach. The men regained consciousness and were treated at a nearby hospital.[154]
April 6, 2009 – Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old child in
Springfield, Massachusetts, hanged himself with an extension cord after being bullied all school year by peers who said "he acted feminine" and was gay.[155]
April 10, 2009 – Justin Goodwin, 36, of
Salem, Massachusetts, was attacked and beaten by as many as six people outside a bar in
Gloucester, Massachusetts. Goodwin suffered a shattered jaw, broken eye socket, broken nose and broken cheekbone. Goodwin later died by suicide.[156] Brothers Jonathan and William Chadwick, both of Gloucester, and John Curley-Brotman of Boston, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The assault was not considered a hate crime by authorities despite pressure from the Goodwin family to declare it so. On June 23, 2010, the Chadwick brothers were each sentenced to four years in state prison, and Curley-Brotman was sentenced to two years in the county jail of Middleton, Massachusetts.[157]
June 18, 2009 – Patti Hammond Shaw, an African-American trans woman, turned herself into a police station in
Washington, D.C., after receiving a letter saying there was a warrant for her arrest on charges of making a false police report. Despite producing documents supporting her right to be housed with other women, she was placed in a men's facility. According to her suit, officers "groped her breasts, buttocks and between her legs repeatedly and excessively". She is now suing Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the
U.S. Marshals service for the treatment she received.[158]
June 30, 2009 –
SeamanAugust Provost was found shot to death and his body burned at his guard post on
Camp Pendleton. LGBT community leaders "citing military sources initially said that Provost's death was a hate crime."[159] Provost had been harassed because of his sexual orientation.[159] Military leaders have since explained that "whatever the investigation concludes, the military's "
Don't ask, don't tell" policy prevented Provost from seeking help."[159] Family and friends believe he was murdered because he was openly gay (or bisexual according to some family and sources);[160][161][162][163] the killer died by suicide a week later after admitting the murder, the Navy have not concluded if this was a hate crime.[164]
October 25, 2009 – Dee Green, a trans woman, was found by police unconscious, stabbed in the heart, and bleeding on a street in Baltimore, Maryland. She was taken to a hospital where she died half an hour later. Larry Douglas was charged with first-degree murder in April 2010.[165]
November 2009 – Jason Mattison Jr., an openly gay 15-year-old boy, was violently murdered and raped at his aunt's house by 35-year-old Dante Parrish, a family friend who had been in prison for murder previously.[166] Parrish was convicted for Mattison's murder and in April 2012 was sentenced to life without parole (the conviction included a second life term for attempted sexual assault).[167]
December 9, 2009 – Mariah Malina Qualls' body was found in a San Francisco hotel.[168] She was a 23-year-old transgender woman who volunteered and was a member of the
Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center's TRANS:THRIVE community.
December 25, 2009 – Robert LeCompte, a 39-year-old gay man and manager of The Drama Club in
Houma, LA, was found murdered from sharp-force trauma on the floor of the club. Jorrell Young, a former employee of the venue, has been convicted of the crime; he maintains that he did not commit the killing himself, admitting only to being present when it happened.[169]
2010–2019
2010
January 18, 2010 – The half-naked corpse of Myra Chanel Ical, a 51-year-old trans woman, was found in a vacant lot in
Houston, Texas.[170]
March 30, 2010 – Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, a 29-year-old
Latina trans woman, was found dead in her
Queens, New York, apartment. The autopsy found that her attacker, Rasheen Everett, had strangled her, then doused her body with bleach.[171] In December 2013 Everett was sentenced to 29 years to life. At sentencing Everett's lawyer, John Scarpa, disputed the sentence with the statement: "Who is the victim in this case? Is the victim a person in the higher end of the community?" The judge, Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter, responded, "This court believes every human life is sacred ... It's not easy living as a transgender, and I commend the family for supporting her."[172]
April 3, 2010 – Toni Alston, a black 44-year-old transgender woman, was shot in the front door of her home in western
Charlotte, North Carolina.[173]
May 7, 2010 – Dana A. "Chanel" Larkin, a 26-year-old black trans woman who worked as a prostitute, was shot three times in the head by her client, Andrew Olacirequi, after she asked him if he was okay with them having sex despite her male genitalia. She was found dead on the pavement of a
Milwaukee street.[174]
June 21, 2010 – Sandy Woulard, a 28-year-old trans woman, was shot in the chest in
South Side, Chicago. A passing motorist found her lying in the street, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital.[175]
September 11, 2010 – Victoria Carmen White, a 28-year-old black transgender woman, died of bullet wounds in her
New Jersey apartment. It is unknown whether she was targeted by her killer, Alrashim Chambers, for her gender identity.[176]
October 3, 2010 – A 30-year-old male known as "la Reina" (the Queen), and two teens, both 17, were kidnapped in
the Bronx by a homophobic group of youths calling themselves the
Latin King Goonies, sodomized by foreign objects including a plunger and baseball bat, burned with cigarettes, and tortured for hours. One of the teenage victims had wanted to join the gang the attackers were part of, but when members saw him with the 30-year-old, they later picked him up and took him to an abandoned apartment, and asked him if the two had had sex. When the teenager responded positively, he was beaten and sodomized. The gang later picked up the second teenager whom they had also seen with the 30-year-old and repeated the process. They then lured the 30-year-old to the building with the promise of a party. When he arrived with alcohol, the gang tied him up and tortured him, and made the 17-year-old burn him with cigarettes. They then robbed the man's 40-year-old brother, coercing him by putting a cellphone to his ear so he could hear his brother beg to pay them.[177][178][179]
October 14, 2010 – Stacey Blahnik Lee, a 31-year-old black trans woman, was found murdered in her
Philadelphia home by her boyfriend.[180]
November 17, 2010 – 18-year-old Joshua Wilkerson was found dead in a field in
Pearland, Texas, after being beaten to death and set on fire by a friend of five years, Hermilo Moralez. This was supposedly retaliation for unwanted sexual advances.[181]
December 2010 – Kevin Mark Powell and Stephen Duane Adams, a married gay couple from Florida, were shot in their home by Peter Avsenew. Peter Avsenew in his conviction sent a letter to a judge, which said "You will never be able to stop me. It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence. I will stand up for what I believe in and eradicate anything in my way. Homosexuals are a disgrace to mankind and must be put down. These weren't the first and they won't be the last". Avsenew was initially sentenced to death but after a new trial, he was sentenced to life in prison.[182]
2011
January 11, 2011 – Chrissie Bates, a 45-year-old transgender woman, was stabbed to death in her downtown
Minneapolis apartment. Arnold Darwin Waukazo was sentenced to 367 months in prison for the murder.[183]
February 19, 2011 – Tyra Trent, a black 25-year-old trans woman, was found strangled to death in a vacant house.[184]
March 2011 – Tory Minnick, a lesbian 21-year-old woman was shot twice in the head by her lover, Erin Everett. After shooting her, Everett smashed Minnick's face with a claw hammer.[185]
April 2011 – Kevin Pennington, a gay 28-year-old male, was kidnapped and severely beaten in a Kentucky park by two men shouting anti-gay epithets. David Jason Jenkins and Anthony Ray Jenkins face possible life sentences for anti-gay hate crimes.[186] On March 15, 2012, the Kentucky State Police assisted the FBI in arresting David Jenkins, Anthony Jenkins, Mable Jenkins, and Alexis Jenkins of
Partridge, Kentucky, for the beating of Kevin Pennington during a late-night attack in April 2011 at
Kingdom Come State Park,[187][188] near Cumberland. The push came from the gay-rights group
Kentucky Equality Federation, whose president,
Jordan Palmer, began lobbying the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky in August 2011[189] to prosecute after stating he had no confidence in the Harlan County Commonwealth's Attorney to act.[190] "I think the case's notoriety may have derived in large part from the
Kentucky Equality Federation efforts," said Harvey, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky.[191] Mable Jenkins and Alexis Jenkins pled guilty.[191]
April 18, 2011 - Norma Hurtado and Maria Hurtado, a young lesbian woman and her mother respectively, were shot by Jose Aviles at their home in Houston, Texas. Aviles disapproved of Norma Hurtado's relationship with his daughter, and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.[192][193]
April 22, 2011 – Chrissy Lee Polis,[194] a 22-year-old trans woman, was beaten in a violent struggle by two African-American women for entering the women's bathroom in
Baltimore County, Maryland, which triggered her to have a seizure. A McDonald's employee, who was later fired, filmed the encounter and released the film on the internet; it since went
viral. Teonna Monae Brown, 19, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and a hate crime in the beating and was sentenced to five years in prison, plus three years of supervised probation. The other woman was charged as a juvenile and committed to a juvenile detention facility.[195]
June 2011 – Rosita Hernandez, a Cuban trans woman, was stabbed to death in
Miami.[196] In November 2011, Miguel Pavon was charged with first-degree murder after his DNA was matched with samples found in the victim's residence.[197]
June 5, 2011 – CeCe McDonald, a young African American trans woman, was attacked outside a tavern shortly after midnight in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[198] CeCe fatally stabbed her attacker with a pair of scissors.[199] She was subsequently convicted of
manslaughter and jailed for 19 months in a men's prison.[200]
July 20, 2011 – Lashai Mclean, a 23-year-old African American trans woman, was shot to death in
Northeast, Washington, D.C.[201]
August 11, 2011 – Camila Guzman, a Latina transgender woman, was found murdered in her apartment in
East Harlem,
Manhattan.[202]
September 8, 2011 – Cameron Nelson, a 32-year-old gay man, was attacked at his place of employment in
Utah.[203]
October 11, 2011 – Shelley Hilliard, a black transgender teen who had been reported missing, had her burnt torso identified by police in
Detroit.[204] Her killer, 30-year-old Qasim Raqib, was sentenced on March 6, 2012, to 25–40 years in jail.[205]
November 15, 2011 – Danny Vega, a 58-year-old Asian-American gay man who worked as a hairdresser in
Rainier Valley,
Seattle, was beaten and robbed as he was taking a walk. The beating left Vega in a coma from which he later died.[206]
November 17, 2011 – Cassidy Nathan Vickers, a 32-year-old black transgender woman, died from a gunshot wound to the chest in Hollywood. Her killer, who is still unidentified, is also suspected of shooting and attempting to rob another black transgender woman on the same day.[207]
December 17, 2011 – Charlie Hernandez, a 26-year-old who was openly gay, was stabbed to death following a brawl that included anti-gay slurs that occurred with two men after he accidentally stepped on some sunglasses.[208]
December 24, 2011 – Dee Dee Pearson, a 31-year-old transgender woman, died from bullet wounds in
Kansas City, Missouri. Kenyan L. Jones was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Jones told police he paid to have sexual relations with Pearson, believing her to be a
cisgender woman, but hours after having sex with her, discovered she was not.[209] Angered by what he considered to be a deception, he got a
9 mm caliberhandgun, found Ms Pearson, and killed her.[210] Jones was arrested on suspicion of her murder.[211]
December 29, 2011 – The body of Give Goines, a black 23-year-old trans woman[212] who had been reported missing two weeks beforehand, was found in a scrapheap in
New Orleans. An autopsy set that the time of her death as much as two days before her body was discovered and that she had been strangled.[213]
2012
January 21, 2012 – Crain Conaway, a 47-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found dead in her home in
Oceanside, California.[214] Tyree Paschall Monday was arrested in connection with her murder.[215]
February 2, 2012 – JaParker "Deoni" Jones, a 23-year-old African-American transgender woman, was stabbed in the head while waiting at a
Metrobus stop in
Washington, D.C.[216]
February 2012 – Cody Rogers, an 18-year-old teenager, was brutally assaulted and targeted with homophobic slurs at a party in
Oklahoma after defending a female friend who was also attacked.[217]
March 8, 2012 – A gay African-American man was sexually and physically assaulted by two men in
Corpus Christi, Texas. The victim was invited to an apartment, when Jimmy Garza and Ramiro Serrata Jr. physically attacked him over the course of three hours. The victim was also sodomized with a broom and threatened with a gun, until he was able to escape through an apartment window. Garza and Serrata Jr. were sentenced to fifteen years for their roles in the attack.[218][219]
March 24, 2012 – Several transgender and crossdressing people were shot at and robbed in Florida by a man, suspected to be De Los Santos. 23-year-old Tyrell Jackson was fatally wounded in the shooting, which also injured 20-year-old Michael Hunter.[220]
April 3, 2012 – Coko Williams, a black trans woman, was found murdered in
East Detroit,
Michigan. The homicide may have been related to Coko's involvement in sex work.[221]
April 16, 2012 – Paige Clay, 23, a African-American transgender woman, was found dead, with a bullet wound to her face in
West Garfield Park, Chicago. The death was ruled as a homicide.[222]
April 21, 2012 – Eric Unger, a 23-year-old gay man living in
Illinois, was attacked by a group of men on the way home from a party, while they shouted anti-gay epithets at him. The investigation is ongoing.[223]
May 11-12, 2012 – Lorena Escalera, a 25-year-old Latina transgender woman who performed under the name Lorena Xtravaganza, was found dead in her apartment in
Bushwick after the building had been set ablaze.[224]
May 26, 2012 – Max Pelofske, a 21-year-old gay man, was beaten by a group of youths at a party in
Kelsey Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota. Pelofske claims it was a hate crime, but police disagree.[225]
June 5, 2012 – Kardin Ulysse, a 14-year-old African-American, was attacked in the cafeteria of Roy Mann Junior High School in
Brooklyn, New York, by another group of boys. He was called anti-gay slurs and sustained damage to the cornea of one of his eyes, leaving him blinded.[226] Ulysse's parents sued
New York City for failing to supervise its students properly and the city settled for $700,000 in 2016.[227]
June 22, 2012 – Mollie Olgin, 19 years old, and her girlfriend, Mary Kristene Chapa, 18 years old, were sexually assaulted and shot in the head near Violet Andrews Park in
Portland, Texas. Olgin died at the scene and Chapa survived. David Strickland has been charged with the murder of Olgin and sentenced to life.[228]
July 5, 2012 – Tracy Johnson, a 40-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found dead from gunshot wounds in
Baltimore, Maryland.[229]
August 14, 2012 – Tiffany Gooden, a 19-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found murdered on the second floor of an abandoned building in Chicago. An autopsy verified that she had been stabbed to death. Notably, the body of Paige Clay, another young black trans woman, was discovered April the same year 3 blocks away from where Tiffany was found. The pair were known as friends.[230]
August 18, 2012 – Kendall Hampton, a 26-year-old African-American transgender woman, died of gunshot wounds. Eugene Carlos Dukes was arrested in early September for her murder, and indicted later that month.[231]
August 26, 2012 – Deja Jones, a 33-year-old African-American transgender woman, was shot to death in Miami. No arrest had been made.[232]
September 3, 2012 – The body of Kyra Cordova, a 27-year-old transgender woman, was found in a wooded area in
Frankford, Philadelphia.[233]
October 15, 2012 – Janette Tovar, a 43-year-old transgender woman was murdered by her partner, Jonathan Kenney, according to police, who beat her and slammed her head into the concrete. He was later arrested for her murder.[234]
November 9, 2012 – Austin Head, a progressive community activist and openly gay man, was assaulted by brothers Jermon Barnes and Ernie Barnes in
Phoenix, Arizona. Head was knocked unconscious during the attack and was hospitalized due to the multiple injuries he sustained. Both Barnes brothers were charged and convicted for their role in the attack.[235]
2013
March 1, 2013 – Sondra Scarber addressed a parent about her girlfriend's son being bullied at Seabourn Elementary School in
Mesquite, Texas, and was beaten by him when he realized that she was a lesbian.[236]
May 17, 2013 – Mark Carson, a 32-year-old black gay man,[237] was shot to death by another man who trailed and taunted him and a friend as they walked down the street in
Greenwich Village,
Manhattan. When the two friends ignored the assailant's questions, the man began yelling anti-gay slurs and asked one of them, "You want to die tonight?" Elliot Morales, 33, was arrested briefly after the shooting and charged with murder and weapons charges on May 19.[238] According to police, Morales said he shot Carson because he was "acting tough".[239] Morales pleaded not guilty, but on March 9, 2016, he was convicted by a Manhattan jury of murder as a hate crime.[240] Morales was sentenced on June 14, 2016, to 40 years to life in prison.
May 22, 2013 – Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy, was tortured and murdered by his mother and her boyfriend because they believed the child to be gay. Prosecutor Jon Hatami detailed the acts allegedly committed by Isauro Aguirre and the boy's mother, Pearl Fernandez, who also faces trial. Hatami explained that the Palmdale couple beat Gabriel, bit him, burned him with cigarettes, whipped him, shot him with a B.B. gun, starved him, fed him cat litter, and kept him gagged and bound in a cubby hold closet until he was found on May 22, 2013, dying of blunt force trauma to the head. He died two days later in the hospital. The couple called first responders to treat Gabriel, but that was only in an attempt to mislead, the prosecutor said.[241] In June 2018, Aguirre was sentenced to death and Fernandez was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
June 2, 2013 – Matthew Fenner was beaten and choked for hours by church members. He says the attacks took place "to break [him] free of the homosexual demons they so viciously despise".[242]
October 2013 – Carmen Guerrero, (a transgender woman sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her girlfriend Mary Perkins) was bound, gagged, tortured, and murdered by her cellmate, Miguel Crespo, at
Kern Valley State Prison in California. Miguel Crespo was sentenced to death in 2019.[243]
November 4, 2013 – Sasha Fleischman, an agender 18-year-old, had their skirt set on fire while they were sleeping on an
AC Transit bus in Oakland, California. Police arrested 16-year-old Richard Thomas and charged him with felony assault, with an enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury. Thomas admitted to police that he had started the fire and that he did it because he was "homophobic".[244] On November 14, 2014, Thomas was sentenced to seven years in juvenile detention for his crime.[245] The attack on Fleischman and their recovery were the subject of an
article in the New York Times Magazine, an article which later became the basis for a related
non-fiction book titled The 57 Bus.[246]
December 31, 2013 – A fire was started in the stairway of a gay nightclub in Seattle, which was quickly extinguished. After suspect Musab Mohammaed Masmari had told a friend that "homosexuals should be exterminated", an informer from the Muslim community told the FBI Masamari may have also been planning terrorist attacks. The native of
Benghazi, Libya, was arrested en route to Turkey. Masmari was sentenced to 10 years on federal arson charges.[247]
2014
March 1, 2014 – Jipsta, a well-known and openly gay white rapper, was the victim of a bias attack in a New York City subway station as he and his partner were celebrating their 10-year anniversary.[248][249] The assailant hurled vicious homophobic slurs at the couple, and following a verbal disagreement, Jipsta was brutally beaten by the unidentified subject, resulting in multiple fractures to his face.[250] As a result of the incident, Jipsta required surgery due to seven broken bones sustained to his nose and eye socket, which forced him to cease promotion of his sophomore album Turnt Up.[251]
March 6, 2014 – Britney Cosby, 24, and Crystal Jackson, 24, were murdered by Britney's father, James "Larry" Cosby. The victims were a lesbian couple survived by Crystal's five-year-old daughter. Britney was strangled and beaten to death. Crystal was also beaten and strangled, though a gunshot wound to her temple was the cause of death. James Cosby was sentenced to life in prison.[252]
June 1, 2014 – Ahmed Said, 27, and Dwone Anderson-Young, 23, were killed execution-style shortly after midnight in the
Leschi neighborhood of Seattle shortly after they left a gay nightclub. Both victims were gay, and Ahmed was apparently lured by being contacted on
Grindr, a social app popular with gay men. Anderson-Young was receiving a ride home from Ahmed Said. The case was soon investigated as a possible hate crime. Both Said and Anderson-Young were shot multiple times; Anderson-Young died inside Said's car, while Said died immediately outside.[253] Suspect
Ali Muhammad Brown has confessed to killing Said, Anderson-Young, and two men in Seattle and New Jersey, both of whom were not gay. Brown had previously been convicted of bank fraud and is believed to be in support of Muslim terrorists in
Somalia. He told investigators that he was guided strictly by his faith, and that the killings were "just" because they were in retaliation for actions by the U.S. government in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.[254]
October 18, 2014 – Tawnee Marie Baird, a 21-year-old woman was stabbed 46 times by her girlfriend, Victoria Mendoza.[255]
2015
February 1, 2015 – Taja DeJesus, 36, a trans woman, was found stabbed to death in the
Bayview neighborhood of
San Francisco, California.[256]
May 5, 2015 – Jonathan Snipes, 25, and Ethan York-Adams, 25, were the victim of a homophobic attack in a New York City restaurant. When two male patrons in the restaurant directed homophobic slurs towards the couple, Snipes confronted the patrons. The patrons then physically escalated their argument, where Snipes was pushed to the ground and repeatedly kicked. York-Adams and Snipes were then hit with a chair. Both suspects fled the restaurant, while the victims sustained multiple injuries.[257]
June 1, 2015 – Mercedes Williamson, a 17-year-old transgender woman studying to be a cosmetologist, was murdered in
George County, Mississippi.[258] In 2016, the Justice Department used the
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act to bring criminal charges against a person for selecting a victim because of their gender identity for the first time.[259] Joshua Vallum plead guilty in the case, stating that he used a stun gun to incapacitate her before stabbing and beating her to death all in an effort to keep fellow members of the
Latin Kings from learning of their sexual relationship. He was sentenced to 49 years in 2017.[260]
October 4, 2015 – John Mateer, 19, was assaulted by Matthew Chandlee, 18, outside of a
Penn State University frat house after Mateer revealed he was gay. The crime
went viral across the internet after Mateer uploaded photos of his bruised and bloodied face to his Twitter profile. Chandlee was charged with simple assault and harassment, but was not charged with a hate crime since Pennsylvania did not have a hate crime law protecting LGBT people. He was sentenced to 30 days incarceration at the
Centre County Correctional Facility.[261]
2016
February 15, 2016 – Anthony Gooden and Marquez Tolbert, experienced facial and bodily second and third-degree burns after Martin Luther Blackwell, 43, poured boiling water on them as they were sleeping. Gooden was comatose for two weeks, during his five-week hospitalization.[262]
April 29, 2016 – Steven Nelson a 49-year-old gay man, was assaulted by Kelly Schneider, 23, in a secluded wildlife area near Lake Lowell, Idaho. Scheinder kicked Nelson 20-30 times with steel-toed boots, after which he was robbed of his clothes, his credit cards and his car keys and left to die in the cold. Nelson was able to get up and walk to a nearby home and call for help. He was taken to a local hospital but died later that morning. Schneider was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison.[263]
June 12, 2016 – A massacre at the Orlando gay nightclub Pulse left 49 dead and 53 wounded. The gunman, 29-year-old
Omar Mateen, was an American citizen of Afghan descent who pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization
ISIS in a
9-1-1 call he made about the attack.[264] ISIS also claimed responsibility for the attack.[265] The incident was the largest attack targeting LGBT people in the US.[266]
July 23, 2016 – Dee Whigham, a 25-year-old African-American transgender woman employed as a nurse, was stabbed 119 times in a
Jackson County, Mississippi hotel. Police arrested Dwanya Porche Hickerson, a 20-year-old sailor stationed at
Keesler Air Force Base, for the murder.[267] He plead guilty on July 20, 2017. During his plea, Hickerson admitted that he killed Whigham after they had sexual intercourse and Whigham informed him that she was transgender. Circuit Court Judge Robert Krebs accepted the DA's recommendation of 40 years for Whigham's murder as well as 8 years for the robbery of her person that night.[268]
July 29, 2016 – Levi Frerichs, a gay man, was attacked by a group of six teenagers as he was walking home in
Chicago, Illinois. The teenagers noticed Freirichs and began to throw blows to his head, while taunting him with homophobic slurs.[269]
August 11, 2016 – Rae'Lynn Thomas, a 28-year-old transgender woman, was shot twice in front of her mother, and then beaten to death by James Allen Byrd, her mother's ex-boyfriend, in Columbus, Ohio. Byrd called her "the devil" and made transphobic comments towards her.[270]
September 7, 2016 – Michael Phillips was attacked after leaving his job at a gay bar. He and his husband say they have been targeted for their sexual orientation multiple times.[271]
2017
January 4, 2017 – The body of Mesha Caldwell, a 41-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found in
Madison County, Mississippi with multiple gunshot wounds.[272]
March 5, 2017 – Two men were stabbed in Brooklyn, New York after they left a gay nightclub. James Thomas, 32, noticed the men waiting to patronize a nearby restaurant, and began to shout homophobic slurs. Thomas then slashed the first victim in the face, and stabbed the second victim in the torso and shoulder. A third man was threatened and pushed to the ground during the attack.[273][274]
May 20, 2017 – A lesbian woman, 24, was assaulted by Antoine Thomas on the
New York City Subway. Thomas noticed that the woman boarded the train with her partner, and directed homophobic slurs towards them. Thomas then attacked the victim until she was unconscious. Due to the attack, the victim was subsequently hospitalized for a concussion, multiple deep cuts, and a broken eye socket.[275]
June 13, 2017 – The body of Josie Barrios, a 28-year-old transgender woman who performed with House of Merlot under the name Kimbella Rosé, was found with burn marks in
Ithaca, New York[276] near
Cornell University, at the construction site of the Breazzano Family Center for Business Education. Michael Davis, Barrios' 47-year-old boyfriend, plead guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2018.[277]
June 25, 2017 – Ava Le’Ray Barrin, a 17-year-old African-American transgender woman, was killed in an altercation with Jalen Breon Brown,[a] also an African-American transgender woman. Brown shot Barrin during their fight.[278] Brown had been charged with murder, but in a May 2018 evidentiary hearing, Judge Eric Norris dismissed the murder charge, ruling that the shooting was self-defense.[279] The media reporting on the incident sparked national conversation on proper use of gender in news reports and on
deadnaming.[280]
July 5, 2017 – Davon Washington, a 26-year-old transgender woman of color, was struck by a vehicle in
Washington, D.C. in a
hit and run after she refused to give her phone number to the occupant of the vehicle. Washington was critically injured and required hospitalization. On July 12, DC police arrested Startwaune Anderson, 18.[281] Anderson had stolen the car he struck Washington with earlier in the day. He plead guilty in November 2017 and was sentenced to 5 years in jail on January 30, 2018.[282]
July 31, 2017 –
College Park, Georgia fire and rescue transported TeeTee Dangerfield, a 32-year-old transgender woman of color, to
Grady Memorial Hospital, where she later died. She had been found in her car near an apartment complex.[283] She had been shot 19 times in the abdomen and groin.[284] Tyrone Kemp, 26, was arrested August 22 in
Union City, Georgia.[285] Kemp was acquitted on November 24, 2021 and filed suit November 21, 2023 against College Park police officer Kevin Pogorzelski, alleging violation of Kemp's
Fourth and
Fourteenth Amendment rights.[284]
August 28, 2017 – A gay man was beaten by thugs after they shouted homophobic slurs at him. He suffered a broken jaw from the attack.[286]
September 16, 2017 – Scout Schultz, a 21-year-old non-binary student at
Georgia Tech,[287] was shot and killed by officer Tyler Beck of the Georgia Tech police department.[288] Schultz had approached the officers yelling for them to shoot while holding their arms downward and holding what officers at the time identified as a pocket knife.[289] The university settled a
wrongful death suit filed by Schultz's family for $1,000,000[287] after the
Fulton County DA stated charges would not be filed against Beck.[288]
September 2017 – Ally Steinfeld, a transgender teenager, was stabbed to death and mutilated by three young people in
Cabool, Missouri.[290]
October 31, 2017 – The body of Candace Towns, a 30-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found in
Macon, Georgia. Towns had been shot in the face.[291] Police arrested Horace Jamal Marsh for the crime on July 6, 2020.[292] Marsh was also arrested in the Halloween 2017 shooting of Kithwe Steed – an unrelated incident – which went to trial in 2022.[293] Marsh was convicted in that case and sentenced to 25 years in prison.[294] The same gun was used in both incidents.[295]
November 8, 2017 – A 17-year-old gay teenager was allegedly attacked by 18-year-old Trevon Godbolt. Godbolt reportedly made the victim strip off his clothes and possessions, then beat him and took his clothes. Another man and two women were involved, one of whom recorded the attack on a cell phone. The video was later posted on Facebook.[296]
2018
January 2, 2018 – Blaze Bernstein, an openly gay Jewish college student, was stabbed more than 20 times. Samuel Woodward, an avowed neo-Nazi and member of the group
Atomwaffen Division, was charged with his murder.[297]
March 7, 2018 – Ta'Ron 'Rio' Carson, a gay man, was fatally shot as he left the Aura nightclub in
Kansas City, Missouri.[298]
March 28, 2018 – Amia Tyrae, a black transgender woman, was found dead in a motel room in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with multiple gunshot wounds. Nevaa White, a friend of Tyrae's, said that Tyrae had lived her life as an openly trans woman since 2009. White also said Tyrae was bullied and "didn't have an easy life."[299]
June 2, 2018 - Four gay men were chased by a mob of approximately twenty men following a Pride event in
Salt Lake City, Utah.[300]
June 17, 2018 – Darnell Morgan, a black gay man, was attacked by five men while visiting
Las Vegas, Nevada, for a relative's wedding.[301]
June 21, 2018 – Anthony Avalos, a ten-year old, succumbs to fatal abuse injuries in a hospital. When his mother Heather Barron and her boyfriend Kareem Leiva were subsequently arrested for Avalos' death, family relatives later revealed that Avalos expressed to his mother he, "liked boys and girls".[302] Child welfare investigators discovered that Barron referred to Avalos with a homophobic slur, while Leiva stated he was "uncomfortable being around gay people".[303]
November 28, 2018 – A 20-year-old woman was assaulted on the New York City Subway by Allah Allasheed, following a brief kiss shared with another women. Allasheed engaged the victim with homophobic slurs, and later struck her. The victim suffered a fractured spine as a result of the attack.[304][305]
November 29, 2018 – Vincent Shaver and Charles Clements were followed and assaulted by multiple men outside of their home. Both men were beaten and Shaver suffered a punctured lung during the attack, due to being stabbed with a piece of broken glass.[306]
2019
January 6, 2019 – Dana Martin, a 31-year-old transgender woman, was found dead of a gunshot wound in
Montgomery, Alabama.[307]
January 29, 2019 – Spencer Deehring and Tristan Perry, a gay couple, were assaulted by multiple men when leaving a gay club in
Austin, Texas. The men directed homophobic slurs towards the couple, then the suspects began to punch Perry repeatedly. When Deehring attempted to defend his partner, he became the target of physical assault. Both victims were knocked unconscious during the attack, and were later hospitalized.[308]
February 17, 2019 – Sal Trejo, a gay man, was assaulted outside a bar in
Salt Lake City. The assailant confronted Trejo and his friends outside the bar, asking Trejo is he was gay. When Trejo answered affirmatively, the man punched him. He also laid hands on a woman who was with Trejo. The group reacted and the assailant then pulled out a knife and threatened them with it before fleeing in his car.[309] Carlo Alazo, a 22-year-old man from Florida, was arrested and charged with three crimes resulting from the incident.[310]
May 9, 2019 – A 22-year-old transgender woman was shot in the leg at the
Waffle House in
Southaven, Mississippi. The bullet shattered her femur and she was sent to Regional One Health in Memphis, in serious condition. Police arrested Jimtarius Hampton and charged him with aggravated assault.[311] One report stated that the weapon used was an
AK-47. The assailant entered the Waffle House and began verbally harassing the victim, making anti-trans comments.[312]
May 18, 2019 – Muhlaysia Booker, a 22-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found dead near Tenison Park Golf Course in Dallas. She had been shot; Kendrell Lyles plead guilty to the murder in November 2023 and was sentenced to 48 years in prison. Her murder followed a brutal instance of mob violence following a minor traffic accident on April 12, 2019 in which someone offered one man $200 to assault Booker. Other men joined in, one of them stomping on her head. The incident was recorded and posted on social media. Edward Thomas was arrested and charged in the assault.[313]
May 28, 2019 – Four men were charged with targeting gay men for kidnapping and robbery by using the social app Grindr, in
Dallas, Texas during 2017. All four men eventually plead guilty to various charges in individual cases from 2019 - 2021.[314]
June 16, 2019 – Karl Craven and Braden Brecht, were assaulted and robbed by multiple men in
Washington, D.C. Following some assailants directing homophobic slurs towards the couple, the group decided to attack Brecht. Craven suffered a bruise on his head, while Craven suffered multiple cuts, bruises, a chipped tooth, and a lip cut. Additionally, the assailants stole Craven's wallet and Brecht's phone.[315]
July 29, 2019 – A gay man was attacked by three people in
Racine, Wisconsin. The victim suffered multiple bruises throughout his body and a broken jaw. The severity of the broken jaw injury led to the removal of all the victim's teeth.[316]
August 2019 – Pebbles LaDime "Dime" Doe, a 24-year-old transgender woman was shot and killed by Daqua Ritter in a rural area of Allendale County. During the four-day trial, federal prosecutors alleged Ritter was upset there were rumors out in the community about his sexual relationship with Doe, according to the release.[317]
September 13, 2019 – Pol’ Atteu, a gay fashion designer, was attacked at a charity show he and husband Patrik Simpson hosted at
St. John's Cathedral in Los Angeles to benefit
Make-A-Wish. Jesus Rodolfo Zepeda attacked Atteu because the designer had removed his daughter from the show, yelling homophobic slurs during the assault.[318] Zepeda was sentenced in April 2024 to a five year
suspended sentence in state prison, and only required to spend four days in county jail, for which he was credited with time served.[319]
December 16, 2019 – An arsonist burned the drop-in office of SisTers PGH, a transgender resource center led by black and transgender people, in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[320]
December 21, 2019 – An unnamed 37-year-old gay man was groped by 75-year-old John Kuhlman while in the gay bar Soho in
Ferndale, MI. When the victim's friend told Kuhlman to stop, Kuhlman punched him, then tried to pay the first man to have sex with him. As employees tried to escort Kuhlman from the premises, he began punching them, leading to a brawl throughout the bar.[321]
2020–2024
2020
January 24, 2020 – Serena Daniari, a writer and transgender activist, was attacked while riding a
subway train in New York City by Pablo Valles. Valles identified Daniari, then proceeded to spit, hit, and verbally denigrate her with slurs.[322]
February 11, 2020 – Shakena Jefferson, a 42-year-old African-American lesbian woman, Clive Khouri, an African-American man, and a second unnamed man were all shot in southwest
Miami-Dade county.
ATVs surrounded the car in which Khouri and his male friend sat, then the ATV riders opened fire after possibly seeing the two men kiss. Jefferson was shot in the head by a stray bullet, which was able to be removed. Khouri was grazed in the head, and his male friend was in critical condition.[323]
February 24, 2020 – Alexa Negrón Luciano, also known as Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, a 29-year-old transgender homeless woman, was murdered in
Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.[324] Prior to her body being found, three men saw her standing on the side of the road and began harassing her, then assaulted her with a
paint gun. Her assailants admitted to recognizing her from transphobic social media posts made following her use of a women's restroom at a
McDonald's on February 23, targeting her because of those posts. Two of the three assailants posted recordings of the assault on social media, deleting the footage after Luciano's body was found.[325] No arrests have been made in connection with the murder.[326]
May 13, 2020 – Kristian Rouse, an 18-year-old African-American transgender man, was found brutally beaten in his apartment in
Bakersfield, California. He spent one month on a
ventilator in
ICU and was transferred to a
long-term care facility. He had been strangled and both lungs had collapsed.[327]
June 1, 2020 – Keyonna Kamry, known online as Iyanna Dior,[328] a 21-year-old African-American transgender woman, was beaten in a
Saint Paul, Minnesota convenience store. The incident, captured on video, showed more than a dozen men involved in the assault.
Saint Paul police noted that the footage had been mislabeled online and in media reports as having occurred at a gas station in Minneapolis.[329] In the video, the attackers use homophobic slurs and repeatedly misgender Dior.[328]
June 1, 2020 – During the
George Floyd protests, on May 30, an LGBT+ bar in
Raleigh, North Carolina, was vandalized with a
white supremacist symbol. Tim Lemuel, the owner of the Ruby Deluxe bar, returned to his business the following evening to deter vandals and to offer first aid to protesters who had been
tear-gassed or
pepper-sprayed. Just after midnight, the police ordered Lemuel off his business rental property, firing warning shots at him and his staff.[330]
June 8, 2020 – Dominique "Rem'mie" Fells, a 27-year-old African-American transgender woman, was murdered in
Philadelphia. Her body was found in the
Schuylkill River, her legs severed.[331] Akhenaton Jones has been arrested and charged in the murder. He has alleged police misconduct during the investigation, and was scheduled for trial on February 12, 2024.[332]
June 9, 2020 – Riah Milton, a 25-year-old African-American transgender woman, was lured to a park in
Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio[331] by Tyree Cross, Kaleb Tooson, and an unnamed 14-year-old girl who tried to rob her and steal her car. They assaulted her before Tooson shot Milton, and also himself. Both Cross and Tooson plead guilty and were sentenced to 15 years to life.[333]
June 20, 2020 – Holden White, an 18-year-old gay man, was assaulted by Chance Seneca in
Lafayette, LA. White was choked to the point of unconsciousness by Seneca with a cord. Then, Seneca mutilated White's throat with the tip of a knife, and cut White's wrists. White survived the attack, and criticized authorities for delaying in pursuing
hate crime charges.[334]
June 25, 2020 – Brayla Stone, a 17-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found fatally shot in a car in
Sherwood, Arkansas. Trevone Hayse Miller plead guilty to first-degree murder in the case in exchange for a 50 year prison sentence. The two had been involved in a sexual relationship at the time, and Miller stated he murdered Stone to keep that from being revealed.[335]
June 26, 2020 – Christian Council was assaulted by Amery Dickerson and Bennett Stone in
Edmond, Oklahoma. When Council and his friend exited a car, Dickerson and Stone confronted them with a homophobic slur. Subsequently, both assailants began to assault Council until he was unconscious. Council suffered a gash below his eye and bruising throughout his head and body.[336]
June 30, 2020 – Merci Richey, a 22-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in a parking lot in Dallas, Texas.[337] Police initially arrested Angelo Walker, but have since dropped the case as he neither matched the original description of the murderer provided by a witness nor did his DNA match that collected by police. The person who initially told police Walker committed the crime was a better match to the first witness' description. Police have yet to locate that individual again.[338]
July 3, 2020 – Bree Nuk Black, a 27-year-old African-American transgender woman, was murdered on a street filled with people in
Pompano Beach, Florida.[342] Despite offering a $10,000 reward, the Broward County Sheriff's office still had not received any viable tips from witnesses two years after the murder.[343]
July 5, 2020 – Cherry Bush, a homeless 48-year-old transgender woman, was shot to death in Los Angeles. Her alleged killer has been charged with a hate crime.[344]
July 13, 2020 – The body of Marilyn Cazores, a 22-year-old Latina transgender woman, was found inside an abandoned house in
Brawley, California. Police had been called to the scene in response to a burning couch. According to family members, Cazores' death was a result of stabbing.[345]
August 6, 2020 – A man was arrested for verbally harassing and physically assaulting patrons of LGBTQ+ establishments in
Madison, Wisconsin. A 34-year-old victim was left bleeding as a result of one of the attacks, while a 41-year-old victim was left with injuries to his arm.[346]
August 16, 2020 – Eden Estrada, Jaslene Whiterose, and Joslyn Flawless, all transgender women, were attacked by three men around 2 A.M. while on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. The attack was livestreamed while it occurred, and police did acknowledge it as a hate crime.[347]
October 4, 2020 – Daniela Hernandez, a 42-year-old Latina transgender woman was attacked while sitting in
MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. She reported being surrounded by a group of four or five men, who used slurs before stabbing her, slashing her throat, and fleeing.[348] A 24-year-old man, Donoban Fonseca, was arrested and charged in the attack. He was also charged for two attacks on another, unidentified, transgender woman in the same park on August 21 and September 1, 2020.[349]
November 17, 2020 – Yunieski "Yuni" Carey, a Cuban transgender woman and model was stabbed by her partner, Ygor Arruda Souza. The stabbing was carried out on Carey's face and neck with a knife and fork, while she was resting in her bed after a day of work. Later, Arrudasouza confessed to the crime and that he stabbed Carey out of "an attack of jealousy" since she was going to break up the relationship.[350]
November 20, 2020 – Asia Jynaé Foster, a 22-year-old African-American transgender woman, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in
Houston, Texas on the
Transgender Day of Remembrance. Jemal Tyrelle Richards was arrested by the
Houston PD in connection with the murder in October 2022.[351]
December 24, 2020 – Kevin Bacon, a 25-year-old gay hairdresser, was murdered after meeting up with Mark David Latunski via Grindr. When police arrived at Latunski's
Bennington Township, MI home, they found Bacon's body in the basement, hanging upside down. Latunski
had already eaten some of Bacon's remains.[352] Latunski was sentenced to
life imprisonment.[353]
2021
January 30-31, 2021 – Kaylie M. Harris, a 21-year-old lesbian woman holding the rank of
private first class (PFC) in the
U.S. Army where she served as a military police officer (MP) with the 673rd Security Forces Squadron, was raped by an unnamed
U.S. Air Force airman after publicly stating her sexual orientation on
Facebook. Though her rapist was ordered not to have contact with her after she filed a report, he was not confined, and they were both assigned the same duty on the
Anchorage, AK base. On May 2, Harris took her own life.[354]
March 11, 2021 – A transgender woman was attacked by Johnny Moreno, 23, with a skateboard in
Costa Mesa, California. Moreno repeatedly hit the victim with his skateboard, and utilized homophobic slurs throughout the attack. Subsequently, Moreno threatened a passerby who called the police for assistance. Following the attack, Moreno was charged with assault with hate crime enhancement.[355]
March 20, 2021 – A 32-year-old transgender woman was stabbed during an attempted sexual assault in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[356]
March 22, 2021 – A gunman fired into a home of an unidentified victim with the intent to kill in
Basin, Montana. The indictment for John Russell Howard includes that he wanted to, "get rid of the lesbians [and] gays."[357]
May 11, 2021 – The body of Poe Black, also known as Legion and Oliver Jackson, a 21-year-old mixed indigenous transgender non-binary person,[358] was found in the
Coachella Canal in
Slab City, an unincorporated area of
Niland, California. He had been stabbed multiple times.[359]
May 27, 2021 – Tristen Torrez, 14, was attacked when he wore a pride flag during the last day of classes at Defiance Middle School in
Defiance, Ohio. The assailant threw water at Torrez, who was sitting with friends, then proceeded to choke and beat him. As a result of the attack, Torrez suffered minor injuries.[360]
June 19, 2021 – April Burch, Krystal Cox, and two other families who had items visible outside their homes in
Boone, IA supporting the LGBTQ+ community found handwritten notes taped to their doors telling them to "burn that gay flag". In Burch's case, a note was also taped to the building she rents as a community space, found by the building's owner on June 16, which included additional homophobic slurs.[361] 25-year-old Robert Clark Geddes was arrested on June 22.[362] He was convicted with a hate crime enhancement.[363]
July 5, 2021 – A gay man was brutally attacked after being lured on a date through
Grindr by Daniel Andrew McGee in
Eugene, Oregon. The victim suffered from a partially missing scalp, and was hospitalized as a result of the attack. McGee was charged with a hate crime as a result of his attack.[364]
July 17, 2021 – Taya Ashton, a 20-year-old African-American transgender woman, was murdered in her apartment in
Suitland, Maryland by her boyfriend, DeAllen Price when he learned that she was transgender. Price plead guilty to the charge of second-degree murder and using a firearm in a crime of violence in October 2023. The judge sentenced Price to 60 years in prison on January 24, 2024, with 12 of those years suspended.[365]
July 20, 2021 – A transgender teenager was assaulted in a park by Travis Crawford in
La Crosse, Wisconsin. While at the park with their partner, who is also transgender, the victim was approached by Crawford. The suspect directed homophobic slurs towards them, then proceeded to punch and kick the victim.[366]
August 6, 2021 – An unidentified, 31-year-old gay man was attacked at his home in
Pompano Beach, Florida by four[b] members of the Makarenko family, leaving him blind. The Makarenko family accused the man of "making" the youngest son gay; the suspects were not charged until 2022.[367]
August 13, 2021 – Kylen Schulte and Crystal Turner, a married lesbian couple were killed by gunshot wounds by Adam Pinkusiewicz, the motive for the murders is unknown.[368]
September 2, 2021 – Two unidentified men were brutally assaulted in a
Bushwick, Brooklyn bodega by Christopher Clemente and Johnathan Carter. Both victims were hospitalized for multiple stab wounds and collapsed lungs.[369]
October 24, 2021 – Charlotte Osieczanek, a transgender woman, was attacked by three men during her late night shift at a convenience store. Osieczanek suffered a broken nose, shoulder, and orbital bones as a result of the attack, in addition to bodily bruising and abrasions. The three men were eventually charged for their roles in the attack.[370]
November 2, 2021 – Jenny de Leon, a Latina transgender woman, was found murdered in Tampa, Florida. de Leon was a frequent attendee of local
PFLAG meetings.[371]
2022
February 17, 2022 – A 60-year-old gay man was tied up and assaulted with a wrench by Ethan Dickerson, his neighbor. Dickerson cited the victim's sexuality as the reason for the assault.[372]
February 18, 2022 – Naasire Johnson was killed by his gay lover, Kylen Pratt.[373]
March 8, 2022 – Four teens from
New Ulm were arrested for
disorderly conduct after firing a SplatRBall SRB400 at the bus transporting the basketball team from
St. Peter High School following the basketball game. They followed the bus in their cars and twice swerved in front of the bus, forcing the driver to brake suddenly to avoid collision. The incident followed several games in which the New Ulm students made harassing homophobic comments to Alex Bosacker, an 18-year-old gay man at St. Peter, at multiple games. Bosacker was assaulted during several games on the court as one of the New Ulm players repeatedly pinched him hard enough to leave multiple bruises on his body.[374]
March 19, 2022 – A 22-year-old man was attacked while riding a NYC subway train. The suspect repeatedly spat on the victim, then began to assault the victim when they tried to move. Police stated that the assailant used a homophobic slur during the assault.[375]
March 19, 2022 – A man was stabbed in the abdomen after leaving a convenience store in Las Vegas. Dontay Gray confessed during questioning, stating that he had purchased the knife only an hour before. Gray had been watching the victim while he was shopping in the company of another man. Gray defined himself as "incredibly homophobic" and stated that if released, he intended to murder LGBTQ individuals.[376]
April 2, 2022 – Ariyanna Mitchell, a 17-year-old trans girl, was shot and killed at a party in
Hampton, Virginia, allegedly by Jimmy Leshawn Williams, with an assault rifle. A witness testified that Mitchell was shot after Williams asked if she was a “boy or a girl".[377]
April 17, 2022 – James Garcia, a gay man, was attacked while walking his dog by Maurice Charles, 36 in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As a result of the attack, Garcia had to receive ten stitches.[378]
April 26, 2022 – An unidentified individual threw a rock through the front door of the
Pride Center VT office. As of April 2022 the incident remains unsolved and was being investigated as a hate crime.[379]
May 26, 2022 – DeeDee Hall, a 47-year-old African-American transgender woman
died while in police custody in
Dallas. Police were responding to reports of a person having a mental health emergency; Hall's family later reported that she suffered from what they referred to as "
bipolarschizophrenia". While police initially attempted to calm Hall, when she began to disrobe, the officers used force to restrain Hall - including placing a
spit hood on her, insisted on using male pronouns to address her, and made jokes as she repeatedly told them she was having difficulty breathing. Hall was pronounced
DOA when the ambulance eventually arrived at Baylor University Hospital.[380]
June 1, 2022 – Tavon Silver, a 31-year-old African-American gay man, was stabbed on the New York City subway. The suspect, 52-year-old Runadieo Jordan, started a verbal altercation with the victim, utilizing homophobic slurs. Subsequently, the suspect then stabbed the victim, before fleeing the station.[381]
July 3, 2022 – Noah Ruiz, a 20-year-old transgender man, was assaulted by multiple men while camping in
Camden, Ohio. Ruiz was advised to use the women's restroom at a campground site, despite identifying as male. While in the bathroom, a woman angrily confronted Ruiz, and left the bathroom. When Ruiz later exited the bathroom, three men approached Ruiz and proceeded to assault him.[382]
July 20,2022 – Keshia Chanel Geter, a 26-year-old African-American transgender woman was fatally shot at a
Knights Inn in
Augusta, GA. Jaquarie Allen, a 22-year-old man, was charged in the murder the next day.[383]
July 22, 2022 – Corinna Bendel-Sac's
Lake in the Hills, IL UpRising Bakery and Cafe was vandalized by 25-year-old Joseph Collins after Brendel-Sac announced that the bakery would be hosting a drag show on July 23. The bakery, its employees, and even its patrons had been repeatedly harassed in the weeks prior to the vandalism, resulting in lost revenue. Combined with the property damage, Bendel-Sac was forced to close her business on May 31, 2023.[384] Collins was charged with a hate crime.[385]
July 25, 2022 – Hayden Davis, a 28-year-old African-American transgender woman was fatally shot in
Detroit. Witnesses claimed she jumped from a vehicle and her murderer shot her multiple times while she attempted to flee.[386]
July 30, 2022 – Christian Peacock, a 17-year-old gay man, was assaulted outside his home in
Sandy, Utah. His assailant delivered a single blow to Peacock's head, resulting in a concussion and
swelling of the brain. The assailant had exited his vehicle alongside another teenage boy, both of them making homophobic remarks, before assaulting Peacock.[387] The assailant was charged with simple assault with a hate crime enhancement and was sentenced on October 5, 2022, the first such sentencing for a juvenile in Utah.[388]
August 27, 2022 – Dede Ricks, a 33-year-old African-American transgender woman from
Ohio was fatally shot in Detroit. Deontae Antoine Close, a 31-year-old African-American man, was arrested the same day and charged in connection to the murder.[389]
September 22, 2022 – A 13-year-old student of Rippon Middle School in
Prince William County, Virginia was charged with assault and a hate crime after he forcibly attempted to remove another classmate's face mask while using a homophobic slur.[390]
October 8, 2022 – A transgender woman working at the
Boise Public Library's main branch[391] was physically assaulted near
Julia Davis Park in
Boise, ID by a man using a homophobic slur. A security guard followed the assailant, who then tried to hit the guard with his car as he fled. On October 12, the same assailant yelled an anti-gay threat at two women before driving his car toward them. He did not him them, colliding with another car instead before he fled the scene. Matthew Lehigh, 31, was arrested for the incidents the same afternoon.[392] Lehigh confessed to and was charged with arson in the burning of an LGBTQ flag at the home of Brett Perry and John Michael Schert on October 5, 2022. He likewise confessed to breaking the window of The Community Center, an LGBTQ organization in Boise, on October 3. On June 15, 2023, Lehigh plead guilty to two federal hate crime charges. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison on November 2, 2023.[393]
December 19, 2022 – A 52-year-old man was physically assaulted and shoved from behind into a car in the street by a member of the
Guardians of Divinity when he had asked the group to stop their actions. The group was present inside the vestibule of the apartment building of Councilman
Erik Bottcher. The victim of assault was one of Bottcher's neighbors in the building. Bottcher's own apartment was vandalized during the incident.[395]
2023
February 20, 2023 – Security cameras recorded a woman setting fire to a Pride flag hanging on the exterior of
SoHo bistro Little Prince.[396] 30-year-old Angelina Cando was arrested and charged with arson, criminal mischief, and reckless endangerment as a hate crime.[397]
March 25, 2023 – Aimenn Penny, a member of
White Lives Matter, threw
molotov cocktails at the Community Church of Chesterland in
Chesterland, Ohio, scorching its front door. In October 2023 he plead guilty to attempting to burn down the church, because they had planned to host two
drag shows.[398]
April 5, 2023 – A 44-year-old man was punched and stabbed in
Hell's Kitchen by a group shouting homophobic invective.[399]
April 8, 2023 – A gay couple was attacked in
Times Square, requiring medical treatment at
Mount Sinai. One of the couple stated that there were at least four assailants, and that no one stopped to help them. He also stated that the attackers shouted homophobic invective during the attack. One of the men required a metal plate to be inserted into his shattered jaw.[400]
April 2023 – A gay patron in and
Ulster County, NY bar was physically assaulted and threatened with a
box cutter by 31-year-old Shayne Wilber of
Woodstock. Wilber shouted homophobic slurs at the victim and admitted in his plea that he attacked on the basis of the victim's sexual orientation.[401]
June 1, 2023 – Ashia Davis, a 34-year-old African-American transgender woman was fatally shot in
Woodward Inn in
Detroit. An 18-year-old, Carlos Lamar Scotland, was arrested and charged with first degree murder, among other charges, on March 12, 2024.[402]
June 4, 2023 – A patron in line to enter Fountain Haus in Kansas City, MO, an LGBTQ-friendly venue, was shot with a BB gun. According to an e-mail sent by Haus' manager to other local businesses, the shooter took aim at the entire line waiting to enter the venue.[403]
June 18, 2023 – Michael Drennan and Matthew Kisner were attacked when disembarking the
New Mexico Rail Runner in
Albuquerque with their young daughter on Father's Day. 26-year-old Jordan Salazar hurled homophobic slurs at all three of them, chased them as they left the train, and hit one of the two men with a metal broomstick.[404]
June 30, 2023 – Jacob Williamson, a 18-year-old transgender man was mutilated and murdered. Williamson was last seen leaving his job with a man who he had been talking to online for around a month. They were reportedly going on a date to an amusement park several hours away. His body was finally recovered near a road on July 4th.[405]
July 8, 2023 – Greg Breidenbach, a gay man, was attacked by two men who shouted slurs at him. The attack left him with broken bones in his left eye socket, left sinus cavity and left cheek.[406]
July 28, 2023 – Jasmine Adams, a 35-year-old African-American bisexual woman, was assaulted with
mace, dragged by her hair, and kicked in the head by a male employee of
West Brighton Deli Grocery & Grill when attempting to purchase
marijuana. The employee called Adams a
transvestite before the assault, and though he has since been fired, the store has reportedly refused to identify him to police.[407]
July 29, 2023 –
O'Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old gay man, was stabbed and later died outside a gas station in Brooklyn, New York. The suspect responsible for the stabbing was identified as a 17-year-old, who turned himself in to police custody on August 4, 2023, and was later charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime.[408]
August 17, 2023 – A 22-year-old woman was groped, then punched, by a man who made homophobic comments in a Brooklyn subway.[409]
August 18, 2023 – Laura Ann Carleton, a store owner in
Lake Arrowhead, California and LGBTQ+ ally, was shot to death, allegedly by Travis Ikeguchi, who took issue with a pride flag being displayed at her business.[410]
August 25, 2023 – A 23-year-old woman was choked and punched on the
Q-train in New York by a man using homophobic language. The alleged assailant, Richard Taylor, plead not guilty. The assault was charged as a hate crime.[411]
August 28, 2023 – A 52-year-old woman was punched by a stranger who directed homophobic slurs while jogging in Manhattan, New York.[412]
September 15, 2023 – A 72-year-old man was attacked by four individuals in
Manhattan, who punched him, kicked him, and broke his jaw while yelling homophobic invective.[413]
October 29, 2023 – A student at
UCLA was shot just under his eye by a man wielding a BB gun and yelling a homophobic slur from the back seat of a white four-door sedan.[414]
October 30, 2023 – Firefighters in
Decatur, GA responded to the scene of the Blair Building, a structure on the
National Register of Historic Places which houses numerous medical providers, including gender-affirming care clinic QMed. The arson is being investigated by the FBI as a hate crime.[415]
November 14, 2023 – Friends Amiri Reid, a transgender woman and Kejuan Richardson, a gay man, both 21 were shot in the head while driving around their home city of Toledo, Ohio.[416]
November 26, 2023 – The body of Bernardo Pantaleon, a 30-year-old gay man was found near a Phoenix park. Pantaleon was tortured, murdered and mutilated. The suspects of his murder also sent photos of his mutilated body to his family.[417]
November 26, 2023 – Three women, identified as two lesbians and one transgender, were attacked when leaving an event in
Wynwood, FL. One of the women was punched until she lost consciousness. The assailants had yelled anti-lesbian comments at the group before physically assaulting them.[418]
December 18, 2023 – James Pence was falsely arrested for "
causing a disturbance" after St. Louis, MO police crashed their SUV into the bar he co-owns with his husband in
Carondelet, Bar:PM, when the couple came down from their upstairs apartment to see what had happened. The arrest occurred after Pence questioned the officer's intention to leave the scene without filing a report.[419] Another officer arrived on the scene and arrested Pence's husband, co-owner Chad Morris, within 22 seconds of his arrival for "
assaulting an officer". Morris left police custody with a black eye, scratches on his face, and severe bruising, as reported by his attorney, "all across" his body.[420] A lawsuit filed on May 31, 2024 states that Morris was beaten by police when he followed the officer who was taking Pence down a
gangway in handcuffs.[421]
December 24, 2023 – Amber Minor, a 40-year-old African-American transgender woman was found fatally shot in a driveway in
Raytown, MO.[422]
2024
January 1, 2024 – Marcos Lugo / Kitty Monroe, a 43-year-old
Latine gender-fluid[c] homeless person, who used both his/her birth name Marcos and the name Kitty and used pronouns of both genders, was killed in a hit and run. A couple pistol-whipped him/her and then ran over him/her with their truck.[423]
January 26, 2024 – Sasha Williams, a 36-year-old transgender woman was stabbed and killed in
Las Vegas. 20-year-old Hassan Howard has been arrested for the crime.[424]
February 2, 2024 – África Parrilla García, a 25-year-old African-American transgender homeless woman was murdered in
Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico.[425] She was shot multiple times, and it has been indicated she may have been employed as a sex worker.[426]
February 2, 2024 – John Walter Lay, a 52-year-old gay man was shot while he was walking his dog in West Dog Park in
Tampa, Florida.[427]
February 7, 2024 – Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old non-binary student was beaten by three younger girls in the girls' restroom at
Owasso High School, leading to their death. According to their[d] mother and friends, they had experienced bullying from students due to their gender identity for more than a year before their death.[428]
February 26, 2024 – Reyna Hernandez, a 54-year-old Latina transgender woman businessowner went missing in
Renton, WA.[429] Her body was found on March 8, 2024 in
Mexicali,[430] fatally shot. Police in Mexico arrested her 61-year-old husband, Louie "Alex" Hernandez, on unrelated charges but suspect him of the murder.[431]
February 28, 2024 – Righteous Torrence Hill, a 35-year-old African-American transgender businessman who also went by T.K. and Chevy was shot inside his home in
East Point, GA. He died on February 29, 2024, during surgery. No arrests have been made.[432]
March 1, 2024 – a 27-year-old man was attacked on a subway train in New York City as it arrived at
Penn Station. The assailant shouted homophobic invective before pulling out a knife. When the victim raised his left hand to defend himself, the attacker slashed it open.[433]
March 9, 2024 – A 29-year-old African-American transgender woman was pushed in front of an oncoming subway train at the
Fulton Street station.[434] Her boyfriend, 35-year-old Christian Valdez, has been charged with attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the first degree.[435] Both of the woman's legs had to be amputated after she was rushed to the hospital.[436]
March 16, 2024 – Diamond Cherish Brigman, a 36-year-old African-American transgender woman was fatally shot multiple times in
Houston.[437] Walter Daniel Saravia Palacios has been arrested and charged with her murder as of May 29, 2024.[438]
March 17, 2024 – Alex Taylor Franco, a 21-year-old transgender man, was shot and killed in
Taylorsville, Utah.[439]
March 21, 2024 – Meraxes Medina, a 24-year-old Latina transgender woman who worked as a makeup artist at
Universal Studios was fatally shot in
Los Angeles.[440] Police have indicated they believe Medina was employed as a
sex worker in the neighborhood where she was killed.[441]
April 3, 2024 – Tee Arnold, a 36-year-old African-American transgender man also known as Lagend Billions was shot in
Hallandale Beach, FL. He was transported to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital where he died on April 7, 2024. He had posted on social media on April 1 that someone had offered money for his death.[442]
April 3, 2024 – River Nevaeh Goddard, a 17-year-old non-binary person was found dead in
Stow, MA, in the home of their[e] boyfriend, 20-year-old Shane Curry, who subsequently admitted to police that he had stabbed Goddard multiple times with a sword. Goddard had been missing since April 2022.[443]
April 19, 2024 – Starr Brown, a 28-year-old African-American transgender woman was found dead of a gunshot wound near Scenic Hills Elementary School in
Memphis, TN.[444] On April 28, 2024, her co-worker, Alexavier Williamson, reportedly confessed to her murder[445] though police have not revealed a motive.[446]
April 23, 2024 – Andrea Doria Dos Passos, a 37-year-old homeless transgender woman, was sleeping outside the
Miami City Ballet in
Miami Beach, then around midnight, she was beaten to death with a pipe by Gregory Gibert. At roughly 7 A.M., a worker at the ballet found Dos Passos’ body in a pool of blood, with lacerations on her face and two sticks jammed violently into her nostrils. An examination later found a puncture wound in Dos Passos’ chest.[447]
May 1, 2024 – The body of Darri Moore, a 23-year-old African-American transgender woman, was discovered by laborers at Tower Rock Stone in
Ste. Genevieve, MO. Her body showed severe signs of
decomposition.[448]
May 3, 2024 – Kita Bee, a 46-year-old African-American transgender woman was killed in a hit and run in
Kansas City, MO.[449]
May 6, 2024 – Jazlynn Johnson, an 18-year-old transgender woman was fatally shot by her male 17-year-old friend in Las Vegas. The boy initially reported the shooting to his parents as an accident, but police found evidence suggesting the boy intended to kill Johnson.[450]
May 7, 2024 – Tayy Dior Thomas, a 17-year-old African-American transgender woman of
Mobile, AL was shot 18 times, allegedly by her boyfriend of one year, Carl Mitchell Washington, Jr. who is currently being held without bond.[451]
May 13, 2024 – Two males assaulted a 33-year-old gender non-conforming person outside their
Williamsburg home, striking them in the head with a metal pipe before fleeing. The assailants made derogatory comments and reportedly asked the victim if they were a woman before the assault. A 13-year-old boy in
Brooklyn has been arrested as one of the two assailants.[452]
May 15, 2024 – Reginald Folks, a 35-year-old African-American man working as a
Lyft driver, was fatally shot by his passenger, former Atlanta police officer Koby Minor. Minor alleged that Folks was trying to kidnap him, claiming to a woman who stopped after seeing Minor's frantic waving from the rear window he had broken that Folks was part of a "gay fraternity". Minor had been on leave from the
Atlanta PD since December 2023 and resigned his position after his arrest on May 17.[453]
May 15, 2024 – Michelle Henry, a 25-year-old African-American transgender woman was killed by manual strangulation after being stabbed multiple times.[454] Her body was found outside a private residence in
San Francisco, and though police have arrested a suspect, they have declared the investigation as open and ongoing.[455]
May 30, 2024 – Cobalt Sovereign, a 17-year-old transgender woman in
Minnetonka, MN was assaulted at school. Sovereign used the boys' restroom due to the gender inclusive restrooms at
Hopkins High School often being in use and located inconveniently. A boy in the restroom looked over the stall, made transphobic comments, and waited for Sovereign to leave the stall before assaulting her. He broke her jaw badly enough to require surgery and hospitalization, but the school took no action against the assailant, nor did they even report the incident to police.[456]
June 2, 2024 – Four teenagers were arrested in
Killeen, Texas for using Grindr to lure a gay man with the intent to rob him. The teens were caught by officers near the scene of the incident after the victim managed to wave down a passing police officer, who chased one of the fleeing teens and arrested him. Back-up officers and
K9 and
drone units were called in, tracking down the other three juveniles, who were found in possession of a
handgun and a
BB gun appearing to be a
shotgun. The juveniles have been charged with
Aggravated Kidnapping and
Aggravated Robbery.[457]
^The news media coverage only lists the name "Jalen Breon Brown" for the shooter. While the media is known to have deadnamed Barrin, there is no such notation for Brown.
^Charges were only brought against three of the family. Vladyslav Makarenko, originally thought to be the fourth assailant, provided evidence he was not in the area at the time of the incident. Charges were not brought against a fifth suspect as the
Broward County State Attorney's office felt the likelihood of conviction was low.
^The HRC article cites an interview from 2023 in claiming that Marcos Lugo / Kitty Monroe identified as transgender; however, his/her sister spoke with The Daily Beast in 2024, which uses the term "gender-fluid". As it is the more recent, that identifier has been used here.
^Benedict used they/them and he/him pronouns. This article uses they/them pronouns for consistency.
^According to
GLAAD, Goddard went by both they/them and she/her pronouns. Conjugations of they are used here for uniformity.