New Report: Transgender People Face High Levels of Violence

On May 29th, 2014, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) released their National Report on Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities. The report, drawing on data from 14 anti-violence programs in 13 states and Puerto Rico, found that the frequency of incidents of hate violence remained constant from 2012 to 2013, with 2,001 reported incidents in 2013. However, the severity of incidents increased significantly, with a 21% increase in reports of physical hate violence.

Transgender people, and especially transgender women of color, were found by the report to be among the groups most at risk for severe violence. According to the report, almost 90% of all homicide victims in 2013 were people of color, the overwhelming majority of whom (78% of the total) were Black or African American. Almost three-quarters of homicide victims were transgender women, and more than two-thirds of homicide victims were transgender women of color, despite transgender individuals constituting only 13% of total reports to NCAVP.

The survey also found that significant numbers of LGBT and HIV-affected people experience violence by police, and transgender people are most at risk, including when reporting crimes they have faced. Transgender survivors were 3.7 times more likely to experience police violence compared to non-transgender survivors, and 7 times more likely to experience physical violence when reporting victimization to the police. This trend is consistent with prior years of this survey.

The National Center for Transgender Equality and other LGBT advocates have successfully pressed for strong policies to prevent anti-LGBT discrimination in services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and for a federally-supported transgender training curriculum for law enforcement officers. We continue to press for strong new policies to prohibit discriminatory profiling—including anti-LGBT profiling—by federal law enforcement. At the local level, we urge LGBT communities around the country to press for laws and policies to prevent profiling and abuse of transgender people and increase police oversight. We also continue to urge the U.S. Justice Department to collect data on transgender people in national crime and victimization surveys.