Why I Dodged Transgender Day of Remembrance
By Noel Yaxley
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TRoR) took place on November 20th, as I’m sure many of you are aware. This day is dedicated to honouring the memory of transgender individuals who have lost their lives due to acts of anti-transgender violence worldwide. In the United Kingdom, a long list of public and private organisations honour the date each year. The event traces its roots back to the turn of the millennium and was initiated by transgender activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith. Admittedly, it is not the most cheerful day, as far as unofficial British commemorative holidays go.
As Covid entrenched the term 'pandemic' in the minds of the general public, a completely new 'epidemic' was tearing through progressive and marginalised communities in the West. Crazy people were roaming the streets of cities across the globe, from Brazil to Kazakhstan, hunting down and killing trans individuals. According to reports, 2021 was the 'deadliest' year to be transgender since records began, and 70 per cent of the 357 incidents recorded concentrated in Central and South America.
On a tangential note, the term 'epidemic' raises a thought — is it just me, or does it feel like there's a profound sense of irony in its use? An epidemic is described as the "widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time,” with its origins firmly in biology. However, social construction supersedes biology under the fashionable shibboleth of gender ideology. TDoR proponents seem to be suggesting, whether consciously or unconsciously, that people who subscribe to the doctrine of gender fluidity are ensnared in a social contagion…
Murder is an abhorrent crime and anyone who purposefully kills another person should face the full force of the law. Given the gravity of such crimes, it is only right to ask questions. Is the murder of transgender people an epidemic? A thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of these 357 individuals would take too much time. To be concise, I will focus on my own country. With a rhetorical flourish, I will inquire as to how many deaths would qualify as an epidemic.
In Britain, it is a challenge to compile accurate statistics on transgender individuals due to limited government disclosure. However, 2021 census data reveals that around 260,000 people claimed their gender and sex as different from their registered birth status. Among them, around 48,000 identified as trans men and another 48,000 as trans women.
Between October 2017 and September 2018, one documented murder of a transgender person occurred in the U.K., according to the Transrespect report. In the decade between 2008 and 2018, ten people were killed — just one less than the total number of transgender murders across Europe in 2016. Extrapolating from these figures, the cumulative estimate for the year ending in 2023 would be 15, taking into account the recent case of Brianna Ghey, a sixteen-year-old transgender girl from Warrington, Cheshire. Two teenagers are awaiting trial in this case, facing murder charges.
Considering this, the murder rate is approximately 0.02 per 100,000, in contrast to the overall rate of 1.01 per 100,000 people in the United Kingdom. For a trans woman or trans man, the chance of being murdered in the United Kingdom is one in 500,000 — equivalent to the odds of dying in a train crash. It is worth noting that in the construction industry, a sector dominated by men, 45 people were killed last year. Hetero-normative/Cis privilege, yay!
It is only fair to wonder if these were all genuine cases of murder. Upon closer inspection, the initial figure appears questionable. Two of the victims — Vikki Thompson and Jacqueline Cowdry — are included despite not meeting the criteria for murder. While incarcerated, Thompson committed suicide, and Cowdry's death was ruled non-suspicious. This isn't a straightforward issue of transphobia, as the circumstances of these deaths, involving individuals born male, vary widely. One was killed by their spouse, and three were murdered by clients while working as prostitutes. Additionally, in one instance, a fellow transgender person killed one of the victims. During the same time frame, the number of murders committed by transgender people was 12. So much for rampant transphobia.
Despite the relatively low numbers, a death is still a death. So what can be done? Beyond mere charges of 'transphobia', there must be a more substantial effort. Recent trends, such as the 75% increase in searches for transgender pornography on adult websites like PornHub, as reported by Time magazine, indicate a disturbing shift. Not only has voyeurism been legitimised, but it has also been commodified. Sexual neoliberalism has meant vulnerable people are being increasingly exposed to the dark side of humanity.
Here's an uncomfortable statistic: 58 per cent of transgender murder victims are born male and work in the sex industry. Applying circular reasoning, activists frequently chant slogans such as 'Trans women are women' and 'sex work is work.' They really ought to consider what they've let loose. If feminists and TDoR advocates really want to help these people, maybe they should concentrate on tackling the more radical aspects of the sexual revolution. That would truly be a day to remember.