Another trans woman has been found dead in the US
Sasha Garden was found dead on July 19, 2018. (Sasha TooMuch LetsGetit/Facebook)
A transgender woman has reportedly been found dead in Orlando, USA.
Sasha Garden, 27, was found dead in a flat in Holden Avenue on Thursday morning, reports Orlando Weekly.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office reportedly said that the body showed signs of trauma.
Some 14 transgender people are known to have been killed so far in 2018, not including Garden’s death.
Garden, who had been living in Orlando on and off for about two years, was identified by family and friends.
Mulan Montrese Williams, an outreach coordinator for the HIV/AIDS organization Miracle of Love, told Orlando Weekly that Garden was working as a sex worker in the city and dreamed of becoming a stylist.
Williams added that Garden was saving up money to complete her transition.
“She was a firecracker – very outspoken,” Williams told Orlando Weekly. “She didn’t hold her tongue for anyone or anybody. Her womanhood was one of those things she stood up for. She didn’t tolerate any disrespect at all.”
Sasha Garden had wanted to become a stylist. (Sasha TooMuch LetsGetit/Facebook)
The outreach coordinator also criticised police for allegedly misgendering Garden, and referring to transgender people in a derogatory way.
“[The deputy] acted like he couldn’t even pronounce transgender,” Williams said.
According to Orlando Weekly, the police report described Garden as a man, who “was wearing a wig and was dressed as a female.”
Regional news channels in Orlando have copied the wording used in the police report, with WESH describing Garden as a “man in a wig,” and WFTV saying she was a “man dressed as a woman.”
Local LGBT+ group QLatinx released a statement on Facebook condemning the news reports.
“We are equally heart broken by the flagrant disrespect and desecration of her memory by the media and law enforcement that has chosen to dishonor and misgender her in their reporting,” it said.
“We are calling for our media partners and local law enforcement to be more reflective of their practices, issue an apology for their coverage, and commit to improving their efforts for authentically reporting the stories of our beloved transgender and gender non-conforming communities. ”
QLatinx has criticised the way Garden’s death has been reported. (QLatinx/Facebook)
Garden was reportedly from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In June, a transgender woman fatally shot in Cleveland became the 14th trans victim believed to have been murdered in the US in 2018.
Keisha Wells, 58, was found in the car park of an apartment building with a gunshot wound to the abdomen on Detroit Avenue.
No arrests have been made yet and the investigation is ongoing, according to Cleveland.com.
On the same day as Wells’ death, another trans woman, Cathalina Christina James, was killed in Jacksonville, Florida.
According to Human Rights Watch, there have been 113 incidents of fatal violence against transgender and non-binary people since 2013. Of those killed, 64 were victims of gun violence.
Last year, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Trans People of Color Coalition released a report documenting violence against trans gender people. It found that 2017 was the deadliest year on record for transgender people, particularly for trans women of colour.
Human Rights Campaign recently posted a blog article, highlighting an “alarming” spike in violence against trans people in Cleveland, USA.
There two known cases of violence against trans women in the Cleveland area in the past six months, including two murders.
