Third transgender person murdered in less than a week in US
Pebbles LaDime Doe was found dead on Sunday August 4 (South Carolina Equality)
The death of a black transgender woman in South Carolina on Sunday (August 4) marks the 15th known murder of a trans person in the US this year and the third in less than a week.
Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe, 24, was found dead with gunshot wounds in a car parked in a driveway. The murder occurred in Allendale County, which is situated along the South Carolina-Georgia border.
Further details about her death have not been released, but police are urging anyone with information to contact their local law enforcement.
Doe is remembered by friends and family on social media for her “bright personality” and as someone who “showed love” and who was “the best to be around.”
Another friend wrote, “If I knew Friday was my last time seeing you, I would have hugged you even tighter.”
Pebbles LaDime Doe is the 15th trans person known to be murdered in the US so far this year . (Facebook)
Ongoing “epidemic of violence” against trans community
The Human Rights Campaign reports that Doe’s death is the 15th known murder of a trans person in the US in 2019 so far.
The vast majority were black transgender women, who are disproportionately targeted by the “epidemic of violence” against the trans community.
Four days before Doe’s death, a 21-year-old black transgender woman named Kiki Fantroy was shot and killed in Florida. A 17-year-old male was arrested for her murder.
And on August 4, a transgender man named Jordan Cofer was killed in the mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio.
He was the brother of the shooter, Conor Betts, but was initially misgendered by police and media as his “sister”.
Friends of Jordan Cofer say he was a transgender man, and he used his chosen name on social media (Instagram)
The names of the other transgender people known to be killed this year are Dana Martin, Jazzaline Ware, Ashanti Carmon, Claire Legato, Muhlaysia Booker, Michelle Washington, Paris Cameron, Chynal Lindsey, Chanel Scurlock, Zoe Spears, Brooklyn Lindsey and Denali Berries Stuckey.
“It is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of colour, and that the intersections of racism, transphobia, sexism, biphobia and homophobia conspire to deprive them of necessities to live and thrive,” said The Human Rights Campaign.
“This epidemic of violence that disproportionately targets transgender people of colour — particularly black transgender women — must cease.”
