Anti-transgender violence hits D.C. again

by Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network

For the second time in less than a week, a transgender woman was brutally killed in Washington D.C. on Thursday.

Police found the victim's partially nude body in a field early Thursday morning, the Associated Press reported. The victim, Emoni Spaulding, had been shot but also had severe head wounds.

Hours earlier, another transgender woman, Punani Walker, was shot in Washington and had to be hospitalized in critical condition. Police reportedly said the two attacks were not related.

No arrests have been made in the two incidents.

On Saturday, transgender performer Bella Evangelista was fatally shot in what police are investigating as a potential hate crime. A suspect for the shooting is in custody.

The Washington-based Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest GLBT rights advocacy group, mourned the killings.

"No person should live in fear of being attacked just because of who they are," Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director, said in a statement. "These hate crimes are vicious reminders of the work left to be done in ensuring the safety of every member of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community."

"In a year where 12 individuals have reportedly lost their lives to anti-transgender violence in the United States of America," Gwen Smith, founder of the Remembering Our Dead Project, said, "it is astounding that we have yet to see national hate crimes protections inclusive of gender identity."

One year ago, two Washington-area transgender teens were shot multiple times while sitting in a parked car. The killings remain unsolved, despite a $50,000 reward.

Posted August 21, 2003