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 Leticia
King
Location: Oxnard, California
Cause of death: Gunshots to the head
Date of death: February 14, 2008
Remember Me:
My birth name was Larry but I wanted them to call
me Leticia. I was born January 13, 1993. I was taken from my mom when I was two
because she didn’t like me very much and I was placed in foster care. I loved
nature and crocheting, but school was not fun for me. I was picked on all of the
time because I acted like a girl. When they called me gay, I didn’t try to deny
it even though I didn’t know what it meant to be gay. Kids at school passed
around notes saying that they hated me and wished that I would die. I tried to
be strong; I decided to be who I was no matter what people said or did. . I
wanted sex reassignment surgery to be a girl, and I began coming to school
dressed as a girl. On February 12th, I was at school and a boy I knew walked up
behind me and shot me two times in the head in front of my whole class. I was
taken to the hospital where I died two days later – but not before I got to give
my heart away to a sick 10-year-old girl… where it still beats today.
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 Cameron
McWilliams
Location: South Yorkshire, England
Cause of death: Suicide
Date of death: February 4, 2008
Remember Me:
My name was Cameron and almost everyone picked on
me at school. When I was eight, I told my mom that I wanted to dress like a
girl. I was made fun of when I was caught wearing girls clothes. A few days
before I killed myself, I told my mom that I really wanted to be a girl. I asked
her if I could wear makeup, but she told me that I could not. She told me that I
would have to be a boy until I was a grownup. . I went upstairs to my room,
dressed myself like a girl, then made a noose with a belt and hung myself. I was
10 years old. My mom and dad said they didn’t know why I killed myself.
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 Kellie
Telesford
Location: London, England
Cause of death: Strangled to death
Date of death: November 21, 2007
Remember Me:
My name was Kellie and I was a beautician and a
florist. I was found strangled to death with a scarf. The man who was arrested
for my murder said that he hadn’t killed me even though he was found with my
cell phone and identification. He said that I had probably strangled myself to
death. The judge believed him and cleared him of my murder.
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Ebony Whitaker
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Date of death: July 1, 2008
Cause of death: Shot to death
Remember Me:
My name was Ebony, but people didn’t call me that.
They used my boy-name. I wanted to be a woman and since that takes money, I got
into sex work. I was found partially stripped naked in a parking lot. Nobody has
found my murderer.
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Angie Zapata
Location: Greenly, Colorado
Date of death: July 17, 2008
Cause of death: Head beaten in
Remember Me:
My name was Angie. I transitioned when I was 12
and became a cosmetologist. I met a guy on a website and he came over to my
house. Two days later, he asked me if I was a boy or a girl because he said that
he had seen some pictures of me at my house and that he wanted to make sure that
I was a girl. He then stuck his hand between my legs. He grabbed a fire
extinguisher and began beating my head with it over and over… and over again
until “it stopped making noise” he said. I was 18.
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Beyonce Williams
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Date of death: February 22, 2008
Cause of death: Shot to Death
Remember Me:
I liked to be called Beyonce, but a lot of people
called me Simmie. I was out late one night when a couple of guys came up to me
and began calling me names pulling out a gun and shot me over and over again. I
was 17.
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Felicia Melton-Smyth
Date of death: May 26, 2008
Location: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Cause of death: Knifed to death
Remember Me:
My name was Felicia and I lived in Madison,
Wisconsin. I was an activist for GLBT issues and worked hard to promote HIV
awareness. I spent a lot of my time organizing fundraisers such as charity rides
for nonprofit causes. Since I had a passion for HIV prevention, I decided to go
down to Mexico to see about possibly setting up an HIV clinic. My murderer was a
man who said that he was mad at me because I didn’t want to pay to have sex with
him. He began calling me names and then stabbed me over and over until I stopped
moving.
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Nikki Williams
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Date of death: August 23, 2008
Cause of death: Shot to death
Remember Me:
My name was Nikki. I was at home one night when
four men barged into my home and dragged me to my apartment dumpster where they
shot me to death. The police have not been able to find my killers.
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Rosa Pazos
Location: Sevilla, Spain
Date of death: July 11, 2008
Cause of death: Throat cut open
Remember Me:
My name was Rosa. I worked hard to help make my
country a better place. I was a union organizer and fought for transgender
rights. My family didn’t like me and I had gotten death threats before. In fact,
I told many others that I thought I would be murdered. On July 11, someone broke
into my home and slit my throat. Nobody has been arrested for killing me.
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Ruby Molina
Location: Sacramento, California
Date of death: September 21, 2008
Cause of death: Drowned
Remember Me:
My name was Ruby. I was drowned in American River
and my murderer has never been caught. When the news reported my death, they
made a point out of referring to me as a man.
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Adolphus Simmons
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
Date of death: February 22, 2008
Cause of death: Shot to death
Remember Me:
I loved to laugh, I loved to do hair and I loved
being around my family. On February 22nd, my brother came over to my apartment
and I made a crab dinner. Afterwards, while taking out the trash, several
teenagers surrounded me and began shooting. My brother ran out the door to find
me lying in a pool of my own blood. He pulled me into his arms, where I died.
When the ambulance arrived, they found my brother still rocking me in his arms –
with tears streaming down his face. While reporting my murder, news stations
made it a point to refer to me as a man. I was 18 years old.
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Patricia Murphy
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Date of death: January 8, 2008
Cause of death: Multiple gunshots to the head
Remember Me:
Most people knew me as Patricia, but because news
reporters referred to me a man, most will likely remember me as Patrick. I liked
doing shows in some of the bars, but most of my time was taken up going to
school for my nursing degree, taking care of an elderly friend and playing with
a puppy I had just bought. I was gunned down by a man who said that he did it
to… “put her out of her misery.” My elderly friend now cares for my puppy and
the man who killed me was killed in a police stand-off.
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Luna
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Date of death: March 15, 2008
Cause of death: Beaten to death
Remember Me:
My name was Luna and I lived my life as the woman I
knew myself to be. On March 15th, I was walking outside when I was grabbed and
was beaten into unconsciousness. Even after I couldn’t fight back, they
continued to beat me. After they were through with me, they threw me away in a
trash dumpster. My killer has not been found.
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Sally Camatoy
Location: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Date of death: November 19 2007
Cause of death: Head beaten in
Remember Me:
My name was Sally. I was a Filipino transwoman who
moved to Israel where I worked as a caregiver for an elderly man whom I loved
deeply. I made extra money by being part of a drag troupe called Paper Dolls,
which was the subject of an award-winning documentary. After completing the
documentary, I moved back to the Philippines to care for my elderly mother. When
I felt I could, I moved to Dubai to try to make a living as a hairdresser and
soon afterwards, a man grabbed me as I came out of a computer store and threw me
to the ground where he beat my head until my skull was crushed. No effort has
been made to find my killer.
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Ashley Sweeney
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Date of death: February 4, 2008
Cause of death: Gunshot to the head
Remember Me:
My name was Ashley and I was found in an empty lot
with a gunshot in the back of my head. Police referred to me as a man in women’s
clothing. They also said that I was probably just a prostitute. My killer has
not been found.
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Saesha Stewart
Location: New York, New York
Date of death: February 9, 2008
Cause of death: Knifed to death
Remember Me:
My name was Saesha and people first learned about
my death through the New York Daily News headline “Fooled John Stabbed Bronx
Tranny”. Even though my friends and neighbors said I was not a prostitute, the
news continued to refer to me in this way. I was murdered by a man just out of
prison who held me down and stabbed me over and over again until I stopped
trying to keep him from stabbing me. I died before anyone could call for help.
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Silvana Berisha
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Date of death: June 24, 2008
Cause of death: Knifed to death
Remember Me:
My name was Silvana and I moved from
Serbia-Montenegro to Hamburg in 1999. On the morning of June 24th, someone
entered my apartment and stabbed me to death. My killer has not been found.
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Samantha Rangel Brandau
Location: Milan, Italy
Date of death: July 20, 2007
Cause of death: Beaten, stabbed and gang-raped
Remember Me:
My name was Samantha. I was a hairstylist and
supported my elderly father. I was out walking one night when two teenagers
threw me to the ground and began stabbing me with a large knife. They put me in
their car and drove out to a dark road where they gang raped me until I was died
from my knife wounds.
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“Ali” (1)
Location: Iraq
Date of death: January 2008
Cause of death: Executed for being transgendered
Remember Me:
The name I used in life was not Ali, but it is the
only name I am known by. I lived in a GLBT safe house in Basra, Iraq and was
arrested by US-backed state police for being transgendered. They took me to
their station where I was humiliated before being executed. My ordeal was made
known through the efforts of a GLBT Iraqis-in-exile group that obtained a video
of my treatment at the hands of the police.
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Gabriela Alejandra Albornoz
Location: Santiago, Chile
Date of death: December 28, 2007
Cause of death: Throat cut open
Remember Me:
My name was Gabriela. I was outside with some
friends when a group of Neo-Nazis attacked me, driving a knife into my throat. I
was 16 years old.
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Teish Canon
Location: Syracuse, New York
Date of death: November 14, 2008
Cause of death: Shot to death
Remember Me:
My name was Teish. I was greatly loved by my
accepting family and by my boyfriend. A girl I had met told me to come to a park
to talk with her. Since it seemed important, I had my brother take me to the
park in his car. When we got to the park, a man ran up to my window and shot me
in the head and ran away. My killer has not been found.
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Duanna Johnson
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Date of death: November 9, 2008
Cause of death: Shot to death
Remember Me:
My name was Duanna. While I moved from to Memphis
to live as myself, I was forced into sex work by extreme poverty. One day, I was
arrested and taken to the police station where one policeman held me down and
the other began beating me while calling me a “he/she” and a “faggot”.
Fortunately, the police station’s video tape system caught it all on tape and
someone leaked it to the press. Suddenly, a lot of people wanted to use me to
make a point about how bad transgenders have it – and I told them how bad it
was. After the news died down, I went back to living in my apartment, which had
no electricity or running water. My only friend was an elderly woman, but her
husband told her to stop talking to me after he found out I was transgender. One
night, I was standing on the corner and a couple of men ran up to me and shot
me, leaving me to die in the street. I had been hoping to win my 1.3 million
dollar lawsuit I had against the City of Memphis for the beatings I got by their
police, but I won’t be able to pursue that now. The police have no leads and
nobody has been held responsible for my murder.
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Dilek İnce
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Date of death: November 11, 2008
Cause of death: Shot eight times with shotgun
Remember Me:
My name was Dilek and I wanted to live a quiet life
with my husband. In October, I had been assaulted and I dared to testify against
my two attackers. When I did, officials said that people were losing patience
with people like me and the court did not convict my attackers. While in my car,
I was attacked by two men with pump-action shotguns. When I arrived at the
hospital, doctors said that I had taken at least 8 blasts at close range. While
my two killers have not been found, the GLBT community responded to my murder by
taking to the streets in the hundreds in protest.
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Elly Susanna
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Date of death: November 7, 2007
Cause of death: Raped and drowned by police
Remember Me:
My name was Elly and I spent time organizing the
transgender community. One night when I was doing outreach to tell my friends
about the 2007 Transgender Day of Remembrance I was arrested by police who
gang-raped and drowned me.
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Stacy Brown
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Date of death: January 8, 2008
Cause of death: Gunshot to the head
Remember Me:
My name was Stacy and I lived with my mother and
sister. I was found dead in my home. I had been shot in the back of the head. I
was 30 years old.
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Fedra
Location: Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Date of death: July 20, 2007
Cause of death: Thrown off a building and run over
Remember Me:
My name was Freda. All that is known about my life
was that I was thrown off a building. I fell into an alleyway where I was then
run down by a car.
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Unidentified Transgender (2)
Location: Iraq
Date of death: January 2008
Cause of death:
Executed for being transgendered
Remember Me:
I was the second of three transgenders taken to a
Basra police station to be humiliated and then murdered.
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Unidentified Transgender (3)
Location: Iraq
Date of death: January 2008
Cause of death:
Executed for being transgendered
Remember Me:
I was the last of three transgenders transgenders
taken to a Basra police station to be humiliated and then murdered.
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Brian McGlothin
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
Date of death: December 23, 2007
Cause of death: Gunshot to the head
Remember Me:
I was walking in my neighborhood when my killer
shot me in the head with an automatic gun. He was given just 3 years in prison
for my murder.
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Lloyd Nixon
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida
Date of death: April 16, 2008
Cause of death: Head beaten in with a brick
Remember Me:
I was outside when someone snuck up to me and hit
me in the head with a brick. When I fell to the ground, they began to beat my
head open with a brick. I was 45 years old. My killer has not been found.
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Juan Carlos Aucalle Coronel
Location: Lombardi, Italy
Date of death: July 14, 2008
Cause of death: Head beaten, run down by a car
Remember Me:
I was out on a Thursday night when I was
overpowered by a man who began to beat my face hard enough to break my bones.
Afterwards, he ran over me with his car. My killer has not been found.
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Jaylynn L. Namauu
Location: Makiki Honolulu, Hawaii
Date of death: July 17, 2008
Cause of death: Knifed to death
Remember Me:
My name was Jaylynn and I was homeless. A man
stabbed me repeatedly and left me to die. I was 35 years old.
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