In Ohio, four transgender women have been killed in the past 20 months.
Justine Zwiebel for BuzzFeed
Justine Zwiebel for BuzzFeed
Speaking from her home in Cincinnati, Tomika Edwards said in a phone call this week, "I do know from raising a transgender child, it is rough. I have always been scared for my child's safety."
Her fears were realized in June, when her daughter, 28-year-old Tiffany Edwards, was shot to death. Her body was later found by a city sanitation worker. "Sometimes I can't even believe that it's happened," Edwards told BuzzFeed News. "I always tried to teach Tiffany, just because we love and respect you doesn't mean society always will."
Tiffany was among 12 transgender women killed in hate crimes within the past 12 months in the United States, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Transgender women of color were the victims of 67% of all hate-motivated homicides of LGBT people in 2013.
Nov. 20 marks the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, which memorializes victims of lethal hate violence. Most recently this year, 24-year-old Gizzy Fowler was killed on Nov. 12 in Tennessee, and 25-year-old Ashley Sherman was killed last month in Indiana.
Though violence against transgender people is widely considered a national epidemic by LGBT advocates, the state of Ohio has seen a particularly disturbing trend. Tiffany Edwards was the fourth transgender woman killed in Ohio in the last 20 months. Three of the victims were transgender women of color. The Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO) also reports 14 incidents of non-fatal hate-motivated attacks on transgender people throughout the state in 2013. Many attacks go unreported. Most recently in Ohio, on Nov. 3, Candice Rose Milligan, 33, was hospitalized after being beaten in broad daylight by a group of men who allegedly yelled, "That's a dude in a dress," the Toledo Blade reported.
"A lot of Tiffany's friends, they are harassed on a regular basis," Tomika Edwards said. "They won't even come out during the day — they will only come out at night because they are picked on and ridiculed. They were just impressed that Tiffany was so brave and would go out during the day."
Initial news stories about her daughter's death described Tiffany using male pronouns and her birth name. Police and prosecutors charged a suspect in the case who reportedly gave Tiffany a ride in his car and allegedly shot her. "But they decided it was not a hate crime," Edwards said. "I personally feel that it really is. Her friends also believe that it is a hate crime."
But Ohio's hate-crime law — which adds penalties for animus-motivated assaults against people due their race, religion, or national origin — lacks provisions for crimes targeting LGBT people. Likewise, Ohio's antidiscrimination law has no coverage for gender identity or sexual orientation. Edwards said, "If the hate-crime law applies to race and all these other things, I don't understand why it doesn't apply to transgender people."
LGBT advocates say this lack of legal protection, commonplace media coverage that disregards a transgender's person chosen gender, and little cultural competence by law enforcement all contribute to a mainstream culture in Ohio that treats transgender people as marginalized or invisible.
"There is a fear of transgender women," activist Jacob Nash told BuzzFeed News, "especially among men. They feel like their identity is hindered when they find a transgender woman attractive." He said those phobias can lead to crimes when men "want to get rid of the threat, get rid of what they don't understand."
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