InsiderLast year, as the coronavirus ravaged the United States, a less publicized epidemic took the lives of Americans.
2020 was the deadliest year on record for trans people in the US: 44 transgender people were killed, up from 27 in 2019 and 26 in 2018. This year is already on pace to be even deadlier, with 15 killings in the first 109 days.
The real number of deaths is likely much higher, and climbing faster than data can show.
Law enforcement routinely misgenders transgender victims. Being closeted out of fear can keep many trans people from being gendered correctly on their death certificates. Grassroots trans-rights groups are left to carry the mantle, but they lack the bandwidth and funding to thoroughly investigate every death.
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