Seventeen year-old trans girl is 14th trans murder victim of 2017
Ava Le'Ray Barrin of Athens, Georgia has been called "a brave young woman who feared nothing; nobody, and especially not being herself. She had dreams of making a career for herself on stage.
This past Sunday she was shot in the chest following an altercation with an acquaintance. The acquaintance has been arrested and charged with murder.
She was, of course, misgendered by the police and in the local press.
Black trans women deserve better than this. They deserve to live full long lives, they deserve to have the opportunities to make their dreams come true, they deserve to at the very least be respected in their deaths. Even the police haven’t been forthcoming about what happened and why.
What saddens and infuriates us as an organization that seeks to represent and empower Black trans women is that Ava was just 17 years old and hadn't even had a chance to follow her dreams yet,
--Black Transwomen, Inc.
Although the motive in the Barrin case remains uncertain, [Monica] Roberts attributes the perpetuation of violence on a national scale to both transphobic rhetoric from the anti-LGBT right—particularly the “predator lie that is exacerbating tensions” as state legislatures try to pass anti-transgender bathroom bills—and to cultural stigma.
The demonization of men who prefer and like to date trans women and along with the demonization of trans femininity also plays a part in this violence that’s aimed at us—and it needs to stop.
--Roberts
Ava has become not only the 14th trans woman murdered in the US in 2017, she unfortunately is now the youngest one killed this year. She is also the 12th African American trans person killed this year. BTWI, our brother organization Black Transmen, Inc, the BTMI Atlanta Chapter, the Black Trans International Pageantry System, and Black Trans Advocacy joins your family and all who loved you in expressing our condolences for your far too soon death. Rest in power and peace, Ava.
--Black Transwomen, Inc.
Rightwing sites are pushing the idea that the violence was a result of gang warfare.
Comments
What a gorgeous face, either male or female.
Don't mean to sound trite about this at all but she was a very pretty person. Just makes me so sad that people must be killed due to some stupid fears. Stupid, baseless, all propaganda and lies.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Athens
Thought for a split second that this was in Greece.
But regardless where in the world this is, people should not be killed simply because of who they are.