Donald Trump promised during his convention speech “to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” but hateful domestic ideology targeting LGBTQ people is a whole different story, apparently:
In the waning days of President Barack Obama's administration, supporters of LGBT rights hailed the first federal hate crime conviction for the killing of a transgender woman in Mississippi. With President Donald Trump now in office, they worry about the future of such prosecutions.
Trump's new attorney general, Jeff Sessions, opposed the 2009 hate crime law when he was a U.S. senator, saying it was overly broad and he thought it was unnecessary to include further protections for gay and transgender people. During his January confirmation hearing, Sessions told fellow senators they "can be sure I will enforce" the law, but some observers wonder about his commitment.
According to a recent report, the number of trans women killed this year is keeping at a “disturbing pace with last year’s, which reached a high.”
In Louisiana, two trans women of color—Ciara McElveen and Chyna Doll Dupree—were murdered within the span of two days. While “investigations are typically initiated by the FBI and the attorney general doesn't need to sign off on each prosecution,” the response—or lack of one—from the Justice Department about the rise in violence against trans women has LGBTQ advocates worried:
Six Democrats in Congress wrote to Sessions on March 10 to ask the Justice Department to investigate as hate crimes the deaths of seven transgender women this year, including another one in Mississippi.
The Justice Department declined comment.
This administration is obsessed with justifying failed Muslim bans with nonexistent terror acts and alternative facts, but when it comes to real Americans losing their real lives to real killers, silence.
“Transgender women are often targeted by law enforcement for a variety of reasons, and as a result are deterred from seeking help when they are targets of violence or harassment,” the letter from Democrats stated. “Transgender Americans deserve to have these attacks investigated as hate crimes.”
Joshua Vallum, the killer of Mercedes Williamson, was the first person prosecuted under the hate crimes law for an attack against a trans person. Now Dupree, McElveen, Jaquarrius Holland, Mesha Caldwell, Jojo Striker, Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, and Keke Collier wait for their justice.