How Bad Media Coverage Makes Things Worse for Transgender Victims of Violence

takepart.com – By Nicole Pasulka – Nicole Pasulka is a writer and reporter who lives in New York City. Her work has been published at Mother Jones, Buzzfeed, The Believer, and the New York Observer.

On June 26, a 28-year-old transgender woman named Tiffany Edwards was shot and killed by Quamar Edwards (no relation) in Cincinnati.

She was the fourth transgender woman to be killed in Ohio over the past 18 months. Nationally, trans women – in particular those who are African American and Latina – are victims of violence at an alarming rate. Of the 18 bias-motivated murders of LGBTQ people last year, three-quarters of the victims were transgender women.