This year has started nearly the worst I could have imagine. With not only with last year ending with Leelah Alcorn’s suicide from lack support whilst living in the midwest, a shocking 12 trans murders thus far in 2015, a ex co-worker at the armory getting slashed in a clear hate crime only to have it dismissed by the SFPD and a shocking trans suicide from the east bay that is being passed around tumblr thousands of thousands of time as you see what Aubrey’s last view was before she ended her life. You think with as much visibility as trans people are getting in the media with amazing activists like Janet Mock and Laverne Cox you would see the violence against us disappear thus isn’t the case and those are risk within our community are being targeted at an extremely high rate

I believe the modern lgbt movement have left trans people behind whilst using us to fulfill the T in the lgbt. I was thrilled to see Janet Mock on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO only to hear trans murders being reduced by panelist to “They don’t tell anyone they are trans that’s why they get killed” as something that is justified. While Bruce Jenner is getting the full blown lash of transphobia and liberal talk about how him getting a reality show is going to change to everything for trans people

Words and negative depictions matter and effect our lives no matter rather its writing sensationalist tabloids, reducing trans women to men on a terf twitter, depicting trans women as predator in a movie or calling a trans woman a shemale, tranny or a chick with a dick it effects our community so largely in fact due the lack of visibility we have.  I don’t believe we can pretend this is completely isolated from what is happening to at risk trans women. I don’t think the media changing all of a sudden is going to stop these issues but rather its a social change that is going to need to happen and I feel like once we remove all these negative depictions of trans women we will start to see the social change happen.