HRC remembers Brandon “Tayy Dior” Thomas, a transgender teenager killed in Mobile, Alabama

While the murder suspect was arrested and is currently being held without bail, the family was disturbed to find that the crime is not classified as a hate crime by law enforcement. They said that the suspect and Tayy had been together for about a year, and they believed that the suspect shot Tayy out of fear that the relationship would become public.

Tragically, interpersonal violence is responsible for a significant number of deaths among transgender and gender-expansive people. A report from the HRC Foundation entitled “The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in the United States: The 2023 Report” found that between 2013 and 2023, more than one in five (22.4%) transgender people and gender expansive was people with known murderers were killed by a romantic, sexual or intimate partner. And it’s likely that this is even an undercount. To date, in one-third (36.1%) of all identified cases of lethal violence, the victim’s relationship to the killer is unknown.

Interpersonal violence and gun violence go hand in hand, especially in marginalized communities. Since HRC began tracking fatal violence against women in 2013, more than six in 10 people killed by an intimate partner were killed with a gun, as were over three-quarters of Black trans women. Alabama itself is facing a gun violence crisis. Everytown for Gun Safety reports that Alabama has the fourth-highest rate of gun deaths in the United States, with firearm-related homicides increasing nearly 90% over the past decade.

In an injustice that compounded this tragedy, Tayy was misrepresented in many media and police reports. Over the past 11 years that HRC has been tracking deadly violence against the transgender and gender-expansive community, approximately two-thirds of all known victims have been misrepresented by the media and/or law enforcement. Anti-transgender stigma is exacerbated by callous or disrespectful treatment by some in the media, law enforcement and elected offices. In pursuit of greater accuracy and respect, HRC offers guidelines for journalists and others reporting on transgender people. HRC, Media Matters and the Trans Journalists Association also jointly created an FAQ for reporters writing about anti-trans violence.

Tayy was the sixth transgender or gender non-conforming person killed in April and May 2024. Four of those deaths occurred in the South, where the vast majority of recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is concentrated. At the state level, transgender and gender non-conforming people in Alabama are not explicitly protected from discrimination in employment, housing, education, and public spaces. Alabama includes sexual orientation or gender identity as a protected characteristic in its hate crimes law, but also has several anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender laws on its books. As reported by HRC’s Municipal Equality Index, which rates municipalities based on their LGBTQ+ policy environment, Mobile, Alabama itself only received a score of 31 out of 100, putting it in the bottom quartile of all cities. While we have seen some recent political successes that support and empower transgender people, we have also faced unprecedented anti-LGBTQ+ attacks in the States. In June 2023, the Human Rights Campaign declared a national emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans. This was in response to the over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures this year. Over 80 of them were enacted – more than in any other year.

We must demand more from our elected officials and reject harmful anti-transgender laws at the local, state and federal levels, while considering all possible options to make ending this violence a reality. It is clear that deadly violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, particularly Black transgender women. The intersections of racism, transphobia, sexism, biphobia and homophobia work together to deprive them of the ability to live and thrive. That’s why we must all work together to promote acceptance, reject hate, and end the stigmatization of all transgender and gender non-conforming people in the community.

More resources:

• Learn more about the deadly force cases that HRC is tracking and whose details are unclear. A list of these cases can be found here.

• Check out this PSA campaign highlighting stories of trans joy and love.

• Join HRC’s CountMeIn campaign to take action for transgender and non-binary people.

• Please read these guidelines and these FAQs for journalists to ensure greater accuracy and respect in reporting.

• Learn how transgender and non-binary people are fighting transphobia, stigma and anti-transgender violence in our Celebrating Changemakers series.