For nearly a decade, the Atlanta Pride Trans March has sparked change throughout the community and brought trans voices to the forefront. This year is no different, as the focus falls on trans murders around the country.
At least 18 trans murders have occurred so far this year, and it has some calling the killings an “epidemic.” The killings this year follow at least 26 recorded last year by the Human Rights Campaign. But according to a recent New York Times article, transgender advocates noted that those figures fail to grasp the full extent of the perils the community faces, as data provided by law enforcement officials can be incomplete and many crimes are never reported.
The annual Trans March in Atlanta began in 2009. From 2010 to 2013 it took place within the vendor market of Piedmont Park in order to raise awareness within the LGB community, according to Dyana Bagby. In 2014 the march moved back out of the park to the parade route where more exposure brought about more issues plaguing the trans community. From workplace protections for transgender employees to the growing number of murders, it’s become an observance and remembrance in the midst of a weekend of celebrations.
Seventeen transgender women and one transgender man have been reported murdered as of the end of September. All but one were black. Multiple were initially identified by the wrong name and gender.
In early June of this year, another transgender woman also died after becoming sick in ICE custody and receiving inadequate healthcare, according to The Guardian. She was seeking asylum to escape anti-transgender violence in El Salvador.
Although the vast majority of reported transgender murders have occurred in the south, so far this year, there have not been any trans murders reported in Georgia. But at the beginning of October, police in Macon, Georgia finally identified the body of Dymun Dupree, a transgender woman who was killed in 2016.
She among many other transgender women including Dana Martin, Jazzaline Ware, Ashanti Carmon, Claire Legato, Muhlaysia Booker, Michelle “Tamika” Washington, Paris Cameron, Chynal Lindsey, Chanel Scurlock, Zoe Spears, Brooklyn Lindsey, Denali Berries Stuckey, Tracy Single, Marquis “Kiki” Fantroy, Pebbles LaDime Doe, Jordan Cofer, and Johana Medina León will be remembered during this year’s march.
The march will assemble at the Charles Allen Gate at 1:15pm and will begin marching at 1:45pm to arrive at Piedmont Park around 4pm.