Nov 21, 2008  |  By: AMY CAVANAUGH  | COMMENTS     

Two recent murders are raising alarm among gay activists about hate crimes and violence targeting transgender people.

Duanna Johnson, 43, was killed Nov. 9 in Memphis, Tenn. Johnson, who made headlines in February when police beat her while she was being arrested on a prostitution charge, was in the process of suing the city for the abuse.

The beating was videotaped on a camera at the jail, and it resulted in the firing of two police officers. Johnson’s murder is under investigation and no arrests have been made.

Teish Cannon, 22, was killed Nov. 14 in Syracuse, N.Y. The Human Rights Campaign said that Cannon, previously known as Moses Cannon, was a transgender woman and did not identify as a man.

According to police, 20-year-old Dwight DeLee shot Cannon and has been charged with second-degree murder. Syracuse Police Chief Gary Miguel said DeLee shot Cannon because DeLee didn’t like that Cannon was openly gay.

Calls to the Empire State Pride Agenda regarding Cannon’s murder were redirected to the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which redirected calls to Sage Upstate, a gay wellness center in Syracuse.
Kim Dill, the organization’s executive director, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Casey Lanham, a member of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, said the transgender community in Memphis was “very shocked” at Johnson’s death.

“[Johnson] lived a very hard life, and she said she was not going to take this treatment anymore,” he said.

“This is a woman who stood up with grace and dignity and suffered for it. So we’re very angry as a
community.”

Marisa Richmond, president of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, said her organization was working on enacting protections for transgender people.

“Legislators have been promising to introduce hate crimes legislation that would add gender identity protections,” she said. “That was before the elections and our elections did not go well, so it’s going to be a tough sell. But when the legislators come back in January, we’re going to be working on a bill, and we’re also working with the state delegation on a federal hate crimes bill.”

Johnson’s death marked the third murder of a black transgender woman in Memphis since 2006. Tiffany Berry, 21, was shot and killed on Feb. 16, 2006, and Ebony Whitaker, 20, was found dead on July 1, 2008.

Richmond said that “hate against LGBT people is a real problem” in Tennessee. She noted that Nakia Baker, a black trans woman, was murdered in 2007 in Nashville, and that other hate crimes have been reported in recent years.

“While the other hate crimes have not been murders, we have a rash of murders that are clearly based on gender identity,” Richmond said. “And even with all the hate crimes we had based on sexual orientation, not one single person has been prosecuted or sentenced in Tennessee in eight years.
We’re very frustrated and everybody’s getting increasingly agitated and on edge.”

Richmond said that her organization helped raise money for Johnson’s funeral via its web site.
Richmond noted that the Memphis police have called in the FBI to investigate, a development that she welcomed.

“There’s an obvious conflict of interest given that Duanna was suing the city over beating her,” she said. “Local activists are working to get some sort of action and investigation to deal with the issue of police brutality. There’s clearly some tension between the LGBT community and the police department, so we’re glad they took this step and we hope the FBI will be successful in their investigation.”

Meanwhile, in Syracuse, police were investigating Cannon’s shooting as a hate crime.

The Associated Press reported that Cannon was targeted for being gay and dressing as a woman, but HRC revealed Monday that Cannon was a transgender woman.

Allyson Robinson, an associate director at HRC, said that she doesn’t think it’s alarmist to use the word “epidemic” for the violence that has been occurring against transgender people.

Robinson said that at least 15 transgender people have been killed this year because of their gender identity.