The Trifecta of Violence and Trans Death

This episode confronts the “Trifecta of Violence” as it relates to escalating violence against transgender people, particularly Black transwomen, and the systemic forces enabling it. From Orwellian laws targeting trans existence to unchecked citizen brutality, the legal system and societal apathy lead to state-sanctioned and judicially-approved violence against Black trans bodies. The violent policy enacted against trans people does not, and will not end with transpeople—exemplified by the story of Kalaya Morton, a butch (Black masculine lesbian) from Arizona, who was assaulted in a public restroom by male law enforcement under the false accusation of being trans, anti-trans policy is meant to police identity deemed ‘deviant’ by white cisgendered heteropatriarchy. Angela Irvine, You Can’t Run from the Police: Developing a Feminist Criminology that Incorporates Black Transgender Women, 44 SW. L. REV. 553 (2015). C. Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, Uni. Minn. Press (2017) Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, Vikings 140 (2019). Elias Cosenza Krell, Is Transmisogyny Killing Trans Women of Color?, 4 TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Duke. Uni. Press. 226 (2017). Emily Lenning, et. al., The Trifecta of Violence: A Socio-Historical Comparison of Lynching and Violence Against Transgender Women, 29 Critical Criminology 151 (Dec. 2020). https://www.advocate.com/news/lesbian-mistaken-transgender-arizona-walmart https://transgenderlawcenter.org/resources/transgender-people-and-law-enforcement-interactions-rights-and-realities/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/ https://www.edweek.org/leadership/pronouns-for-trans-nonbinary-students-the-states-with-laws-that-restrict-them-in-schools/2023/06 https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/hrcs-2024-epidemic-of-violence-report-fatal-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people-continues-with-black-trans-women-comprising-nearly-half-of-the-deaths https://www.them.us/story/trans-day-of-remembrance-recorded-deaths-black-trans-women https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2025/03/28/ohio-bill-requires-parental-permission-student-name-pronoun-change-house-bill-190/82702958007/ https://www.chalkbeat.org/2025/03/28/schools-must-share-child-gender-identity-info-with-parents-trump-education-department-says/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/ https://www.advocate.com/news/lesbian-mistaken-transgender-arizona-walmart