On July 21 2015, India Clarke, a 25-year old trans woman of colour, was found beaten to death outside her home in Florida. She is the tenth transgender woman to be murdered in America in 2015 and according to Hari Nef, the ninth trans woman of colour. Local media referred to Clarke as "a man in a dress".
Speaking on her Facebook, the 22-year old actress and Dazed 100 star lamented that while popular trans figures such as Cailtyn Jenner and Laverne Cox were gaining visibility in the media, "violence against trans folks in up 13 per cent from 2013".
On Twitter she bemoaned the fact that "trans women of colour are getting slain monthly" while acknowledging her relative privilege as a white trans woman and calling for greater equality and a platform for everyone.
Nef is right – while Caitlyn Jenner hitting the cover of Vanity Fair is an important step for trans acceptance, it doesn’t account for the battles of regular, everyday trans women, particularly those of colour, whose battles are flying under the radar and in some cases resulting in death.
Read our longread feature on LGBT violence in the UK here.
