The epidemic of violence against
transgender women continues as the United States records its 38th
known murder this year.
According to Houston television station
KTRK, Asia Jynaé Foster's
body was found on a street in the southwestern part of the city. She
suffered multiple gunshot wounds. She was 22.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, said that the deaths of
transgender women often go unreported or misreported.
“HRC has officially recorded more
violent deaths of transgender and gender non-conforming people than
any year since we began tracking this violence in 2013,” the group
said.
(Related: HRC
report on transgender violence finds 2020 was deadliest.)
HRC also said that it was looking into
the death of Skylar Heath, a 20-year-old Black transgender woman in
Miami.
“Based on information from her
friends, she was believed to have been shot – potentially bringing
the number of violent deaths to 39,” the group said.
According to Houston's OutSmart
magazine, Foster, who was Black, was experiencing homelessness and
had taken refuge at Montrose Grace Place, a drop-in shelter for LGBT
youth.
“Asia was outgoing, funny, and she
could put together a read that left everyone around her scrambling to
pick up their jaws,” Montrose Grace Place said in a Facebook post.
A candlelight vigil for Foster was held
on Sunday at the Montrose Center, an LGBT community center.
“Asia’s death is reported to have
occurred on Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day on which we honor
those in our community we’ve lost to fatal violence. The fact we
marked the most violent year on record only to be met with yet
another tragedy is unacceptable,” said HRC Director of Community
Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative Tori Cooper. “Asia
and Skylar’s deaths should be a call to action for us all.”