This issue hits home with me on so many levels. Imagine getting a call that your child or your loved one had been found dead somewhere that you don't know. Don't want to imagine it? We need to step up our game in the justice system because of discrimination. We see it in the media and in the streets because some detectives won't go the extra mile to solve something. They also won't classify a homicide as a hate crime unless it is against a group of people.

Most of the time, the police don't get the gender right in the official report. If the person didn't have ID on them, good luck getting it classified as a hate crime. This has been a issue for a long time and it needs to be addressed because in our political society, no one is safe under the rainbow flag. There are a lot of ways to commit a murder. We can go as far as shoot up a night club in Orlando, Fl or we could come across someone we know as part of the rainbow community and shoot them. Whatever the way, it's never okay in any circumstance to kill anyone. The Transgender community has been experiencing an increase in hate over the past few years.

We hear of a lot of sexual assault or killings against those who want to be who they are and not who they are born as. There are statistics that point out that 12% of transgender youth are sexually assaulted in kindergarten through 12th grade. There is also 13% of African-American transgender people who were assaulted in the workplace plus the 22% of homeless transgender people are assaulted in shelters, according to the Office of Victims of Crime. No one chooses what they are born with, but at least let those people fighting Gender Dysphoria live in peace. They are fighting for their right to be themselves and that's it.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, there have been 8 murders in the transgender community in 2018 that are documented by the campaign. I am sure there are many more due to the increase in violence. The HRC is one organization and crime outweighs the numbers of the advocates in the HRC. Statistics and numbers can help the public understand, but the deep emotional pain of losing a loved one can't be compared to numbers. This topic has to be continued to be talked about and understood.

The violence against a community that is only fighting for the right to be themselves is wrong and unjust. The media tends to believe that transgenders prey on people; those are the black sheep that don't represent the community as a whole. Not a lot is known about these crimes because most police departments don't call the victims by their proper gender. Proper ID and education about this community is needed to better understand what these people are going through.