I am no stranger to trans mortality.
When I got my first taste of community on the early trans internet, one of my friends and mentors, Lauren Wilson, took her life. To this day, I have a quote from her at the end of every email I send. While I was aware before I ever knew Wilson how difficult this path I was traveling could be, her death brought it home that for many of us, it would be a challenge to even make it day by day as a transgender person in a hostile world.
Within five years of first joining that internet community, in the wake of the killing of Rita Hester, I started to research anti-trans violence and murder. This led to what is now known as the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and helped to unveil just how many of us are killed out of pure prejudice against trans people.