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Transgender Woman Michelle Washington Killed
This has to stop.
Michelle Washington, a black trans woman from Philadelphia, was shot and killed May 19 in Philadelphia. The news comes from The Human Rights Campaign and local news stations who say that Washington, also known as Michelle Simone, was the victim of a shooting in Philadelphia’s Franklinville neighborhood.
ABC 6 reports that just after 5 a.m. on Sunday, she was shot in the head, body, and buttocks and was transported to Temple University Hospital where she died.
Deja Lynn Alvarez, Philadelphia City Council at-large candidate, knew Michelle for over 20 years and spoke out about her death on Facebook.
“It’s very important that we stress that because we’re not seeing LGB people murdered every other day,” Alvarez later told The Philadelphia Gay News. “It’s time that we say this is happening to trans women, it’s happening to black trans women, it’s happening to trans women of color. …It’s time that we shift the focus to that.”
Simone’s shocking death comes just a day after Muhlaysia Booker was fatally shot in Dallas. Before that, another transwoman, Claire Legato, was murdered in Cleveland. Legato was shot in the head by a man during an argument over tax return checks.
This is all incredibly sad, we pray all of these womens’ families get justice.