Statement Honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance

November 20, 2024

Our transgender and gender-nonconforming residents are our siblings. They deserve respect, dignity, and acknowledgment. They are us, and we are them. We say their names to honor their lives and contributions to our communities. They, like all of us, deserve to live in peace. As a society, we have failed them when they cannot walk our streets free from violence. We resolve to make the city of Minneapolis a place free from anti-trans violence and to forge a path where we can declare Minneapolis entirely safe.

To our trans siblings we lost since last year’s commemoration, we say your names.  We especially call out the names of Savannah Ryan Williams, a beloved community member we lost, and of Jess and Dahlia who recently survived a vicious attack in Downtown. And we honor those we lost and whose names were never publicly revealed. Their deaths shall not be in vain.

Across the nation, the statistics remain alarming. In 2024 alone, there have been at least 38 members of the transgender community have been killed. Our advocacy groups suggest that 80% of those murders were the result of gun violence. Over the past eight years, 63% of gun homicides of transgender and gender-expansive people (63%) were of Black trans Women. Any number more than zero is unacceptable and intolerable.

Our resolve to end violence against the transgender community must be seen in our social compact, which requires us to provide the support necessary for their desire to thrive. I commend Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota State Legislature for their leadership in establishing Minnesota as a “Trans Refuge” state and modeling a commitment to the health and well-being of our transgender siblings. I urge the City, Hennepin County, the Minneapolis School Board, the Metropolitan Council, and the State of Minnesota to come together and collaborate to develop a comprehensive plan that ensures the Transgender community has access to services and supports that eliminate barriers to housing, healthcare, and employment that pay living wages. If elected as the next Mayor, I will work with the Transgender community to convene leaders at all levels of government to establish such a plan to ensure that Minneapolis serves as a hub and home, a safe, violence-free City of Refuge. We can create a future where our transgender families live free from the threat of violence and are welcomed and valued at every table. May it be so.