On Tuesday, March 19, Meraxes Medina-García, a 24-year-old trans woman, was found dead with a gunshot to the head and after being thrown from a car in South Los Angeles, in the 5800 block, south of Hoover Street, in the Vermont-Slauson neighborhood, around 8:50 p.m.
Surveillance footage obtained from a sports bar near where Meraxes was killed shows a person dragging the girl’s body out of a light-colored sedan into a high school parking lot before fleeing.
Meraxes Medina was a 24-year-old undocumented transgender who turned 24 in February and had recently started hormone therapy. She had worked as a makeup artist at Universal Studios.
Suspected murderer arrested
In early April, police arrested Bryan Blackmon, 29, of Hawthorne, as a suspect in the murder. A bail of $3 million dollars was imposed on him and, if found guilty of the homicide, he could spend 60 years in prison.
“The pain and sadness felt by Meraxes’ family and friends runs deep and our hearts go out to them during this unimaginably difficult time,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
“As we move forward in this legal process, we stand united in support of Meraxes’ memory and the pursuit of justice,” Gascón said.
Bamby Salcedo, executive director of the TransLatina Coalition stated that Meraxes Medina-García was very young and did not deserve to die.
“It is unfortunate that our community continues to experience violence,” he said. “She died as a result of discrimination and hatred; To end these deaths we have a lot of work to do in society and educate people to be more sensitive, to give each other respect, because the laws are written to protect everyone.”
“Violence out of control”
While the number of reported deaths has decreased slightly from the record 57 murders in 2021, new data from the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund indicates that homicides of transgender and gender-expansive people reveal a disproportionate density in southern states: Arizona , Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Texas.
Richard Zaldívar, executive director of The Wall Las Memorias, a community health and wellness organization dedicated to serving Latinos, LGBTQ and other underserved populations, highlighted that the number of murders of trans people “is out of control.”
“The hatred that is heard against the community comes from right-wing policies and laws in different states, and also from the mouths of many politicians who incite this violence,” Zaldívar told La Opinión.
In fact, since 2020, more than a hundred laws against the transgender community have been approved in various states, but in 2024, 23 states have established laws that explicitly protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination at work, school or public spaces, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
“One death in itself is too many,” declared Mariana Marroquín, a trans woman originally from Guatemala. She is the director of Trans Wellness Center in Los Angeles.
Marroquín, 47, said that, in addition to violence against the LGBTQ+ community, they also face a lack of housing, employment opportunities and safe places where trans, African American and Latina women, mainly, could reunite to be themselves.
“I mean obtaining tools that help us have a decent life, have access to education and opportunities to improve ourselves,” he indicated.
Another alleged murderer behind bars
Dylan Gurley, a 20-year-old transgender woman, was stabbed and strangled to death on July 23 in Denton, Texas.
Gurley became the 24th fatality so far this year. Police identified her on July 30 and a month later the alleged killer, Michael Tooley, 53, was arrested.
During the investigation detectives learned that Tooley and Gurley were staying at an abandoned property. He was homeless.
Tooley was allegedly upset about some missing money.
A medical examiner ruled that Dylan Gurley’s cause of death was a homicide and the causes were blunt force injuries with strangulation. She was homeless. He would have turned 21 on August 18.
“The suspect remains incarcerated; A bond of $1 million dollars was imposed on him,” Amy Cunningham, spokesperson for the Denton, Texas Police Department, informed La Opinión.
He said that if convicted, Michael Tooley would face a life sentence in prison.
The 25th death of a transgender person was African-American Tai’Vion Lathan, 24, who was shot to death in an alley on August 4, according to a report from the Baltimore Police Department.
“They wanted to kill me”: Mariana Marroquín
The trans director of Trans Wellness Center in Los Angeles says that her goal in life is to achieve peace of heart and forgive those who hurt her.
Mariana Marroquín had to flee her home, Jalapa, Guatemala, to avoid being another transgender woman who was murdered. It was 1998.
“I had to leave my country because I am the victim of a hate crime,” denounces Mariana Marroquín, director of the Trans Wellness Center; body that provides comprehensive resources and services for transgender and non-binary people under one roof.
“I was in a place where there were people who did not accept who I was,” he says. “When they found out that my gender was not biological female, four men wanted to take my life.”
Staying in his country was not a life option. She was barely 18 years old.
“I wanted to live, work and fulfill my dreams in my country,” he says. “But Guatemala did not provide me with any security.”
Those who wanted to take her life were unknown, and Mariana just wanted to go out and have fun in her youth.
“I have always been a woman, a feminine person,” she narrates. “Everyone thought I was a woman, and I am a woman.”
Now 47 years old, she says that those who tried to kill her realized who she was “because one sounds different.” [en el timbre de voz]; It looks different, and when someone gets closer, they notice.”
She affirms that she does not go around telling the world or explaining to anyone who she is, although, when she does, “people change their way of thinking.”
“I don’t try to deceive the world nor do I pretend to be someone I’m not,” he tells La Opinión.
Mariana explains that having survived in a different country like the United States has marked her life forever.
Years ago, his numerous encounters with the police were not pleasant at all.
“They shined lights in my face and told me, go home, even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” he says. “I was chased several times by them; “They did not show compassion to those they were supposed to protect.”
Start from scratch
“I wanted to do many things and fulfill many dreams,” he emphasizes. “I had all the energy and desire to study, work and, because I was different, also have the same rights as everyone else, but I had to start from scratch.”
Her attitude towards life put her in the place where she is now succeeding, for 14 years: director of Trans Wellness Center.
Although he never expected to go this far, he recently had the opportunity to visit the White House.
He was with President Joe Biden and, along with more representatives of the LGBTQ+ community. They talked about the policies that favor them and those that affect them.
“I learned a life lesson, that we can survive and have respect for our lives,” he says. “I left the fear behind and I feel empowered.”
According to the American Civil Rights Union (ACLU), approximately 530 anti-LGBTQ+ bills are being discussed in the country.
Mariana Marroquín affirms that, as an immigrant woman “I have rights like everyone else.”
“All immigrants talk about the American Dream, and I believe that LGBTQ+ trans people also have the right to that dream; That is why it is important that we have representation in the government.”
For Mariana, the most gratifying thing about being in the Los Angeles LGBT center is “having gotten a decent job.”
There, he has helped dozens of people complete their immigration process.
“But the most beautiful thing is having turned the pain, my scars and wounds into action and the power to help others,” he says.
“It hurts me to think of young children who are abused; the fact that there was no protection for me,” he says. “That’s why I think that if a child sounds different, it’s because they are different and we have to protect them more than other children.”
“I don’t want children to be victims of physical and sexual abuse like what happened to me,” he adds. “Many people talked about how they had to correct me, but instead of wanting to correct me, what they should have done was protect me.”
The process of being accepted for who she is was difficult, particularly among her own family members. But Mariana did it.
“I am a good person, who contributes to society, who works with my head held high and demonstrates the quality of human being that I am, which is not beyond living your sexual orientation or identity,” he emphasizes.
First, Mariana dedicated herself to knowing herself and finding her community.
Later, through her life testimony, everyone in her family realized that I was a good daughter and sister.
“I try to be an example for my brothers,” says Mariana. “I always tell parents, dedicate yourself to studying and showing your children that you love them, just the way they are.”
For this reason, it considers that education and access to services are important bases for being members of society like any person.
“The so-called people think they have the right to violate us,” Mariana claims. “That is one of the biggest dangers we face, because they think that we have no rights, that no one cares about us or that we are people who live on the streets or live at night.”
Mariana, who defines herself as a feisty woman with many dreams and a fighter, maintains that her aspiration in life is to have peace in her heart.
“And heal completely to forgive the people who hurt me,” he concludes.
- Key findings:
- In 2023, there were 35 homicides of transgender or gender-expansive people. 80% of them were armed. Black trans women face the majority of this violence: in 2023, 50% of gun homicides were of Black trans women.
- Between 2017 and 2023, there were 263 homicides of transgender or gender-expansive people worldwide. The list is headed by Brazil, with 100 murders; Mexico 52 and United States 35.
- In that same period, 73% of these people were murdered with a firearm.
- Also, more than six in 10 firearm homicides of transgender and gender-expansive people (63%) were of African American trans women.
- One in 10 firearm homicides of transgender and gender-expansive people were trans Latinas.
- Intimate partner and family violence affects trans people: at least 19% of violent deaths of trans people were at the hands of an intimate partner or family member. 68% of these deaths were with firearms .
- This violence is not evenly distributed across the United States: 44% of homicides of transgender and gender-expansive people occurred in Southern states.
- 34% of firearm homicides of transgender and gender-expansive people remain unsolved.
- This violence disproportionately affects young people: 57% of the victims were under 30 years old.
- Source: Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund
This publication is supported by funds provided by the State of California, administered by the State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop Hate. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, visit https://www.cavshate.org/.