In response to continued attacks on trans women, particularly Black trans women, in the city, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order on Tuesday establishing a Transfemicide Working Group “to develop comprehensive strategies addressing violence against transgender women in our city.”
Under the requirements of the order, the city’s Commission on Human Relations will collaborate with the Chicago Police Department to form the working group by the end of next February. It will include reprsentation from departments across the city who will “review and recommend city policies, procedures, training and directives to change outcomes within the BIPOC transgender and gender-diverse community.”
In establishing the working group, Johnson acknowledges that Chicago has become the deadliest city in the nation for Black trans women. In one of the most recent cases, Redd, a 25-year-old who also went by the name Barbie, was shot and killed last September. Another trans woman was critically injured in the same shooting.
Chicago has one of the worst records for solving the murder of trans women. The Chicago Sun-Times reported in July that while the national average for clearing the murder of trans women is 50%, it is just 14% in Chicago.
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“There’s no follow-up,” trans activist Zahara Bassett told the paper. “I know a few people who have been murdered, and no one knows what happened still to this day.”
Chicago police have also been repeatedly accused of misgendering murder victims. Trans advocacy groups in Chicago have been pushing for legislation that would require the police to collect data tracking crimes against trans people.
In the statement released by the mayor’s office, Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, praised the creation of the working group. “This is big step forward to ensure our city government understands the unique challenges facing our transgender neighbors in Chicago,” he said. “This Working Group will inform our preventative measures and our field response to an emergent need in our community.
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