“That’s terrible and heartbreaking to hear. It is a commitment of the President to address violence, address threats to transgender people.” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has condemned violence against trans and gender non-conforming people, which reached a reported level high this week. In response to the news that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has recorded at least 45 trans murder to anti-trans violence so far in 2021, the most the organization has tracked in one year, Psaki pledged she’ll ask President Joe Biden and the White House’s Domestic Policy Council what they will do to address the problem. Washington Blade White House Correspondent Chris Johnson asked Psaki about anti-trans violence at yesterday’s White House Press Briefing, her first behind the podium since she recovered from a breakthrough case of coronavirus and quarantined. (…) Biden regularly spoke out against anti-trans violence while campaigning for President in 2020, and he directly blamed violence in previous years on the Trump administration in 2019. “The fastest way to end it is to end the Trump administration,” he said at a HRC event at the time. While the Biden-Harris administration has taken several steps towards fulfilling their pledge to have the “most pro-equality administration in history,” their efforts have been met by a record level of anti-trans legislation proposals, and a record amount of them have passed state legislatures. The White House Domestic Policy Council, led by Ambassador Susan Rice, has yet to publicly issue a response or acknowledgement. The record for murders and violent deaths as counted by HRC — surpassing last calendar year’s record — was set this week with the death of Marquiisha Lawrence. Lawrence, a 28-year old Black trans woman from South Carolina, is at least the 45th victim of anti-trans violence in 2021.
via lgbtqnation: Jen Psaki calls the record amount of trans people murdered in 2021 so far “devastating”