SOFFA Victims of Anti-Trans Violence

Trans people are not the only ones hurt and even killed by transphobia -- so are SOFFAs (Significant Others, Friends, Family, and Allies). Here are a few snapshots of their stories....

= Printable version

Jacqueline Julita Anderson

Location: Portland, Oregon
Cause of Death: Shot in the head with a shotgun by Eric Walter Running
Date of Death: February 24, 1998
Stories of this case call Anderson a “bearded woman,” which is not uncommon in articles of FTM murders. Anderson was killed at the same time as hir lover of 10+ years, Barbara J. Gilpin.

Brandie Coleman

Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Cause of Death: Shot to death by Paul Anthony Moore
Date of Death: July 22, 2003
18-year-old Brandie Coleman, while not a transgendered woman herself, was a close friend to Nireah Johnson, who was also shot in the head while sitting in Coleman’s mother’s SUV with Ms. Johnson. She had become a mother just two months prior to the murder. Paul Anthony Moore was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 120 years in prison.

Phillip DeVine

Cause of Death: Shot to death by John Lotter and Marvin Thomas Nissen
Date of Death: December 31, 1993
Phillip was in the house the night Brandon Teena was killed.

Darryl Fearon

Location: New York, New York
Cause of Death: Stabbed
Date of Death: July 16, 2004
The 17 year old victim had come to the aid of three transgender individuals who were being harassed by Christian Soto-Ruiz. Soto-Ruiz stabbed this victim to death with a kitchen knife, and slashed one of the transgender individuals.

Maryline Grenier

Location: Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Date of Crime: February 16, 1982
Roommate of Dianne Aubert who was killed, Maryline survived 30 stab wounds.

Willie Houston

Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Cause of Death: Shot, allegedly by Lewis Maynard Davidson III
Date of Death: July 29, 2001
Houston was not himself transgendered, but faced anti-transgender and (and anti-gay) violence because he was carrying his wife’s purse, and assisting a blind male.

Lisa Lambert

Cause of Death: Shot to death by John Lotter and Marvin Thomas Nissen
Date of Death: December 31, 1993
Lisa was in the house the night Brandon Teena was killed.

James Jerome Mack

Location: Buffalo, New York
Cause of Death: Beaten with beer bottles, sexually assaulted with a broom handle, strangled with an electrical cord and then drowned in a bathtub. His body was later set on fire in a trash can behind a church
Date of Death: January 21, 2001
Mack was not himself transgendered, but was the lover of a transgendered woman.

Pebble

Location: Chicago, Illinois
Cause of injury: Shot several times and left for dead (but survived)
Date of Crime: July 27, 1999
Pebble was a friend of Barretta Williams who was shot 16 times, pistol whipped, tied up with speaker wire, and gagged with a sock taped into her mouth.

Yancey-Lisa R.

Location: San Francisco, California
Cause of Death: Stabbed once in the abdomen and four times in the back
Date of Death: Easter, 1975
Yancey-Lisa was the neighbor of Barbarella (Joe V.), who was killed within weeks of Yancey-Lisa.

Pvt. Barry L. Winchell

Location: Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Cause of Death: Beaten to death, allegedly by Pvt. Calvin N. Glover
Date of Death: July 5, 1999
Though Mr. Winchell himself was not transgender-identified, his lover was. He is believed to have been killed because he was in a relationship with a transgender person.

...and hundreds (if not thousands) more, go unidentified, unrecorded.