Police urged to look at hate crime in TG woman�s murder

by Anthony Glassman

Cincinnati--On Saturday, August 18, the country�s ninth reported murder of a transgender person happened in the Queen City as Kendall L. Hampton was shot to death around 10:30 pm.

Hampton, 26, was shot twice in Walnut Hills. The incident took place in the parking lot between McDonald�s and Dairy Mart on East McMillan Street between Victory Parkway and Park Avenue.

According to police, Hampton was a sex worker. She was rushed to University Hospital, where she was reported dead on arrival.

Hampton�s murder occurred four days after 19-year-old Tiffany Gooden was stabbed to death in Chicago.

The Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization of Columbus is urging police to investigate the killing as a hate crime.

�We at BRAVO believe that this incident underscores the importance for renewed discussion and action on hate crime against LGBTQ communities,� said BRAVO executive director Gloria McCauley. �Sadly, we know that hate crime violence in its many forms are intended to instill the message of hate and fear throughout the entire community.�

�Hate crimes go largely under-reported, or not reported at all, and people are left with restoring their sense of safety and security on their own,� she noted.

According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, of which BRAVO is a prominent member, anti-LGBTQ murders reached a high mark in 2011, with 30 documented, an increase of 11 percent over 2010. Of those 30 murders, 12 were transgender women (40 percent of the total) and 26 were people of color (87 percent).

So far this year, two murders of transgender or gender non-conforming people were reported in Chicago, one in Washington, D.C., two in Florida, one in Detroit, another in Baltimore and one in Oakland, California. With four months to go in 2012, reports are already on track to reach or exceed last year�s reported murders of transgender people.

Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, told the Washington Post�s �The Root� African American news outlet, �Stop killing and beating down my family. As a mother, sister and advocate, I am deeply troubled by the violence that plagues our trans sisters. I�m even more saddened by our level of indifference and inaction. Where is the outcry?�

Anyone with information about the murder of Kendall Hampton is urged to call the Cincinnati Police at 513-7651212 or Crime Stoppers at 513-3523040.

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