1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

We shouldn't be guessing whether Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray is the first trans person killed in 2026, but we are because media outlets and police reports misgendered her. When victims are misgendered, their deaths disappear from the data we use to understand and address violence. We know at least 27 trans people were killed in 2025, with 17 of them Black trans women like Sanchez-McCray. Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents noted that other trans victims may have been misgendered in reports, meaning the real number is higher and we have no way to know by how much. This isn't just sloppy record-keeping. Without accurate information, we can't allocate resources, identify patterns, or protect the communities facing the greatest risk. Require law enforcement agencies to accurately record gender identity in incident reports. Mandate training for police and medical examiners on proper identification procedures. Fund state-level tracking systems that capture this data correctly. Black trans women are being killed at alarming rates, and we're still debating whether we even counted them right. https://www.them.us/story/black-trans-activist-and-drag-performer-shyyell-diamond-sanchez-mccray-killed-in-virginia