Protect Trans Lives: End the Rhetoric That Fuels Violence

A 19-year-old transgender woman was murdered in her own home — the laundry room of her UW residence hall. Her death is not an isolated tragedy. It is the direct consequence of a political climate that treats transgender existence as a debate rather than a fact, and you have a responsibility to say so plainly and act accordingly. The federal government's 2026 Counterterrorism Strategy lists "radically pro-transgender" groups as targets for neutralization, and its Presidential Forward closes with the words "We Will Find You and We Will Kill You." That is state-sanctioned language directed at people whose only offense is existing. When rhetoric like that gets official legitimacy, real people die. We saw it happen here. Transgender people in this state need you to take a clear public stand against anti-trans political rhetoric, oppose any federal policy that frames trans identity as a threat, and push for concrete protections at the state level. Silence from elected officials is not neutrality — it is permission. I need to know where you stand.