The Murder of Juniper Blessing

The Bottom Line

Another woman, this one a transgender woman brutally murdered.

The Story In a Nutshell

Students at the University of Washington are in mourning after the identity of the 19-year-old trans student stabbed and killed on Sunday became public. Her name was Juniper Blessing.

Blessing, a major of the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science, was the “most amazing human being we have ever known,” her family wrote in a statement.

According to friends who have posted on social media, she enjoyed playing video games like Hollow Night, studying meteorology, buying jewelry and perfume, and singing with a beautiful voice that can be heard in videos like this one of her belting Wildflowers by Tom Petty at her New Mexico high school.

A lovely tribute to her was expressed in this poem by Sarah Scorze — A Poem For Juniper. It ends with a sentiment that really ought to be uncontroversial, but for some reason is not in our Western society:

No-one deserves to die for being themselves

Whenever I learn of any trans life extinguished by violence (invariably perpetrated by a male), my soul is flooded by the torrent of tears.

The Lived Reality of Existing in a 2,000 Year Old Male Dominated Hierarchy

Gender variant people are targeted by governments, organised religion, and lastly, by men who are unarguably terrorists. In this case, the charging documents reveal that the killer, a 31-year-old male, acted with premeditated intent and stabbed Blessing more than 40 times. Authorities have said they currently do not believe the killing was motivated by Blessing’s gender identity, although investigators noted that additional charges could still be considered if new evidence emerges. The killing of any woman is horrific enough, but that the person murdered was one of our community is extra devastating. Indeed, her gender may not have proven a factor in the heinous crime, but if so, it levies an even harsher judgment against our supposedly virtuous society.

Why Do Men So Often Murder Women, especially Trans Women

I have never quite worked out why this is a fact; I think it has something to do with the male predisposition to reject anything that in any way appears to threaten the male-privileged/male-dominated worldview that has prevailed in both eastern and western philosophy for the past 2 millennia.

And rarely, in my estimation, has a male-centric, male-first culture allowed challenges to its worldview to survive for long. Witness the 'quiet part out loud' advocacy for 'one voter for the family' — always presumed to be the eldest male member, and in new calls for the repeal of women's suffrage.

What has this to do with the extinguishing of a beautiful life just coming to flower?

Regardless of whether the crime is ultimately discovered to involve her gender variance, in my estimation, it has literally everything to do with it.

The ascent of women who dare to poke at the power hierarchy, from Joan of Arc to Kamala Harris, has historically been viewed as perverse and 'against God's Will.'

Especially ironic for the trans community, a principal charge against Joan was — along with heresy and witchcraft—violating divine law by dressing in men's clothing; No joke. Dressing as a man was viewed by her ecclesiastic tormentors as a 'violation of biblical law and an unnatural transgression.'

Now of course, we're more modern and couch our condemnations in more 'gentlemanly' terms — Kamala didn't practice witchcraft or cross-dress; those accusations wouldn't bear scrutiny in the modern era. She, instead, was subjected to weird accusations that she was "too emotional", or that her laugh was "maniacal", a charge that reflects a persistent double standard that female politicians, particularly women of color, always face in the public eye.

The Extra Tariff Of Being a Trans Women

And those examples, spanning nearly 600 years, are disgusting enough, but being transgender levies an extra tax on a person's humanity that almost invites (and in the eyes of some, even excuses) violent male retaliation. The existence of AMAB humans who know themselves to be 'other' is, from the viewpoint of the dominant hierarchy, not to be allowed. Not now. Not ever. Witness the comment section of every social media posting sympathetic to or supportive of trans women, where typical comments range from the evergreen

"There are only two sexes/genders, male and female, no exceptions, nohow"

to the learned pronouncement (no doubt informed by decades of medical schooling and gender research) of

"Penis == male. Vagina == female"

One almost expects the commentator to respond, for good measure,

"Oh, and by the way, the Earth is flat, and is only 6,000 years old."

And the unquestioning acceptance of such stupidity, allowing these people to crawl out from under a rock and to spread their venom under a welcoming sunshine, can prove lethal for a whole segment of the human race.

Transgender women account for the vast majority (roughly 82% to 85%) of all fatal violence tracked within the transgender and gender-nonconforming community. Furthermore, Black transgender women make up nearly three-quarters of known fatal violence victims, despite representing a smaller fraction of the overall transgender population. Note that the murder rate for AFAB folks who are allowed to assimilate into the male 'bro-hood' is far lower.

So What Do I Want From You? What Now

All of the above is simply from my observation of the human species, and can be taken, left, or argued as needed. Thank you for reading this, and thank you if you are moved to supporting trans people as a way of healing the world, or at least, dealing with the loss we all feel and try to make sense of.

At the very least, appreciate this co-opting of John Donne's words:

"Any woman's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."