HRC is mourning the death of Deeniquia Dodds, a transgender woman who was critically shot on July Fourth in Northeast Washington, D.C. Dodds, who was just 22 years old, passed away on July 13 after 10 days on life support.
NBC4 Washington reports that Dodds was affectionately known as Dee Dee to those close to her. A vigil in her honor will be held Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. A memorial service is scheduled for the week of July 25.
“Her murder reminds us all of how often the transgender community is targeted for violence in our society,” said longtime DC transgender advocate Earline Budd in a statement given to NBC4.
Dodds is the second youngest transgender woman killed in the greater D.C. area this year. Keyonna Blakeney’s body was found in a Rockville, Maryland motel room on April 16; two men have been charged in the 22-year-old’s murder. Last October, 21-year-old Zella Ziona was shot and killed in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Across the U.S., at least 13 transgender people have been murdered since the beginning of 2016. Over 90 percent of the victims are people of color and over three quarters are women. HRC’s own tracking shows that 59 percent of known transgender homicide victims in the United States since 2013 have died as a result of gun violence. In Addressing Transgender Violence, released last November, HRC and the Trans People of Color Coalition wrote that racism and sexism compound the risk of violence for transgender women of color.
HRC extends our sympathy and condolences to Ms. Dodds’ family and friends.
For more information on addressing anti-transgender violence, visit hrc.org/trans-violence.
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