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Oklahoma Moms Demand Action, Everytown Respond To Fatal Shooting Of Transgender Man In McAlester

1.2.2020

Dustin Parker is the First Trans Person to be Killed in 2020

In 2019, at Least 25 Trans People Were Killed Nationwide; 19 Were Killed With a Gun

MCALESTER, Okla. — The Oklahoma chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statement in response to the death of a transgender man in McAlester early New Year’s Day. According to reports, Dustin was shot and killed in the driver’s seat of his taxi. He was a husband and father of four, and the first trans person killed in 2020.

“Dustin Parker should still be alive,” said Hannah Parker, a volunteer with the Oklahoma chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “My heart goes out to his wife, to his four children, to his friends, to his fellow members of Oklahomans for Equality, and to every trans, non-binary, gender-nonconforming child and adult in this state who heard this news and felt a little less safe. Dustin Parker got to see the start of this decade, but he should have gotten to see a lot more.”

Last year, at least 25 trans people were killed nationwide — 19 were killed with a gun. The vast majority of trans people killed in 2019 were Black women. While details are still developing, an additional trans woman was shot and killed in D.C. in the last days of 2019. If confirmed to be a homicide, this shooting brings the number of trans people killed last year to at least 26.

According to EveryStat, there have now been 81 homicides of transgender Americans since January 2017 — 74 percent of them gun homicides.