Apparently You Can Kill Trans People In San Francisco Now

shooting had absolutely nothing to do with being trans, even if it was "misgendered"

Apparently You Can Kill Trans People In San Francisco Now


Banko Brown was a community activist that had worked with the nonprofit Young Women’s Freedom Center in San Francisco since he was 12 years old. He was also a trans man and was the 11th trans or gender non-conforming individual reported by the HRC to have died by violence in 2023. Towards the end of April, Brown was accused of shoplifting at a San Francisco Walgreens. The security guard on duty, Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony shot Banko, who later died of his injuries. As an isolated incident, this would be abhorrent, but the context of the legal response around it makes it significantly worse.

A claim of self-defense for Michael Anthony seems laughable. Both the beating and the shooting should easily be seen as excessive use of force for the situation. When put together with Anthony’s choice to misgender Brown, it seems that there was more to this than an attempt to save Walgreens from losing a small amount of product.

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The community in San Francisco is fighting back, but this should be receiving a national response. This is one element of a much larger problem that is sweeping the United States. The 2024 presidential elections will be here before we know it and their result will likely decide whether LGBTQ+ people across the nation feel safe remaining in this country.

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