As the title says, this photograph is used to adorn the cover of the American Journal of Public Health (@AmJPublicHealth) website. They didn’t consult me before choosing this photo, and they don’t have to. It’s actually my preference that people not consult me – we’re all busy and my photographs are @CreativeCommons licensed for a reason 🙂 .
In this case, I might have recommended this photo in addition/instead. It shows what the problem of undercounting homicides can look like, which is discussed in the study – these are just photographs in Washington, DC:
The photo, above, is of Ruby Corado (@RubyCoradoDC) addressing a group of people at the transgender solidarity march in 2015, in Dupont Circle, in Washington, DC. Ruby is the originator of one of my favorite quotes:
“My job is to restore dignity. Society told them that they were not beautiful, they were not amazing, that they will never make it. A big part of my job is to reassure them that they were lied to. And once I’m able to do that, I want them to dream.” Ruby Corado, United Shades of America, CNN, May, 2017
I notice also that the tweets referencing the study have obviously misread its conclusions, and almost to a transphobic degree or intent. I will likely tweet out a truthification (because I can), which is that the point of the study is not to demonstrate that transgender people as a whole suffer more homicides or not, it is just a data point that shows a wide swath of incredible disparity in our society, mirrored through the experience of women of color. That’s what we care about in the medical profession, and the intent is still to provide compassionate care regardless of homicide rate, and in this case, change society so that the homicide rate isn’t 300 to 7500% of age-matched control humans.
And as the photo and Ruby demonstrate, as Washington, DC goes, so goes the nation.