Trans activist and reality television star Ts Madison recently told the tragic story of her murdered trans classmate, someone who inspired her own coming out journey.
Madison told the story during an appearance on the Pierre’s Panic Room podcast hosted by the comedian Pierre and said at the age of 15, her trans classmate was shot by a group of boys on a class spring break trip.
“I came back, but she never came back,” Madison said.
It was this girl, Madison said, who helped her discover her own trans identity.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
“I came from a Christian home… I had never ever seen anything else that was closely remote like me…She was really feminine…She was nothing else but a girl. But we were 14, 15-year-old kids.”
“I was so in awe and I was so taken aback by her, because I’d never seen anything like that, and she said, ‘Timothy, why do you eat your food like that? You know you’re a girl?’…I was in awe of her.”
After she was killed, Madison said she “cried viciously.”
She also wondered “what her life would have been like. I wonder, does she see me from heaven?”
With The Ts Madison Experience, Madison was the first Black trans woman to star in and executive produce her own reality show. She also recently starred in Bros.
Before starting the story, Madison expressed how tired she is of dealing with transphobia. “I’m 45 years old. I’ve been seeing this go on for 30 years.”
@TsMadisonatl1, this story is heartbreaking. I hate this happened. 💔 pic.twitter.com/kCiaDjBamk
— ✨🥳✨ (@research_jpg) November 9, 2022
With 50 fatalities, 2021 was the deadliest year on record for violence against the trans community. The Human Rights Campaign reported that 45 trans and nonbinary people were killed last year, most of them trans women of color.
In 2022, at least 32 trans and nonbinary people have already been killed. It is not possible to have a wholly accurate record because many deaths go unreported or are misreported.
