Transfemicide
Transfemicide or transfeminicide is defined as the killing of a trans woman motivated by transphobic, misogynistic and transmisogynistic hatred that has its origins in cissexist cultural and political norms. The term is most often used as a subset of femicide, a theoretical and legal concept describing the murder of women and girls by men on the basis of sexist beliefs and norms. Journalists and academics alike believe the prevalence of transfemicide to be vastly underreported. Journalists Emma Landeros and Joel Aguirre argue that, as hate crimes, transfemicides constitute a 'silent epidemic' in Mexico, with many deaths receiving little or no media coverage.
Under Transgender Europe, or TGEU, the Trans Murder Monitoring project reported 281 trans and gender-diverse people murdered in 2025 alone, with 90% of those killed being trans women. Notably, sex workers comprised 34% of these deaths, with most of the overall deaths occurring in Latin America.
Historical usage
Femicide, understood as the intentional killing of a woman by a man motivated by misogynistic hatred, was established by Diana Russell and Jane Caputi and later popularized in Latin America by Marcela Lagarde. Transfemicide, however, is a term generally attributed to transfeminist activists in Latin America, who sought to describe the heighted structural violence trans women in the region face by expanding the concept of femicide. Academic and assistant professor of Gender and Postcolonial Studies Ana Maria Miranda Mora argues that legislation against femicide, in applying strict interpretations of gender-based violence, has at the same time reproduced violence by making the experiences of trans women and queer cisgender women invisible.Legal views
The Human Rights Watch, in their report on violence against LGBT people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, note that Central American governments have long excluded transgender women from preexisting legal structures meant to prosecute femicides. Guatemalan officials have justified this by stating that transgender women are not "biological women" in their eyes and therefore their murders are not covered by such laws.In the case of Vicky Hernández v Honduras, tried before Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization and Red Lésbica Cattrachas successfully argued that the government of Honduras held responsibility for the death of trans activist and sex worker Vicky Hernández. The result of the case was seen as a landmark ruling establishing a powerful precedent for the defense of transgender women and LGBT Latin Americans broadly.
By region
North America
United States
On December 24, 2024, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing a "Transfemicide Working Group", specifically mentioning Black trans women and the heightened discrimination and violence they face. In Puerto Rico, the 2020 murder of Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, also known as Alexa, sparked outrage among Puerto Rican activists. They saw the police and media misgendering Neulisa as downplaying the transphobic nature of the killing. In response to media coverage of Nuelisa's killing, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny wore a shirt with the words "They killed Alexa, not a man in a skirt" during a performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.Mexico
In Mexico, only five states recognize transfemicide as a distinct legal category, with Nayarit being the earliest to implement such a law on March 1, 2024. In 2024, activists successfully pushed the Mexico City legislature to legally recognize transfemicides after the 2016 murder of trans sex worker Paola Buenrostro. Known as the "Paola Buenrostro law", the legislation makes the killing of a transgender woman a crime punishable by up to 70 years in prison.Mexico has one of the highest rates of transfemicides in the world. Letra Ese, an organization tracking hate crimes, reported 55 transfemicides in 2024, making Mexico one of the deadliest countries in the world for transgender women.