Alex is the first transgender or gender-expansive victim of fatal violence in Utah identified by HRC since tracking began in 2013. However, he is the far from the first to be killed with a gun: Over 240 transgender or gender-expansive people have been killed with guns in the last 11 years, accounting for more than 70% of all victims identified to-date. Utah is experiencing its own gun violence crisis, with rates of gun homicides increasing by 91% over the last decade, as reported by Everytown for Gun Safety.

At the state level, transgender and gender-expansive people in Utah are explicitly protected from discrimination in employment and housing, but not in education and public spaces. Utah does, however, include both sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics in its hate crimes law. Though we have recently seen some political gains that support and affirm transgender people, we have also faced unprecedented anti-LGBTQ+ attacks in the states. In June 2023, the Human Rights Campaign declared a National State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans, as a result of the more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced into state houses that year, over 80 of which were signed into law—more than in any other year. As of this writing, more than 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced into state houses since the beginning of 2024—and two anti-equality bills have been signed into law in Utah.

We must demand better from our elected officials and reject harmful anti-transgender legislation at the local, state and federal levels, while also considering every possible way to make ending this violence a reality. It is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, especially Black transgender women. The intersections of racism, transphobia, sexism, biphobia and homophobia conspire to deprive them of necessities to live and thrive, so we must all work together to cultivate acceptance, reject hate and end stigma for everyone in the trans and gender-expansive community.