On Mother’s Day 2020, Jahaira DeAlto tweeted: “I am the mother who raised the children whose rainbow sparkled too brightly and blinded their birth moms. I cherished what they discarded. I took on earthly assignments for the moms who’d earned their Heavenly reward. For their babies who still needed raising. I did that.”
DeAlto could not have known that a year later her words would read like a eulogy.
She is one of at least 50 transgender and gender nonconforming people murdered nationwide and in Puerto Rico this year. That’s a record and, like COVID-19 deaths, the real number is probably higher. This month I’m devoting several of my columns to memorializing transgender and gender nonconforming people lost to violence in 2021.
Thomas Hardin, 35, on May 2 in York, S.C.: Hardin, said a friend, “always kept you laughing.” Hardin identified as a woman but used both male and female pronouns.
Jahaira DeAlto, 42, on May 2 in Boston: A transgender activist and advocate for domestic and sexual violence survivors, DeAlto founded Berkshire Transgender Day of Remembrance and the Berkshire Pride Festival. Letta Neely, a friend, said of DeAlto, “She was full of all the best parts of love.”
Whispering Wind Bear Spirit, 41, on May 4 in York, Pa.: A nonbinary Indigenous person, Bear Spirit was by their own definition “Shawnee by birth and Potawatomi by relations.” On social media, friends and loved ones remembered Bear Spirit as “a beautiful and kind soul.”
Sophie Vásquez, 36, on May 4 in Brookhaven, Ga.: Friends called Vásquez “the kindest person on the planet” and someone who was “truly beautiful inside and out.” She was a member of Community Estrella, which offers support to transgender people in the Atlanta area.
Danika “Danny” Henson, 31, on May 4 in Baltimore: “The embodiment of love” is how Ashley Evang described her longtime friend, who identified as gender fluid. “Anytime you were feeling down all you had to do was pick up the phone and call him and he was right there for you.”
Serenity Hollis, 24, on May 8 in Albany, Ga.: In death, Hollis was initially misgendered, which compounded the grief of those who mourned her. Her mother, Robyn Osberry, said, “The person that’s responsible has no idea what they took from us.”
Poe Delwyn Black, 21, on May 11 in Niland, Calif.: A Nashville native, Black was an artist who loved to paint, draw, and restore thrift store finds. A friend said he was “a strong activist” for disability rights and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Oliver “Ollie” Taylor, 17, on May 19 in Gervais, Ore.: During a vigil for Taylor held at his high school’s football field, Matt Jones, a science teacher, said the world “lost an extraordinary person, one of a kind, one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. This kid could have done anything.”
Tierramarie Lewis, 36, on June 12 in Cleveland: Life hadn’t always been fair or easy for Lewis, but she believed everyone deserved a second — or third — chance at happiness. “She was just ready to turn her life around,” said Tamika Jones, who met Lewis at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.
EJ Boykin, 23, on June 14 in Lynchburg, Va.: A student at Morgan State University, Boykin was described by Torri Chippe, a longtime friend, as someone who was “loved and liked by everyone. He was one of those people that was just good vibes and energy.”
Taya Ashton, 20, on July 17 in Suitland, Md.: Diamond Anderson, Ashton’s aunt, said her niece was an aspiring entrepreneur who dreamed of opening her own clothing boutique. “Even if it wasn’t happening in the moment,” Anderson said, Ashton “was speaking it into existence.”
Shai Vanderpump, 23, on July 30 in Trenton, N.J.: In her hometown, Vanderpump was known as a ”fierce leader and advocate” for Trenton’s LGBTQ community. On a Go Fund Me page to cover her funeral expenses, she was remembered for her “heart of gold” and her “style [and] love of family.”
Miss CoCo, 44, on Aug. 7 in Dallas: Despite hardships including housing insecurity, Coco was “a well-known small girl with a big, bubbly personality,” the Dallas-based Nu Transgender Movement posted on Facebook. “CoCo was a happy person [and] proud to be living her truth!”
Pooh Johnson, 25, on Aug. 23 in Shreveport, La.: An accomplished makeup artist, Johnson worked under the name “Titanizer Mua,” a reference to the makeup titan she wanted to be. She gave makeup lessons, and her social media pages were filled with photos of her stunning work.
Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at renee.graham@globe.com.