Virginia Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Respond to Shooting of EJ Boykin, Also Known as Novaa Watson, a Trans Man, in Lynchburg, Va.

The Virginia chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement in response to reports that a transgender man, EJ Boykin also known as Novaa Watson, was found shot and killed in Lynchburg, Virginia. Reports indicate that Boykin was shot outside a retail store in the early evening of June 14th.

“Transgender lives are too often cut short by gun violence,” said Josh Hambrecht, a volunteer with the Virignia chapter of Students Demand Action. “We must address these tragic instances of devastating loss with solutions to reduce the outsized impact that gun violence has on the transgender community. Our thoughts are with EJ’s loved ones as we continue to fight to make our state safe from all forms of gun violence.”

EJ Boykin is at least the 29th violent death of a transgender or gender non-conforming person, and at least the 5th involving a trans man, in 2021. So far in 2021, Everytown has tracked more violent deaths of transgender and gender non-conforming people than ever by this point in the calendar year. 

Last year was the deadliest year on record for trans and gender non-conforming people in the U.S., after 38 people were shot and killed. Some trends from 2017 to 2020 that are likely to continue:

• Guns are the most frequently used weapon in the murder of trans people. Nearly three-fourths of trans people killed in America were killed with a gun.

• Black trans women account for the majority of homicide victims in the trans community. To put this into perspective, while Black people make up 16% of the trans population, 75% of known trans homicide victims between 2017 and 2020 were Black.

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund has tracked homicides of transgender and gender non-comforming people in the U.S since 2017. In addition to breaking down gun violence to the state- and county-level, the EveryStat platform includes a database of known trans or gender non-conforming homicide victims in the United States. As the numbers show, violence against the trans community is closely linked to guns, and 2021 is on track to be the deadliest year on record.