Philly DA Launches LGBTQ Advisory Board as Transgender Residents Face Violence

The Philadelphia district attorney's office is establishing an LGBTQ advisory committee to improve the city's law enforcement relationship with members of the community, particularly victims of crime.

DA Larry Krasner and some members of his office's victim services division announced the formation of the committee on Monday. Krasner said the LGBTQ community in Philadelphia has long been overlooked by law enforcement authorities.

"That's not okay because not serving marginalized people is a pretty good way to encourage crime," Krasner said. "Do you think it’s a coincidence that serial killers have prayed on marginalized communities, whether they were sex workers or they were immigrants or they were people who used drugs? It’s not."

His office made the announcement two days before International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Recently, city leaders described attacks on transgender people in Philadelphia, particularly those of color, as an "epidemic of violence."

The most recent attack came March 20 when a 32-year-old woman suffered critically serious injuries. She was almost raped and stabbed early that Saturday morning, police said.

The woman, who is transgender, told police a man tried to kill her inside a home on East Montana Street.

In September, 29-year-old Mia Green was found fatally shot in the neck of a car during a traffic stop.

"We know that the loss of yet another trans community member of color is especially painful, no matter the circumstances," the city’s Office of LGBT Affairs said at the time.

"This latest act of violence against a member of our community is a somber reminder of the epidemic of violence against trans individuals."

Green's death occurred months after the dismembered body of Dominique Rem'mie Fells, a trans woman, was discovered in the Schuylkill River. Investigators determined she had been murdered.