Gender Non-Conforming Entrepreneur Gunned Down In Chicago

by Iman Milner

October 31, 2023

Dominic Dupree, a 25-year-old gender non-conforming entrepreneur, was gunned down on Oct. 13 on the South Aspect of Chicago. The killing marks one other current uptick of gun violence within the metropolis, during which legislation enforcement reported the bottom complete of homicides since 2019 in September, WTTW stories.

Dupree’s household, in addition to LGBTQ assist teams, have raised hypothesis that their demise might have been a hate crime. “Dominic had an entrepreneurial spirit and was keen about offering companies to assist others.

“Dominic was solely 25, cherished by so many individuals, and absolutely had a lot extra to provide,” stated Tori Cooper, Human Rights Marketing campaign director of Group Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative. “We should all work to cease the horrific gun violence that too usually takes the lives of Black transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.”

Dupree was stated to be sitting in a automobile in Chicago on Oct. 13 that was approached and fired upon by an unidentified suspect, WTTW stories. Presently, there have been no arrests made.

Dupree turned the thirty second transgender or gender non-conforming individual within the U.S. to reportedly meet a violent demise in 2023 and the seventeenth to be killed with a gun. Since 2013, 231 different transgender and gender non-conforming individuals have died by firearm, a quantity that accounts for over 70% of all deaths recognized, the Human Rights Marketing campaign stories.

A 2022 report additionally discovered that greater than 10,000 hate crimes contain a firearm, totaling roughly 28 assaults per day. Hate crimes concentrating on LGBTQ individuals have been on a gradual rise since 2018, with a 41% improve in crimes directed towards a person as a consequence of their gender id. The Southern Poverty Regulation Middle discovered that anti-LGBTQ hate teams grew by over 40% in 2019.

Illinois presently has protections in place for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals to forestall them from being discriminated towards in employment, housing, and training; nevertheless, uphill battles persist in retaining people protected whose gender identities usually make them a goal.