Transgender Man Fatally Beaten Near Vermont Homeless Encampment


A transgender man was fatally beaten in Vermont last week. He was found badly beaten but alive near the Barge Canal and a homeless encampment in Burlington on May 23. Authorities took the transgender man to the University of Vermont Medical Center after he was found battered and bloody. Unfortunately, Vermont Public Radio reports, the transgender man, identified by authorities as 38-year-old Amos Beede, passed away at the hospital on Sunday, May 29.

Police say that Beede was found near the Dealer.com headquarters and that the badly beaten transgender man had suffered tremendous injuries in the ultimately fatal beating. His injuries included facial fractures, a subdermal hematoma, and multiple broken ribs.

Because Beede was a transgender man, police are looking into whether his gender identity may have been a factor in the fatal beating. Police are seemingly shying away from calling the fatally beaten transgender man’s death a potential “hate crime.” Rather, local law enforcement has said in an email that they are investigating motives in the case, looking into whether they were dealing with what they called a “possible bias incident.” According to an email reportedly sent from local law enforcement to the media, police believe the murder may have been motivated by something other than the transgender man’s gender identity.

“The deceased was a transgender person who identified as male. The investigation suggests motives on the part of perpetrators independent of this fact. The department has not ruled out the victim’s transgender status as a possible additional motive, and will seek to determine what role if any it may have played as the investigation continues. Until the attendant facts are clarified, we will continue to view this homicide as a possible bias incident.”

Burlington police have not gone into detail regarding what the motivation of the perpetrators may have been when it comes to the violence inflicted upon the fatally beaten transgender man. They have said that they are on the lookout for two “persons of interest” who they believe may have a connection to the senseless killing.

According to a press release, the people sought in connection with the transgender man who was fatally beaten are Myia Barber, 23, and Erick Averill, 21. Both are “transient residents of Burlington,” says local law enforcement. While the pair is being sought as “persons of interest” in the beating death of the local transgender transient, law enforcement has yet to officially label them as suspects.

“Anyone with information about the assault or the whereabouts of Averill or Barber are asked to call city police or Champlain Valley Crime Stoppers at (802) 864-6666.”

The public was not made aware that a transgender man had been beaten in the Burlington area right away. Rather, police chose not to release the news of the beating until Wednesday. It was then that law enforcement says that the transgender victim’s medical prognosis began to look grim.

So far, the official cause of the transgender man’s death has not been released. Police said on May 29 that the precise cause of death won’t be known until after the man’s body is examined by the State’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.

People have taken to social media to express their opinions on the crime.

Some more hatefully than others.

The news of the fatally beaten transgender man in Vermont comes at a time when transgender rights have dominated the forefront of both the American media and presidential campaign. In recent months, states have come forward to restrict transgender rights within their borders, often targeting their ability to legally use the bathroom they identify with. North Carolina has been at the forefront of the anti-transgender movement with its controversial “bathroom bill,” officially known as HB2.

The federal government jumped into the transgender bathroom fray by challenging the legality of HB2 as well as by issuing a letter of recommendation to all public schools in the country, instructing them to allow transgender students to use the bathroom they identify with.

North Carolina responded to the transgender edict by filing a lawsuit against the federal government, and 11 other states have added their names to the litigation.

Several corporations have come out in support of transgender rights, most notably Target. Target issued a decree of its own, telling the world that transgender customers and employees are invited to use the public bathroom of their choosing at all Target locations.

So far, the transgender debate in the United States is far from resolved, and now it appears that a transgender man was fatally beaten in the midst of all of the attention being paid to the transgender community.

It won’t be until the police complete their investigation that the public will know if the man was targeted because of his transgender status.

What do you think? Do you think this was a crime with nothing to do with gender identity? Do you think that this man was fatally beaten due, at least in part, to being transgender?

[Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images]

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