A record number of transgender and gender-nonconforming people were killed in 2020: at least 37, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Since 2013, 73% of victims have been Black and 12% have been Latino, according to HRC.

On Christmas Day, a Black trans woman named Courtney Eshay Key was killed in a shooting in Chicago.

“The more we come into the light, the more violence we face because people don’t want us to come into the light,” said LaSaia Wade, the executive director of Brave Space Alliance. “We are trying to figure out what it looks like to live our lives and thrive.”

Brave Space Alliance is working alongside lawmakers to create a fund that will give trans people who were killed a dignified burial.

While the alliance has funded funerals in the past, it’s hoping to create a constant stream with this fund by collecting monthly contributions. They hope to create a fund large enough to cover funerals for LGBTQ people altogether, Wade said.

“There have been a high concentration of murders against trans people, in particular Black and Brown trans women,” said Wade. “Trans women need to be getting dignity by getting their murders solved and being buried the way they’re supposed to.”