Tireless advocate rose awareness on anti-trans violence in Toronto
The Osgoode community remembers and mourns for Julie Berman, 51, a transgender rights advocate in Toronto who was tragically assaulted and killed on December 27th, 2019.
Berman is remembered as a fierce and tireless advocate and trans-rights activist who spent over thirty years raising awareness of anti-trans violence in Toronto. She was known to spend her time volunteering at The 519, an LGBTQ center leading advocacy campaigns and providing services to LGBTQ community members in Toronto. In 2017, Berman served on The 519 community center’s organizing committee for the Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil in Toronto, which was held to remember and mourn the lives lost in Toronto, and around the world, to transphobic violence in the year past.
Olivia Nuamah, executive director of Pride Toronto, says Julie Berman made the community better with her willingness to openly talk about the violence that she and other members of the trans community in Toronto have experienced. Berman’s death brings grave emphasis to the prevalence of transphobic and transmisogynistic violence in Toronto. Community members have repeatedly stressed that not enough is being done to protect Toronto’s most vulnerable queer populations, and research is clear that most trans people will be the victim of a hate crime during their lives. This is especially true in a time where hate-motivated crimes are on the rise in Ontario.
However, many community members believe that much of the violence against trans people may go unreported. Indeed, even in the case of Julie Berman, Toronto police have failed to determine whether the assault, charged as second-degree murder, was a hate-motivated crime, despite the fact that Julie had never spent time with the attacker until the day of the assault.
The reality is that trans people face intense social stigmatization due to pervasive societal transphobia and transmisogyny, as indicated by unemployment, homelessness, and violence that is faced by some of Toronto’s most vulnerable trans communities. The death of Julie Berman should be a wake-up call for policymakers and the Toronto Police to take anti-trans violence seriously. Changes must be made to more adequately address the needs, safety concerns, and visibility of the trans community in the city.
As community advocate Nicki White said in an interview with CityNews, “[Julie] was a survivor until she wasn’t.” At the turn of the decade, Julie Berman lost her life early in an unnecessary and horrific act of violent transphobia. OUTLaws extends its thoughts and love to the friends and family of Julie Berman, as well as to all trans communities in Toronto and across Canada in the wake of this tragic event.