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Muhlaysia Booker was a nurturer: the 22-year-old transgender woman took care of her community and loved to make people laugh. She told relatable stories in live videos, made sure friends had a place to sleep, enjoyed getting her makeup done and dreamed of traveling to Austin. She shouldn't be dead, says one childhood friend, who, six months later, is still seeking an explanation to why a man killed Booker, leaving her lying face down in the street and shattering their plans for the future. (Lam, 11/20)

2019 is the year Ash Penn, a passionate transgender resident of Spartanburg, South Carolina, was able to “come out as a whole” and feel the warm embrace of acceptance. It has been a year that saw a wow moment in politics when transgender rights popped up in platforms of the Democratic presidential candidates. But 2019 is also the year in which transgender people were barred from the U.S. military. (Miller, 11/19)

Amid their annual vigils for transgender homicide victims, trans rights activists in the U.S. are trying to maintain long-term optimism even as many hard-won protections are under threat. Just a few weeks ago, President Donald Trump’s administration argued before the Supreme Court that employers should be allowed to fire workers because they are transgender. (Crary, 11/19)