Blaque/OUT Magazine has always taken on the grim but incredibly important task of reporting on the murders of Trans people. Reporting on these stories and recording the names and faces of the lost became even more Important when Federal and State agencies began wiping the public databases that held these statistics and national organizations stopped reporting them. Anytime you hear one of these stories from a reputable and respectful source they will say “at least.” At least 4, at least 10 because so often Trans people are Identified by only their biological sex by law enforcement who are then misgendered by media and identified publicly by only their legal name which Is often a “deadname” and not reflective of their gender Identity or person they were In life. These correct Identifications matter to record our history, respect people’s Identity In death and accurately depict who a person was. In addition, it often changes the victimology and thus the offender profile. It matters.

In sad news today, WNBA star Brittney Griner has filed for divorce from wife Cherelle Griner after eight years of marriage. Griner filed Thursday in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia. The petition states that the couple have been been separated since July 24, 2026, and that the marriage "is irretrievably broken" with "no hope of reconciliation." The couple share a two year old son, Bash, that the petition asks the couple be awarded joint physical custody of.

On Tuesday, June 30, 2026, Hawley was extradited to the custody of the MPD Fugitive Unit and transported to the Homicide Branch where he was formally charged, pursuant to a DC Superior Court arrest warrant, with First Degree Murder per the Metropolitan Police Department website.

When Marsha P. Johnson's body was pulled from the Hudson River on July 6, 1992, just days after Sylvia Rivera's birthday, hours after the 4th of July- there were no major headlines. There was no swarm of reporters or fanfare in the streets. Marsha was considered by police as another unhoused, mentally ill, sex worker who lost her life to the streets. They declared her death a suicide and closed the case away in a drawer. Of course community didn't forget her, she was the Queen of Christopher Street. Her activism for Trans women, throw away youth, HIV/AIDs, her role in the Stonewall Riots, her work with Sylvia that created STAR and gave people homes and saved countless lives. Her performances, modeling for Warhol and the tattered couture she wore famously was legend. Is Legend. Her death brought Sylvia Rivera back to the work and her death haunted her every day there after.

What happens when hip-hop tells Trans stories? When Kendrick Lamar released "Auntie Diaries," the public conversation quickly expanded beyond the music itself. Listeners debated his use of slurs like faggot, his decision to deadname his family members. We ask whether Kendrick’s personal journey to acceptance justified the harm some Transgender listeners felt the song reproduced in its high-stakes time. I was not one of those Trans people. I thought the song was a beautiful, honest reflection of Kendrick’s journey to understanding the Trans experience. I made a full YouTube review breaking it down. In my lifetime, mentions of Transgender people in mainstream hip-hop have been relatively rare. When they did appear, they often went back to those age-old Transphobic tropes, shock value, and anxieties surrounding gender identity. Against that backdrop, hearing Kendrick Lamar thoughtfully examine his relationship to Transgender people on "Auntie Diaries" felt genuinely refreshing. Rather than positioning himself as someone with all the answers, he made himself part of the story, exposing his own ignorance, inherited prejudices, and capacity for growth. We don’t have to agree with all the artistic choices he made, but I respected his willingness to place himself under scrutiny instead of simply scrutinizing Transgender people. That was something I believed deserved serious consideration—not blind praise or immediate dismissal, but deep thought and rigorous critique. That's exactly what I want us all to do.

Today in Canandaigua, New York, Precious Arzuaga, 40, was walked into a Ontario County Courthouse where she pled guilty to all charges in the murder and torture of Sam Nordquist, a 24 year old Trans masculine man who had traveled from Minnesota to Central New York to meet her in late 2024.

June is Pride Month, a time when our corporate overlords engage in performative “allyship,” distracting tweaking Twinks and newly blossomed gays with the latest rainbow paraphernalia. As much as I despise the capitalist agenda that hijacks this month, it's equally troubling to see the L, G, and B communities erase the fact that there would be no Pride without the black and brown trans women—often sex workers—who fought for our rights, even when the very community they supported later turned its back on them. This is reminiscent of organizations like THEM Magazine and Pink News.

While the nation celebrates Pride, party goers are recovering from the weekend and organizers are preparing for the upcoming weekend’s festivities- a bruised and battered Trans community is waking up to learn yet another Black Trans woman has lost her life to violence all too soon. News WKRG5 in Alabama reported early this morning about a shooting that happened around 6:35 a.m. inside an apartment unit at 5725 Old Pascagoula Road in Mobile. The story was updated to reflect by 10AM that the victim had passed and was being investigated as a homicide. Although local news stations have not yet identified the victim by name, Blaque/OUT Magazine was unfortunately able to confirm through Alabama advocates and a friend of the victim that she was being misgendered in reports and is in fact, La’Daijah Walters of Mobile.

Despite the disproportionate number of Trans people, specifically Black Trans women, that are murdered in the United States every year, justice is few and far between. When cis Black and Indigenous women, children and Two-Spirit go missing they barely get media attention. When Black Trans women are murdered and discarded, they are typically misgendered by police and media, their cases are barely investigated and cases go cold. There is no equity in life or justice in death. Tiny spots of lights sometime appear among a blanket of darkness when the precious life of a victim is honored by catching a killer.

It has been less than 3wks since Blaque/OUT reported the death of Persia Conway in Houston, Texas. Today we bring you another devastating loss of Marlow Trottie (as reported by KALB5 Louisiana) in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Blaque/OUT’s Victoria Von Blaque caught up with Qween Jean at the NYC Mayor’s Office Pride Party this week as she celebrated both Pride and her historic Tony win for musical costuming design on Broadway’s “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” Qween Jean becomes the first openly transgender person to win a Tony.

Dmitriy Popov, 20, was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime on Monday in the death of dancer O’Shae Sibley, who was killed in 2023 at a Brooklyn gas station when Popov and friends shouted racist and homophobic slurs to Sibley’s group while they vogued to a Beyoncé song.

One of the seven defendants awaiting trial for the 2025 torture and murder of Sam Nordquist in upstate/central New York reached a guilty plea today with the Ontario County Court. The youngest defendant at just 19 years of age has been the only one of the seven to accept responsibility or express remorse per Ontario County District Attorney Jason MacBride.

A woman and her little brother were walking in Southwest Houston and discovered the body of a Trans woman, naked and deceased by the Bray’s Bayou River on Memorial Day. Police reported the victim as being Trans “by their outward appearance.” The cause of death and official identity of the victim have not been released by authorities but Los Angelos advocates and social media posts have indicated that she may be a woman named Persia that had recently relocated from LA to the Houston area.

Blaque/OUT Magazine recently reported the alarming statistic that 7 individuals of the Trans experience had lost their lives to violence in the US in the last 45 days. Terrifyingly, we were mistaken, it was 8. Our investigative team just learned that Lanessa Rodriguez was murdered in a robbery attempt of her Gold and Silver Pawn shop in Fort Pierce, Florida in April.

Eryka Caldwell’s, 41, live-in boyfriend, Jonathan Fernandez, 38, was arraigned in court Monday on charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Police say he fatally slit Caldwell’s throat and stabbed her multiple times inside their Brooklyn apartment early Sunday morning. He was found sitting on the couch calmly waiting for authorities to arrive before being taken into custody.

The first openly gay NBA player, Jason Collins passed away this week after a battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. He was 47 years old.

Collins played college ball at Stanford and went on to play for 13 seasons in the NBA playing 2001 until his retirement in 2014. Jason played for the Celtics, Nets, Grizzles, Timberwolves, Wizards and Hawks throughout his career.

Blaque/OUT Magazine is a media outlet that our community trusts to bring them the news and people to watch. We don’t engage in gossip but it’s our duty to report on the things affecting our community. When a well-known community serving org accuses a well-known community figure of harm- that’s a story we can’t ignore. Currently social media is buzzing about what may or may not be happening with @thedominiquemorgan .

Seven individuals appeared in Ontario County Court this week to prepare for their upcoming trials in connection with the murder and torture of 24-year-old Sam Nordquist, a transgender man from Minnesota. The defendants—Precious Arzuaga, Kyle Sage, Patrick Goodwin, Emily Motyka, Jennifer Quijano, Kimberly Sochia, and Thomas Eaves—are each accused of participating in the kidnapping, sexual assault, and killing of Nordquist in late 2024.

Nordquist had traveled to Canandaigua, New York, in the fall of 2024 to meet Arzuaga, whom he considered a romantic interest. What began as a short visit extended unexpectedly, prompting concern from his family when they lost contact with him after several months. Authorities questioned Arzuaga about Nordquist’s whereabouts, but she denied any knowledge of his location.

On February 13, 2025, Nordquist’s body was discovered in a field in Yates County.

Blaque/OUT Magazine first began following the story of Davonta Curtis, 31, on April 9th. Due to widespread misgendering by both police and media outlets, her identity confirmation was delayed until this afternoon, when local Chicago news outlet WGN verified that Davonta was a Black woman of transgender experience.

On April 8th, Davonta’s sister discovered her badly beaten body inside her West Side Chicago apartment after being unable to reach her since Easter Sunday. That day, Davonta had visited her sister with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Deandre Bell, 24, when they brought groceries and gifts for the holiday.

According to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Davonta died from blunt force trauma. Her injuries were so severe that responding officers initially believed she had been shot. Surveillance footage reportedly shows the couple returning to her apartment on Easter; later, Davonta re-entered alone, and around 1 a.m., Bell was seen leaving by himself.

Authorities later apprehended Bell while he was driving Davonta’s car.