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Taylor Brown, the inaugural director of New York City’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, said she firmly condemns the killing of Eryka Caldwell, a transgender woman whom police allege was stabbed to death by her boyfriend in her Bushwick apartment on Sunday.

“In New York, we stand against that unequivocally and that’s this administration’s position. No one should feel unsafe or that their life is in danger simply because of who they are,” Brown told Them in a phone interview Thursday.

The New York Police Department said they responded to a call on Sunday, May 17, after receiving a 911 text from Caldwell, 41, and arrested 38-year-old Jonathan Hernandez, on the scene. Caldwell, who had been stabbed multiple times, was transported to One Brooklyn Health-Brookdale Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Hernandez has since been charged with second-degree murder and is due back in court today.

Caldwell’s sister Contessa told the New York Post that Eryka had experienced abuse from Hernandez prior to the stabbing, leading her to seek help at domestic violence shelters. According to the Anti-Violence Project, Caldwell, 41, is the fifth known trans person to be killed in March and April of this year alone.

As people across the country grieve this ongoing epidemic of violence, trans folks are calling on government officials to address the uptick in anti-trans killings. Brown says she is aware of statistics showing that trans women suffer especially high rates of intimate partner violence; according to the 2023 California Violence Experiences (CalVEX) survey, trans women experience elevated rates of domestic violence in their lifetime compared to cisgender women.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an order establishing the city’s first-ever Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs in March, appointing Brown as its director. With an extensive background as a Civil Rights attorney, working at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Lambda Legal, Brown says her priority in response to recent tragedies — like the killings of Caldwell and UW student Juniper Blessing — is to ensure resources like secure housing, healthcare, and employment for queer and trans people.

“It is incredibly sad and I think part of what I see the work of that we are doing is to ensure that people know about these resources, have access to these resources, that the city is serving people regardless of their gender expression or that we are creating environments that allow people to be safer in a very meaningful way,” Brown said. “I offer my sincerest condolences, and it is incredibly tragic.”

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