WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Alabama transgender woman, Cayla Calhoun, who left her home state searching for refuge from escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, was assaulted near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., last month in an attack police are investigating as a possible hate crime. Calhoun, who grew up in Argo, Alabama, relocated to the nation’s capital after what she describes as years of feeling unsafe due to Alabama’s increasingly hostile climate for trans people.
The attack on Calhoun is part of a broader, troubling trend. Over the past year, anti-trans violence has surged across the country, with organizations tracking such incidents reporting record levels. GLAAD’s most recent findings show 52% of all anti-LGBTQ incidents in the U.S.—a total of 485 attacks between May 2024 and May 2025—targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people, up 14% from the year before. At least 84 people were injured and 10 killed in anti-LGBTQ violence, with trans people making up a disproportionate number of victims.
Alabama remains at the heart of this crisis. In December, the murder of 18-year-old Cameron Jamal Miikquise Thompson in Tuscaloosa drew national attention to the state’s rising anti-trans violence. Thompson, a Black transgender woman, was shot and killed; advocates say her death highlights how Black trans women are especially at risk—63% of gun homicides against gender-expansive people in recent years targeted Black trans women, with the South accounting for nearly half of such killings in the U.S..
Federal data shows a marked increase in hate crimes motivated by gender identity in Alabama: 18 incidents were documented in 2023, up from just four in 2021. Alabama has also enacted some of the harshest anti-trans laws in the country, including a 2022 law criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors. Experts cite such laws and hostile political rhetoric as factors that embolden violence against trans people and erode their sense of safety.
Advocates and researchers emphasize that the rise in anti-trans violence is inseparable from the political and cultural climate. Nationally, more than 575 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in 2025 alone, coupled with over $200 million in negative political advertising targeting the transgender community during the 2024 campaign season. The result, say experts, has been a chilling effect on trans people’s ability to live openly, seek medical care, and trust law enforcement.
A recent national poll found that 86% of transgender and nonbinary youth say debates around anti-trans legislation have negatively impacted their mental health, while nearly a third said they avoided getting medical care due to fear for their safety.
As Cayla Calhoun recovers, advocates in Alabama and beyond argue her story is an urgent warning — and a call to action for policymakers and residents alike to counter hate with protection and support.