Home > Sturm College of Law > Denver Journal of International Law & Policy > Vol. 53 (2024-2025) > No. 1 (2024)
Abstract
Since 2020, there has been an exponential increase in the proposed legislation at the state and federal levels that directly targets the transgender community. In 2023 alone, 609 different pieces of legislation were put forth for debate, some of which would make being transgender a felony offense. This trend has continued into 2024, with 620 pieces of legislation put forth as of July. The United States’ lawmaking bodies have become a feedback loop of persecution against a vulnerable community, which, if left unchecked, will likely result in the outright extermination of this community. The only concrete action that would potentially cease this attack is a charge of genocide filed with the International Criminal Court. Thus far, there has been no legal analysis regarding the Genocide Convention as it applies to the actions against the transgender community within the United States. This essay seeks to remedy this absence. As the first of its kind, this essay compares the actions of the United States to those of past Defendants in the International Criminal Court. It utilizes an analysis of Dr. Stanton’s Ten Stages of Genocide to create an easily understandable framework to view the actions of the United States in light of the Genocide Convention and past convictions therein. As the primum opusculum in this subject, this essay begins the conversation that will hopefully one day assist many of the most vulnerable within the United States.
Recommended Citation
Kassandra Caton, Never Again Is Now: Comparing International Law and Guidelines of Genocide to the United States' Treatment of the Transgender Community to Find a Charge of Genocide, 53 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 133 (Fall 2024).