In the Name of Vicky: Prosecuting Transfemicide in Honduras

Abstract

Vicky Hernández was a Honduran transgender activist, a daughter and a sister. During the coup d’état in 2009, she was murdered when police patrolled the streets. Nevertheless, amidst a context of relentless structural violence, transgender activists, lawyers, allies and Vicky’s family continued fighting to end transfemicide. Twelve years after Vicky was killed, a legal precedent was established when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found a state responsible for the death of a transgender woman for the first time in history, affirming that transgender women are women and are entitled to gendered legal protection.