WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN: Utilizing the LGBT+ Accountability for Missing and Murdered Persons (LAMMP) Database

Abstract

Attendees will understand the need for a queer-informed database for missing and murdered LGBTQ2S+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two Spirit) community members and will learn how to use and contribute to this database. Attendees will also understand the limitations of traditional databases in the context of increasing fatal violence directed at LGBTQ2S+ people.

Impact on the Forensic Science Community: A variety of resources are needed to document LGBTQ2S+ decedents who may not be accurately reported in traditional databases. This poster offers suggestions for the use of a new database to expediently track cases, identify decedent patterns, and share essential information leading to identification.

Rising fatal violence and hate crimes against LGBTQ2S+ individuals necessitates a broader response outside of existing databases. The most recent FBI data on hate crimes (2019) indicated that 20.3% of incidents were committed due to sexual orientation or gender identity.1 Government databases and clearinghouses such as National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), along with public entities like Charley Project (CP) and Doe Network (DN), are powerful tools for use in information sharing about missing and murdered individuals. Yet, these and other databases and state clearinghouses present challenges when researching or entering cases of LGBTQ2S+ individuals.

For example missing and unidentified persons databases lack clear guidelines for entry of inconclusive or uncertain sex, exclude selections outside binary sex, and lack input options for evidence of gender identity. This can both lead to biases and gaps in functionality within databases, and make it more difficult to recognize such biases. Further, deadnames (the individual’s name given at birth which is no longer used) are often entered and pre-transition photos are often used in media and databases, while their current names and photos may be excluded. Misgendering, deadnaming, and focusing on the individual’s assigned sex potentially exposes the individual to further harm and hinders case resolution.2

In response to inadequate databases, the LGBT+ Accountability for Missing and Murdered Persons (LAMMP) database was created to gather data with queer-informed and harm-reduction perspectives.3 LAMMP acts as a citizen-powered resource to serve the LGBTQ2S+ community by: 1) matching unidentified, possibly LGBTQ2S+ Does with missing persons reports, 2) identifying cases of possibly LGBTQ2S+ individuals based on available information, and 3) providing a comprehensive, searchable database for family members (chosen family or family of origin), law enforcement, and others to provide essential information leading toward identification.

LAMMP offers several features to ensure the privacy and safety of the missing and those reporting them. Case reports and information can be submitted to administrators anonymously and without creating an account. The missing persons component of LAMMP is private and searchable only to those with approved credentials. The database is intended for use by professional investigators and researchers (e.g., anthropologists, medical examiners, law enforcement), as well as forensic genetic genealogists, and includes fields for GEDMatch numbers of family members and related family trees.

This poster will present LAMMP case examples to demonstrate how the database differs from NamUs, NCMEC, DN, CP, and other clearinghouses in the following ways: 1) incorporation of data from non-traditional sources (e.g., Facebook posts, Reddit threads, activist organizing); 2) removal of the gatekeeping aspect of governmental databases as information does not have to be submitted by law enforcement, forensic professionals, or reported by family of origin; and 3) recognition of, and response to, the problems caused by binary sorting of individuals in databases, allowing for comparison across sex and gender categories.

Full text

WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN:
Utilizing the LGBT+ Accountability for Missing and Murdered Persons (LAMMP) Database
Anthony Redgrave1, Amy Michael1,2, Jessica Veltstra1, Samantha Blatt1,3, Mari Isa1,4
1Trans Doe Task Force, 2University of New Hampshire, 3Idaho State University, 4Texas Tech University
THE PROBLEM WITH CURRENT DATABASES LAMMP AS A SOLUTION
LAMMP RESOURCES
Sex estimation is prioritized over lived gender identity
●Sex categories are usually restricted to a binary (male or
female) + older cases may be entered as “male” by
default
●Limitations of skeletal sex estimation methods may not
be transparent or critically considered
●Biological sex estimation may be weighted more heavily
than context clues (e.g., gendered clothing)
●Utilizes aggregate sources (e.g., direct contact, Trans
Day of Remembrance, Trans Cold Cases, Facebook,
Reddit, etc.) to generate forensic matches
●Removes gatekeeping aspect by allowing community
members to upload information
●Gender expansive and inclusive framework allows for
cases to be “ruled in” as potential LGBTQ+ community
members on basis of context clues rather than
assigned sex
●Maintained by queer activists committed to harm
reduction, privacy, and advocacy
Relevant information leading to identification is siloed
●Forensic professionals may not have the ability to
recognize trans and non-binary decedents
●Chosen family may not be able to legally contact about
missing persons or unidentified decedents
●Transphobic legislation compounds the issues
THE IMPACT ON IDENTIFICATION
Fig. 1. Each point on the database map represents an unidentified person. (KEY: Red= active; blue=
preliminary research; green= prepared for agency outreach; orange= moved beyond research phase)
Fig. 2. LAMMP administrators create gender affirming
missing persons flyers for agencies, family, and
friends. (Note: Devin has been found safe.)
CONTACT US: lammp.tdtf@gmail.com
Misgendering and dead-naming is prevalent
●Pre-transition photographs and names may be entered
into databases + used on missing persons fliers
●Law enforcement may rigidly adhere to birth names and
assigned sex at birth
●Offensive descriptions of physical characteristics may be
used in case reports and databases
Fig. 3. LAMMP and Trans Doe Task
Force offer networking and resources
to Professional Allies in forensic
fields.
Scan to view
the LAMMP
database:
Scan for more
resources +
references:
Scan to view Trans
Doe Task Force
webinar materials:
LAMMP should be used by chosen family,
anthropologists, law enforcement, medical examiners
and coroners, genealogists, activists, and students