ABOVE: Lazarus Rise. (Screenshot via NBC affiliate 9 News-KUSA)
A trans advocate in Colorado Springs, Colorado uses his criminal justice and forensics knowledge to raise awareness about missing LGBTQ+ people who would usually go unseen.
NBC affiliate 9 News (KUSA) reported that Lazarus Rise — a trans, queer man — started a Facebook page called Missing and Unidentified LGBT Individuals, which has amassed over 700 likes, to shed light on the issue.
“There is such a lack of representation, especially with queer, Black and brown people,” Rise said. “People really don’t care. They don’t listen when they go missing, or they end up unidentified and no one knows who they are. No one really cares, and it is such an injustice. So if I could do whatever I can and just put my articles out there and just get people to read and talk about it, then I’m doing my job.”
He noticed that missing LGBTQ+ people don’t get the attention they deserve when studying criminal justice and forensics. According to the news station, he didn’t finish the degree but still wanted to put the knowledge to good use.
Rise told KUSA that the case of an unidentified woman who was believed to be murdered in 1988 sparked his interest. She was believed to be a cis woman until DNA testing in 2015.
“How many other people are out there like that — unidentified — that could have been trans, but you never know it because they can’t speak for themselves anymore? So, it really started making me think about all the people that have gone missing and unidentified that no one ever noticed or cared about it,” Rise said.
It motivated Rise to dedicate the page to the often untold stories for missing LGBTQ+ people and ensure that the correct name and pronouns are used for missing and unidentified people.
“Trans people, they fight hard for their identities and their names. So it’s the least I could hope is to give that back to them in hopes that they can be respected in death,” Rise said.
The cases that the page covers range from decades-old cases to more recent ones that investigators still considered active.
It includes a post attempting to raise money for Aubrey Dameron, an Indigenous trans woman who went missing from the small town of Grove, Oklahoma. The Blade reported last month that her family believed it resulted from a hate crime. There are no updates on the case at this time.
Rise’s goal is to bring justice to the loved ones of the missing LGBTQ+ people who are looking for closure.
