The Milwaukee Police Department will not report the gender of crime victims in media releases, a decision made based on discussions with LGBT activists.
"It's a way to preserve the dignity and privacy of all victims," Heather Hough, the police department's chief of staff, said Thursday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "[The police department] wants to ensure the best service possible for our entire community."
Activists who pushed for the policy argued police reports about transgender murder victims had repeatedly "misgendered" the victims by referring to their biological sex and "deadnamed" them by calling them by their names given at birth.
Justin Roby, director of finance and human resources for Diverse and Resilient, an LGBT nonprofit that worked with the department to develop the policy, praised the decision not to disclose a victim's gender, saying that there is "no need to divulge it to the public."
Roby also dismissed criticisms that the policy would hinder LGBT activists' efforts to bring attention to the homicides of transgender people, claiming that people already know about the issue and that many police department databases already do not report whether a victim was transgender.
Activists across the country have alleged that there is a "trans genocide" in progress in the United States, a claim that many have disputed.
Several Democratic administrations have embraced policies to conceal children's transgender identity from their parents. New Jersey governor Phil Murphy (D.) in July said that keeping parents in the dark on gender identity is "the American way," and the head of California's Department of Education last month threatened to sue school districts who require notification of parents.