As the first anniversary of a missing Filipinx American transgender woman draws near, her family members are still desperately trying to find her, Asian Journal reports.
Paula Del Mundo, 59, disappeared from the Dallas Fort Worth airport last September, INQUIRER.net reports. The Tampa, Florida resident was on her way to a vacation in Cozumel, Mexico.
Mundo, a nursing assistant at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, reportedly decided to abandon her vacation and wanted to return home, asking her youngest sister via text to purchase her return tickets. According to INQUIRER.net, those were the last texts the family received from Mundo.
“We miss her so much and [are] too worried about her safety,” Yolanda, Mundo’s sister, said, according to Asian Journal. “It is so sad that we have not received any updates and developments regarding her reported loss.”
Several efforts have been made throughout the year to find Mundo, INQUIRER.net reports, with the family hiring a PI and volunteer groups reaching out to assist in the search.
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A search organized by Community United Effort (CUE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding missing persons, occurred in late July, Asian Journal reports. Another search is scheduled forbOctober.
Family members, including Mundo’s sister Yolanda, said Mundo was a person who wanted to live her life to the fullest.
“For Paula, it was a long-cherished freedom, to live independently.” Yolanda said, according to Asian Journal. “And as our family tirelessly pray, whatever the consequences will be, may justice be served for trans Fil-Ams like Paula whose only wish is to reach her American dream.”
Mundo’s disappearance in 2019 occurred at a time when hate crimes against transgender women of color were on the rise in Texas, Asian Journal reports.
Throughout 2020, Forbes reports, 26 trangender people have been murdered –a number that may be lower than the actual total of lives lost.
Earlier this month, three transgender women were the victims of a hate crime on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. According to Forbes, Eden Estrada, Jaslene Busanet and Joslyn Allen faced beatings and verbal abuse while bystanders reportedly laughed and live-streamed the attacks.
“The fact that there were other random people just standing around and not intervening. But yet publicly trying to stream this as a form of entertainment?” Gia Gunn said, Forbes reports. “It indicates to me that transgender people are not even being considered as humans.”
Gunn, a Japanese American transgender woman and former contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race said trans violence is ‘wrong’ and ‘disgusting.’
“This further proves how truly unsafe it is for trans women of color out there. We are being threatened and antagonized just for living our lives authentically,” Gunn added.
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