Black Trans Teen Tasiyah ‘Siyah’ Woodland, 18, Dies from Gun Violence in Maryland

Sue Kerr
4 min readMar 26, 2023
Black female trans teenager in red top and black skirt
Tasiyah Woodland via Facebook

She was 18 years old, a young Black trans woman. Her name was Tasiyah ‘Siyah’ Woodland and she lived in Lexington Park, Maryland. On Friday, March 24, 2023, she became the most recent reported victim of the campaign of terror targeting the transgender community when St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded a 911 call in Mechanicsville, Maryland at 1:15 am on Friday morning for the report of shots fired. Tasiyah was found alone and declared dead at the scene.

Reports indicate that Tasiyah died from multiple gunshot injuries. Someone shot and killed an 18 year old young woman and left her to die alone in the parking lot of a bar. Someone called 911. Did they stay with her? Did they hold her hand? Did they see the shooter(s)?

Will her name be said around the world as with other recent killings of white trans teens?

A Black trans woman, Siyah studied at the College of Southern Maryland after graduating from Great Mills High School. Her social media is filled with pop culture images, a lot of food and recipes, attractive shoes, and images of what she aspired for her home. She was a very real typical teenager who had a job that she described as boring, but still she went. She had multiple social media profiles, but — heartbreakingly — set up what…

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Sue Kerr

I blog @ pghlesbian.com & tweet @pghlesbian24 GLAAD named us OUTstanding Blog in 2022 & 2019 National Media Awards Also I ❤soaps, cats, dogs & genealogy She/Her