WKYC-TV and WTAM-AM radio, did y'all learn anything from the media hate crime that the Cleveland Plain Dealer committed against Cemia Dove Acoff earlier this year? Apparently not.
So once again, since you Cleveland media peeps just can't seem to get it right when it comes to covering trans people be it the print, television or radio ends of it, here's the AP Stylebook guidelines for covering transgender people.
transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.
If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.
We have had two transpeople killed in the Cleveland area in the last 24-36 hours. Betty Janet Skinner, a 52 year old disabled transwoman who was found dead in her apartment by her home healthcare worker on Friday morning, and now 22 year old Brittany-Nicole Kidd-Stergis
She was found in a car in the 21200 block of West 25th and Barber Streets at 2:30 AM EST Friday morning with a gunshot wound to the head and pronounced dead at the scene.
Brittany was not as you reported WTAM-AM, a 'man dressed in female clothing' or as you reported it WKYC-TV, a 'man found with gunshot wound to the head'..
Do you Cleveland media people not get the fact that every time you disrespect the lives of transwomen, you not only are disrespecting the deceased ones, but piss off the trans women who are trying to live their lives in the Cleveland area?
You are also by your transphobic reporting making it difficult for the police to solve these cases. Many people in the Cleveland trans community only know Brittany by her femme name, not the male one you gleefully posted in your article WTAM-AM along with the salacious headline.
That misgendering of Brittany could potentially make it difficult for local law enforcement to access information that may only be available in the trans community that leads to the killers of Brittany being captured and punished if you keep going down the media misgendering rabbit hole.
Your media misgendering of trans people also fuels the anti-trans biases that manifest themselves into anti-trans violence.
The other point of contention is that we trans women, and especially non-white trans women, are beyond sick and tired of predominately white news organizations disrespecting and misgendering Black trans women who have unfortunately lost their lives
It's a pattern of disrespect that we have seen happen far too often, most recently in the Cleveland area back with Cemia's case in May.
Sad when bloggers and people in the community show more respect for the murder victim than the local media of record, and that needs to change.
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