Jacksonville,You Have A Trans Violence Problem

Less than a month after the November 2015 repeal of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, Jacksonville was trying to pass the addition of gender identity to their own ERO.

Fresh off their shady victory in Houston, Republican advocates and conservative fundamentalists went to work using the same reprehensible playbook to defeat Jacksonville's attempt to add gender identity to their ERO. 

After a month of nonstop anti-trans rhetoric pimped by now disgraced pedophile pastor Kenneth Adkins and the Klan distributing anti-gay flyers mere days after a contentious public forum, Jacksonville's mayor Lenny Curry (R)  then shut down the attempt to pass the ERO in January. 

It was revived and successfully passed in February 2017, but the anti-trans animus stirred up by the Jacksonville hate pastors definitely didn't go away.  The anti-trans animus needlessly stirred up by the hate pastors in their attempt to kill the Jacksonville ERO I assert is one of the reasons that Jacksonville has a trans violence problem.

In 2018 we have had three trans women, Celine Walker, Antasha English and now Cathalina James killed in this city.  A fourth Black trans woman was shot during a domestic dispute but survived. 

The animus between the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and the local trans community doesn't help, either.   The JSO needs to stop being transphobic azzholes and treat the local trans community with dignity and respect. 

When Celine Walker was killed, she was misgendered by the JSO, and the local media followed their lead.   When they got called on it by the local community and GLAAD, they claimed they had a policy that would not allow them to refer to victims as transgender

This blatant lack of respect from JSO is probably a major reason why these cases have remained unsolved so far and feeds into the anti-trans animus initially stirred up in 2015 .

According to local advocates, the trans community is more fearful of the JSO than the killer that is lurking about killing them.    That's a situation that must change if they are to get the help necessary from the Jacksonville trans community that will solve this case.

JSO must become culturally competent to make that happen, because trans folks do live in the city of Jacksonville and Duval County itself.

Jacksonville, it's obvious you have a trans violence problem.   What are you going to do to solve it?

Number 13- Rest In Power and Peace Cathalina Christina James

We have lost our thirteenth person to anti-trans violence, and for the third time this year it happened in Jacksonville, FL.

She is 24 year old Cathalina Christina James.  She is originally from Sumter, SC, but according to her Facebook page was in the process of moving to New York. 

After the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office responded to a 1 PM EDT call Sunday at the Quality Inn located in the 8300 block of Dix Ellis Trail, James was found deceased from a gunshot wound in her third floor motel room by emergency responders.

The hotel was ironically located across the street from the JSO District 3 substation.

The only information so far concerning a possible suspect in this murder case is that a male was spotted driving a beige vehicle.

Cathalina is not only the 13th person killed this year and the third in Jacksonville alone, she is the seventh African American trans and GNC person we have lost to anti trans violence this year.

And what continues to sadden and infuriate me is that she was under 30 years of age.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is looking for any information that will help solve this case.  I you saw something, please call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477) or JSO's non-emergency line at (904) 630-0500.

If you saw something, no matter how minor you think it is, call JSO so we can bring the perpetrator of this crime to justice.   As of yet no word on a vigil or memorial service for Cathalina, but will pass that info also as I receive it.

There will be a Trans Lives Matter event sponsored by local activists at the Duval County Courthouse tomorrow at 7 PM EDT.   Hope those of you in the Jacksonville area will consider attending it.

Rest in power and peace Cathalina.   You barely got a chance to enjoy your life before it was taken from you.  Your trans and GNC siblings will not only continue to remind people that your Black trans life mattered, we won't rest until your killer is behind bars

Number 12- Rest In Power Antash'a English

I received the news about this while I was in the beginning stages of being waylaid by an illness that kept me miserable all weekend   This is worse than me being sick because we have lost another trans sister.

We have now suffered our 12th murder of the year of a trans person.  For the second time this year it has happened in Jacksonville, FL 

She is 38 year old Antash'a Devine Sherrington English, who is originally from Albany, GA. 

English died of a gunshot wound in a local hospital after being found during the early morning hours on Friday between two abandoned homes in the 1500 block of Ella Street.

English was for nearly ten years a featured performer at the InCahoots nightclub in the city and was known and loved in the community and as a multiple titleholder in the trans pageantry circuit

She had also been living as her unapologetic trans self for over 20 years.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office however, misgendered her when they announced her death,

According to a neighbor who didn't wish to be identified, someone driving by in a grey car and wearing a grey hoodie shot at her multiple times.

In addition to being the 12th person we have lost to anti- trans violence, she is now the SIXTH African-American trans or GNC person we have lost in 2018 .

And as already noted, she was under age 40. 

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office stated her death is an active murder investigation  JSO is looking for any information or tips that will help solve this case.   Call them at 904-630-0500 or email JSOCrimeTips@JaxSheriff.org. To remain anonymous and be eligible for a cash reward of up to $3,000 for tips that lead to an arrest, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.

The local community is having on June 7 a candlelight vigil starting at 7:30 PM EDT to remember Antash'a.   The vigil will be followed by a benefit show at InCahoots starting at 9:30 PM EDT.

All proceeds for the benefit show will go to help English's family defray burial expenses.

Rest in power and peace Antash'a.   It's our job to ensure that the memory of you life never fades from this planet and we don't rest until the person who killed you is caught, punished and doing time for it.

Number 4- Rest in Power and Peace Celine Walker

Not long after I learned about the murder  of Tonya Harvey in Buffalo, because of the misgendering of her by law enforcement and Jacksonville, FL media, I'm just now discovering thanks to reader Kayla Gore about the murder of the fourth trans person we have lost to anti-trans violence in 2018 and the second we have lost this week in 36 year old Celine Walker.

Walker, who was from Brandon, FL , was found shot to death in a room at the Extended Stay America on Skinner Lake Drive near St John Town Center.   The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was called to the location after Walker's body was found at 8 PM EST Sunday.

The reason the media has misgendered her is because it started with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, who is claiming they have a policy that does not refer to victims as transgender. 

Well Jacksonville Sheriff's Department, y'all need to deal with the reality that trans people exists, because it was not only disrespectful to refer to Celine as a man, not stating from the outset that a transgender female was murdered (see how easy that was Jacksonville Sheriff's Office) has delayed your investigation

Many of us in the trans community who know her don't know, don't want to know or don't care to know a trans person's dead name.  If you tell us what your name is, we respect that. 

And her Black trans life mattered

Police and JSD investigators did canvass the hotel and the area talking to find out if they heard or saw anything that will help bring Celine's killer to justice.  If you have any information about this case, you are urged to call Crimestopper  at 866-845-TIPS (8477)

As of yet no word about a memorial service for Celine, but when I find out I'll pass that info to you as soon as I receive it.

Rest in power and peace, Celine.  Everyone who loved you will not rest until the person who killed you is brought to justice.

TransGriot Perv Watch- Jacksonville Oppressor Kenneth Adkins Busted On Two Molestation Charges

It's been a while since I wrote a TransGriot Perv Watch post, and this one is too delicious and chock full of schadenfreude to not talk about another #stillnottrans anti-trans hypocrite.

If you were keeping your eye on what happened earlier this year in Jacksonville, FL when they tried literally a month after HERO went down in right wing instigated flames and failed to pass an HRO amendment that added sexual orientation and gender identity that , you would have heard me mention the name of Kenneth Adkins.

Adkins was the Brunswick, GA based megachurch pastor who was meddling in Jacksonville human rights business as the out of town frontman for the white evangelicals and GOP activists opposing the Jacksonville HRO.  He helped stir up so much negativity about the HRO that the Jacksonville City Council caved and pulled it in February.

Adkins also declared in the wake of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando that the 'homosexuals got what they deserved'.

Thanks to a tip from one of my longtime TransGriot readers in Brenda Lunger, I was pointed to this story on the  'Joe My God' blog that announced the arrest of Adkins this morning by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation  (GBI).

The 56 year old pastor is cooling his heels in the Glynn County Jail after turning himself at 9 AM EDT this morning.   He is accused of one count of aggravated child molestation and another count of
child molestation that allegedly occurred in 2010 in a vehicle, his church, and the victim's home.

The investigation according to a GBI press release and reporting from the Florida Times-Union is ongoing.

And we'll be watching to see how it turns out.

Sellout Out Of Town Kneegrow Pastor Cancels Plan To Do Jax Drag Protest

Jacksonville, FL has become the next human rights battleground in the wake of the HERO debate and the Jacksonville City Council set to consider their inclusive ERO next year.  As you probably guessed. the faux faith based haters are already trying to deploy the debunked bathroom predator lie.

Jacksonville, my offer to help combat the lies still stands.

Monday night my mayor Annise Parker was invited by the Duval County Democratic Party to discuss what happened in H-town to kill the HERO.  

Pastor Kenneth Adkins, whose behind doesn't even live in Jacksonville, but St. Simon's Island, GA and pastors a church in Brunswick, GA, decided to ignorantly stick his nose in Jacksonville human rights business.   Or was he paid to do so?

Yo, Kenneth. How much money did the local haters pay you to be the human shield for their hate campaign against the Jacksonville ERO?   My inquiring mind wants to know the answer to that question

He threatened to show up at the protest in drag to allegedly 'send a message to the Duval County Democratic Party' , but backed out at the last minute.

Mayor Parker did comment after her speech about Pastor Adkins transphobic ignorance.

“Anyone who would do that has no concept at all of what gender identity truly is and how hateful and hurtful that is,” Mayor Parker told WFOX-TV.




But this just goes to show you once again how the anti-human rights forces since 1993 are continuing to use sellout kneegrow (they don't deserve to be called Black) pastors to be the face of their campaigns while the predominately white professional gaybaiters do the dirty work to kill human rights laws behind the scenes.

As Rev. F.N. Williams and Rev. Max Miller found out here, once the predominately white professional oppressors don't need them any more, they will kick them to the curb and take all the credit for the win.

And as for Pastor Adkins, I pray you're not related to me.   I'm sick and tired of anti-trans ignorance like that in the Black community, and it needs to stop.

Hope you don't fall for that okey-doke Jacksonville.   And I also hope you'll get a transperson in the Jacksonville area to combat the anti-trans lies they are flinging..