Number 13- Rest In Power Riah Milton

On the same day that Dominique Fells' body was discovered in Philadelphia, another trans person was being murdered in southern Ohio.

She is 25 year old Riah Milton of Cincinnati.   Her body was found shot to death early Tuesday morning in the 6600 block of Spruce Creek Drive in Liberty Township, OH, 20 miles north of Cincinnati.

A man called 911 early Tuesday morning to report he'd heard two or three gunshots in the cul de sac of his subdivision.  Police investigators who responded to the call found Milton's body a short time later.

There have been arrests made in this case.  Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones announced on Wednesday morning the arrest of two people and the issuance of a felony arrest warrant for a third person. 

The persons arrested were 18 year old Kaleb Marshall Tooson and an unnamed 14 year old juvenile girl.   The paid lured Milton to the area with the intent of robbing her but shot her instead. 

Tooson faces charges of murder and aggravated robbery, while the 14 year old was charged with complicity to murder, complicity to aggravated robbery and tampering with evidence. 

The third person in this case, identified by Sheriff Jones as Tyree Jeffrey Cross of Cincinnati, is wanted for complicity to murder, complicity to aggravated robbery and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

Milton unfortunately is the 13th trans person killed in 2020., and the eight under ago 30 this year/    Here's hoping that these peeps responsible for her death do lots of time for the crime they committed.

Number 15 -Rest in Power Jordan Cofer

We have been hearing about the twin terrorist attacks in El Paso, TX  and Dayton, OH all week.  Unfortunately one of the things trans America just learned as a community is that a trans man was killed in the Dayton terror attack.

Turns out that the 22 year old sibling of Dayton shooter Connor Betts was one of the nine victims in the August 4 attack by Betts at a popular club in the city's entertainment district    The sibling was also the first to die in that terrorist attack that also wounded 27 people before Betts was killed by Dayton police. 

That sibling, Jordan Cofer was being misgendered by family,  Dayton police and the media to the point that Jordan's friends spoke out about it.

According to writer Katelyn Burns,  Cofer was out to a group of friends,  preferred he/him pronouns and self identified as trans masculine..

That means that Cofer is not only the 15th trans person we've lost this year, but is also the first trans masculine and non-Black trans person killed in the United States in 2019.

Cofer's murder also continued the pattern of trans people under age 30 being killed.

It is a pattern that needs to stop. 

Rest in power, Jordan.   Your friends who loved you will ensure that you're never forgotten, and you will always live in their hearts and memories.
   .

Keisha Wells Case Update

We have an update in the Keisha Wells murder case in Cleveland.

Wells was found dead in an apartment building  parking lot at 7 AM EDT from a gunshot wound to the abdomen back on June 24.   She had gone to a local bar called Cocktails that evening in Cleveland's Cudell neighborhood.

Eleven shell casings along with a leopard print shoe, a wig and a sweatshirt were also recovered at the scene. 

The person arrested was 27 year old James Butler, a homeless man who helped the shooter move Wells' body from his car, dump it after she was killed and clean the shooter's car.   Butler subsequently told his mother about the crime, and Butler's mother called Cleveland PD to report it.

Butler has been charged with complicity with aggravated murder, and an arrest warrant was issued for him on June 27. 

They are still looking for the shooter in the Wells case, and hopefully once Butler is in police custody, he can give CPD the info they need that will result to the capture and prosecution of the shooter who killed Keisha Wells.. 

Number 14- Rest In Power Keisha Wells

It's my sad duty to report courtesy of the Pittsburgh Lesbian Reporters the loss of our second trans person this month  and the 14th in 2018.

We head back to Cleveland to discuss the latest person gone to join the ancestors too soon. 

She is 54 year old Keisha Wells, and she was found dead from a gunshot wound to the abdomen at 7 AM EDT Sunday in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Detroit Avenue near West 87th Street.

As of this time there are no suspects, and if you have any info that can help solve this case you are urged to call the Cleveland Police Department. 

If anyone has a nice photo of Keisha, it would also be nice to have that as well for this article and any subsequent articles about her.

As of this moment no info concerning a vigil or memorial service, and if that happens, will pass that along to you along with any case updates as expeditiously as possible.

Number 6 -Rest In Power and Peace Phylicia Mitchell

Hard on the heels of hearing the news that the body found stuffed in a trash can in rural Santa Fe County was our missing trans sister, was news out of Cleveland, OH that we have now lost our sixth person of the year to anti-trans violence.

46 year old Phylicia Mitchell was found shot in front of her home in the West Side Edgewater neighborhood on West 112th Street near Detroit Avenue at approximately 6 PM on Friday. She was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center where she was pronounced dead according to Cleveland.com and CPD spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia

The case is under investigation, and Cleveland Police are looking for any information that will help them solve this case and bring to justice the person or persons who murdered her. 

Mitchell becomes the sixth trans person killed in 2018 and the third African American one this year.  She is also the oldest person so far to be killed this year since the pattern is usually trans women under age 40.

As of yet no information as to whether there will be a memorial service or vigil, and when I receive that information I will pass it along.   I'll also keep an eye on this case until justice is served for her, her longtime partner and all who loved her..



Rest in power and peace, Phylicia.

Ohio Considering Pro-TBLGQ Rights Legislation

Because it has been run by the Republicans for several decades, Ohio has a well earned reputation for being hostile to trans human rights.   It is one of the states that will not allow you to change your birth certificate even if you've had gender confirmation surgery. Cincinnati had a reputation in the 80's and 90's for being openly hostile to TBLGQ rights to the point that federal lawsuits had to be filed by people pushing back against that discrimination. 

That international rep for intolerance cost Cincinnati $600 million in lost business in the 90's, two corporate headquarters relocations, and the opportunity to become the US bid city competing to host the 2012 Olympics that eventually went to London. 

Ohio being in the Sixth Circuit, the most conservative of all the US federal court circuits added to the feelings of Ohio based TBLGQ advocates that sometimes they were ice skating uphill when it came to pushing expanded rights coverage in the Buckeye State.

But things have been interestingly changing for the better there TBLGQ rights wise  Cincinnati not only has had since 2003 a trans inclusive non discrimination ordinance, it is one of 24 cities that has a clinic that treats transgender children. 

Cincinnati is also one of the three Ohio cities along with Akron and Dayton that have a perfect 100 score of the HRC Municipal Equality Index. 

Nineteen Ohio cities now have TBLGQ inclusive ordinances, and 80% of Ohio based corporations have policies that prohibit sexual orientation discrimination.  Cincinnati also became in 2015 the first city in the Buckeye State to pass a law banning conversion therapy.  Toledo did so last year and was followed by Columbus, which has had a long time reputation of being a TBLGQ friendly city. 

"Gay and transgender people are our friends, neighbors, family and coworkers. When it comes to being able to earn a living, having a place to live, or being served by a business or government office, they should be treated like anyone else and not be discriminated against," said the ACLU.
Ohio Business Connects, a coalition of over 200 businesses that includes the state's largest employers like Proctor & Gamble, Key Bank and General Electric along with right organizations such as the ACLU, TransOhio, the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Ohio.   The OBC has been pushing to have nondiscriminator policies enacted in the Buckeye State and was motivated to make it happen after watching the economic carnage that happened to North Carolina after the passage of the unjust HB 2.

Because OBC has been ramping up the pressure on the GOP controlled state legislature, and they have probably noted the statewide pro- TBLGQ rights trends, two bills have been filed in the 2018 session.  One bill is a watered down one by a Republican legislator, and the pro TBLGQ bill, HB 160 the Ohio Fairness Act  is written by a Democratic legislator.

HB 160, filed by Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation in the areas of employment, housing and public accomodation.   Rep. Antonio has been pushing this bill since 2011 but it is the first time it has gotten a second hearing.  Even more interesting is that Gov. John Kasich (R) has indicated he may be willing to sign it.

We'll see what happens with this bill and if Ohio becomes the rare red state to pass TBLGQ supportive legislation

Pure Romance CEO Starts LC Foundation To Help Trans Kids

Chris and Jessica Cicchinelli thought their child LC was just going through a phase when she announced that she was a girl and not a boy. 

But it came to a head during a Florida vacation  trip two years ago when LC was 8, and refused to go to dinner unless she could wear a dress.   When Chir saw how happy LC was when she came out of the dressing room, he knew it was time to deal with the fact he and his wife had a trans child.

Cicchinelli is the CEO and president of Pure Romance, a Cincinnati based romance aid company founded by his mother that does $250 million a year in business

When they returned home to Cincinnati, they wanted to take LC to the Adolescent and Transition Medicine Clinic at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center for an immediate appointment, but discovered it would be seven weeks before they could get an appointment.   They were also looking for information concerning how to navigate parenting for a trans child

This is also the region of the country where Leelah Alcorn was from, and since her suicide death in 2015, the number of people seeking help from the clinic has tripled to nearly 1000 a day. Many of the folks seeking help for their kids are coming from as far away as northern Ohio and other parts of the region

The Adolescent and Transition Medicine Clinic opened in July 2013 and is run by Dr. Lee Ann Conard.   It is one of 24 in the United States dedicated to transgender youth and their care.

Knowing there were other families out there that needed help, support or information, the Cicchinellis launched the Living With Change: The LC Foundation that will train teachers and educators and provide financial support for the Adolescent and Transition Medicine Clinic.

The LC Foundation was seeded with $500,000 of their own money the Cicchinellis expect to get matching donations for by June.  They have pledged another $2 million to the clinic. 

"We had to do something," Jessica Cicchinelli said. "We want this for other families. We want them to know it's there and not be scared and to know there is help."

One of the places that has already signed on for the foundation's training is the Cincinnati Public Schools.

They hired Cincinnati councilman Chris Seelbach to run the foundation,   Seelbach was Cincinnati's first openly gay councilmember, has been a vocal advocate for the TBLGQ community, and has spearheaded many of the civic reforms that have catapulted it to the top of the HRC Municipal Equality Index.

The LC Foundation is not only starting at a fortuitous time for the clinic, it is needed and very much necessary.,

   

Rest In Power and Peace, Jo Jo Striker

I'm sorry to ruin Valentine's Day for y'all but it's my sad duty to report that we have lost another trans woman to anti-trans violence and hate.  We go to Toledo, Ohio for the latest news about the third trans person murdered in 2017

23 year old JoJo Striker was found dead on the evening of February 8 at in a vacant north Toledo garage at 215 Austin Street just before 7 PM EST .

Striker died from a single gunshot would to her torso and as you probably guessed as to why I and other media is just now finding out about out lost trans sister is because once again, local media are misgendering her along with her family.

I'm really sick of this repeatedly happening to Black trans women and tired of the media disrespecting her.   I'm also upset that once again, we have had another Black trans woman violently taken from us before her 30th birthday.

The Toledo PD investigation into this crime is ongoing and they have no leads so far in this case.  If you have any information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the waste of DNA who did this, please call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-111

Rest in power and peace JoJo.   You trans siblings and all who loved you won't rest until the person who did this is brought to justice and rotting in a jail cell.

Rest In Power Brandi Bledsoe

We have lost another trans woman to violence, once again in Cleveland.

32 year old Brandi Bledsoe was found dead on Saturday clad only in her underwear and with white plastic bags covering her head and hands in the driveway behind a home on Drexel Avenue near 108th Street.  

And as you probably guessed, she was initially misgendered by the local media.

Her body was found at 10 AM EDT by a 5 year old boy riding his bike with his 12 year old brother

Police also reported that Bledsoe had head trauma and with the investigation of her death in its early stages, investigators are taking her trans status into account.

She is now the 23rd trans person killed this year in the US.  Her death now makes this the deadliest year for US trans women since we started keeping track of the murders of our trans siblings.   And once again for me, it falls into that infuriating pattern of an under 40 Black trans woman being killed

There has not been an arrest in this case yet, but will keep you TransGriot readers apprised of any developments in the Bledsoe case.

As of yet there isn't any information about a memorial service or vigil and I'll pass that info along once I receive it.

Rest in power and peace Brandi.  We will not rest as a community until the waste of DNA who killed you is captured and brought to justice.  

Election Registration Deadlines Today In TX And Several States

If after watching (or not watching) the second debate and you are sufficiently motivated enough to vote on November 8, then you better bust a move because today is the deadline day to get registered.

Texas is one of those states in which today is the deadline to get registered to vote along with georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Just a reminder, here's the rest of the voter registration deadlines for October.

In the District of Columbia today is also the deadline to register in advance of the election, but you can do same day registration there. I'd suggest you do it now DC if possible.

Florida's deadline was originally today, and Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) refused to extend the deadline despite the fact that county offices in much of the state were closed because of Hurricane Matthew.  
Thanks to a successful voting rights lawsuit filed by the Florida Democratic Party, the voter registration deadline was extended by US District court Judge Mark E. Walker (Obama appointee) by one day, with another hearing coming later today to determine whether to extend it beyond Wednesday.


Once again, presidential elections matter, and if you wish you exercise that right to vote on November 8 or during early voting if your part of the country offers it like Texas does (October 24-November 4), you must handle the first step of it and register to vote.

The clock's ticking.    You can check your registration status or register to vote via this link.

If you believe your voting rights are being messed with, call the ACLU Voter Protection Hotline at 877-523-2792

Two Federal Courts Rule Trans Students Are Protected Under Title IX

While we Texans await the results of an appeal to a case being heard by Reed O'Connor, a GW Bush appointed transphobic judge, the human rights of trans students got a major boost with two recent federal court victories in Ohio and Wisconsin.

It's also another clear example of pointing out who you elect as president matters because the POTUS selects the people who sit on the federal bench.

Increasing numbers of victorious court cases have found that transgender students are protected from discrimination under Title IX, including being forced into separate bathrooms.

Both cases involve trans students and bathroom access and these students trying for years to get the school districts to do the right human rights thing before turning to the court system. .

In Ohio, US District Judge Algenon L. Marbley (Clinton appointee) ordered that the Highland Local School District allow an 11 year old transfeminine student known as Jane Doe to use the girls restroom just like any other girls at her elementary school.

Judge Marbley found in a 45 page opinion that denying Jane Doe use of the restroom consistent with her gender identity violates Title IX.

The school district, which covers parts of Delaware, Knox and Monroe counties,filed the suit in June opposition to the DOE/GOJ Dear Colleague letter and lost.  The attorney for the district have of course, appealed the ruling.to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Sixth Circuit is considered the most conservative leaning in the country, and this ruling holding up in it would be huge.

In the other trans friendly court ruling in Wisconsin, US District Court Judge Pamela Pepper (Obama appointee)declined to dismiss the federal discrimination lawsuit filed by Ash Whitaker and ordered the Kenosha Unified School District to immediately allow 17 year old student Ash Whitaker to be allowed to use the bathroom just like any other boys in his school.

Pepper found that KUSD had violated Title IX denying Ash the ability to use facilities consistent with his gender identity would cause him irreparable harm.  She recognized the emotional, physical and emotional harm that the  discriminatory KUSD policy had inflicted on him.

It was wonderful news to hear about these trans court victories in Ohio and Wisconsin.  These cases are giving us hope in Texas that the courts in the Fifth Circuit will eventually wake up and recognize that trans rights are human rights, and that it's not okay to discriminate against trans students. ,

Two More Trans Women Of Color Killed In Ohio And Texas

While I was up in western New York making a little trans history with Janet Mock, the world kept turning, and I stepped off the ground to find out that two of my sisters have been killed.

And once again, it fit the infuriating pattern in these trans murders of both trans women being under age 40, and being trans women of color

The one that really bothers me is the murder of 28 year old Rae Lynn Thomas of Columbus, Ohio.   This one happened mere weeks after the death up I-71 un Cleveland of 26 year old Skye Mockabee and sadly fits one of my mantras that I often repeat when I talk about anti trans bigotry and hatred.

Anti-trans hate thoughts + anti-trans hate speech = anti-trans hate violence and murders.

Thomas was murdered by her mother's transphobic ex boyfriend James Allen  Byrd.   He often hurled anti-trans slurs at Rae Lynn and referred to her as 'the devil'.

Gee, wonder where the 53 year old Byrd heard that description and some of that anti-trans rhetoric?  Pope Francis? Some sellout kneegrow pastor?   The Republican Party?   Right wing media?

Wherever he heard it, it unfortunately resulted in Byrd unfortunately taking his transphobic hate thoughts and hate speech to another level on Wednesday, as he called Thomas 'the devil' one last more time before he shot her twice and killed her.

And once again, the local paper, the Columbus Dispatch, added insult to injury by not only misgendering Rae Lynn, but refuses so far to correct their problematic story.

He was arrested, charged with murder and is being held in the Franklin County Jail on a $2 million bond.   Hope that will be a permanent condition for his when justice is served in this case.

775 miles to the west of me along I-10 in El Paso, we lost another trans woman to senseless anti-trans violence on Monday.

38 year old Erykah Tijerina was found dead in her apartment on Lisbon St.   El Paso County medical examiners have not as yet ruled on the cause of Erykah's death, but El Paso police investigators in the Crimes Against persons unit are quoted as saying there were obvious signs of foul play.

And just as in the Thomas murder, Tijerina was misgendered in the El Paso press.

Her family thinks it was a hate crime and she was targeted for being her unapologetic trans Latina self.  In case you're wondering, no thanks to Diane Hardy-Garcia, the head at the time of the proto organization, the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby that became Equality Texas.  As the ED of the LGRL she was responsible despite our best efforts, for throwing Texas trans people under the legislative bus in 1999 and 2001,

And nope, still pissed off about what happened in Austin at that time.

As a result of her actions, Texas trans people are not covered under the state's James Byrd Hate Crimes law that eventually passed in the 2001 Texas legislative session.  Translation: Tijerina's death isn't being investigated as a hate crime as a result of that legislative bull feces.

I'll gripe about that legislative travesty another time.  Right now I need to be focused on the fact my fellow Texan's life was tragically cut short earlier this week.

And yeah Dan Patrick, Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton and Texas Republican Party, your anti-trans rhetoric has real world consequences and negative ripple effects in the lives of transgender Texans

As of this writing there has not been an arrest made in Tijerina's murder, and anyone who has information that will lead to the capture and successful prosecution of it is urged to call El paso Crime Stoppers at 915-566- TIPS (8477) or toll free at 877- 566-TIPS.

If you have tips that will lead to the expeditious capture, prosecution and conviction of Tijerina's killer, please call the El Paso Police Department at 951-000-0000, text EPPD and the tip to 847411 or submit an anonymous tip

There will be a vigil hosted by Sun City Pride for Tijerina at The Edge nightclub tonight at 8:30 Pm MDT, with a second vigil being planned for August 21.

Tijerina's family also has a GoFundMe page up to help raise funds to defray the costs of her funeral.

I will be keeping up with the legal developments in both these cases until both the perpetrators of these murders are brought to justice.

Rest in power and peace Rae Lynn and Erykah.

Melania Trump Plagiarizes Michelle Obama's 2008 DNC Speech

Last night I watched much of the first night of the Republican National Convention from Cleveland, and got so tired of the race bating and sellout kneegrows like Sheriff David Clarke being on the podium that for self-care reasons I turned it off before Melania Trump's speech and started following the far more entertaining Twitter commentary.

I then noted before the media finally started talking about it increasing chatter on Twitter that started sharing Jarrett Hill's observation that Trump's speech had two paragraphs that were strikingly similar to one that First Lady Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The Hill observations turned out to be so on point that the networks were after initially praising the Melania Trump speech, forced to address the growing plagiarism controversy as the Trump campaign scrambled to try to respond to it.



So what's the big deal about plagiarizing speeches?  Allegations of it sank Joe Biden's 1988 presidential campaign.  Careers have gone down in flames for it, and people have been expelled from colleges and universities for doing so.

When you also listen to the Trump speech, the message sounds oddly out of sync when you consider that Melania grew up in Slovenia.   It was part of Communist run Yugoslavia at the time she was born in 1970 before the 1991 breakup of that country and Slovenia's subsequent independence after a brief ten day war.

As I also pointed out in my take on this growing controversy on my Twitter feed, this was a real time example of a common problem in terms of Black intellectual property being jacked by whites for their own personal gain.  This happens far too often with Black women having their words repeatedly stolen by white women with little to zero credit for being the originators and creators of those words and receiving no compensation for it.

Trump also claimed in an interview before she went on the RNC stage she'd written the speech without much help in what was expected to be a moment to introduce Melania to the world and humanize her reprehensible husband..

Of course Twitter gleefully went all in on their dragging Melania Trump mission, and the hashtag #FamousMelaniaTrumpQuotes quickly rose to become the number one Twitter hashtag along with the #BeckyWithTheBorrowedSpeech one as Trump supporters and his campaign team tried to furiously spin away what happened.

This plagiarism situation was also dripping with irony.  The plagiarized section is discussing honesty, character and integrity, and since you couldn't find nice things to say about The Donald, so you steal them from a speech the FLOTUS is giving about her hubby the POTUS who does role model those qualities.

First Lady Michelle Obama has been demonized, misgendered, had her intelligence questioned despite possessing two Ivy League degrees earned with stellar grades and has been called everything but a child of God by the conservative movement.

But when it comes to speech writing, either Trump or someone on her husband's campaign team had no problem stealing the FLOTUS' eloquent August 25, 2008 words to put in Melania's teleprompter.

We'll have to see how this latest Trump campaign mess plays out not only for the rest of the RNC, but also for Melania Trump and this train wreck of a presidential campaign

Hillary Clinton 2016 NAACP Convention Speech

Lost in all the news of the opening of the RNC convention is the fact that 250 miles away on the southern end of Ohio, the 107th NAACP National Convention is taking place at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati.

As per tradition, both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates were invited to speak to the NAACP convention delegates, with Sec. Hillary Clinton accepting her invitation to do so while Donald Trump declined.

Then again, if I sucked as bad on issues of importance to African Americans, had been saying racist crap for decades and my presidential race poll numbers were worse than Romney's, I'd be finding any excuse NOT to speak to 'The Blacks' either or put myself in a position to be called on it.

Here is the video of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's Monday speech to the NAACP convention.

   

Secretary Clinton Breaks Out the Victory Broom

The voters in five states spread out from the South to the Midwest went to the polls yesterday for Democratic presidential primary elections.  There were 793 delegates at stake with the big symbolic prizes being Florida (246 delegates at stake), Sec. Clinton's home state of Illinois (182 delegates) and Ohio with 160 delegates.   North Carolina  had 121 delegates at stake and Missouri with 84.

Within minutes of polls closing in Florida and North Carolina came the first indication it would be a YUGE night for Secretary Clinton.   The network calls of Clinton wins in Florida and North Carolina came swiftly, with the call for Ohio coming an hour later.

The Ohio win for Clinton was a disappointment for Sanders, who had predicted he would win the state after the shocking upset win in Michigan last week.

Illinois and Missouri took longer to decide, with Clinton taking her home state of Illinois and eked out a narrow win in the Show Me State late thanks to the voters in Kansas City and St Louis.

#BlackVotersMatter  

Told you Bernie supporters that losing the Black vote would cost him the nomination. Clinton's massive 84-16% support with African-American voters was critical to fueling her sweep of all five primary states.

Thanks to the sweep, Sec. Clinton has opened up a 300+ delegate lead on Sanders and effectively ended the talking point among Sanders supporters that Clinton could only win in Southern states.

Next up are caucuses in Utah and Idaho and the primary election in Arizona on March 22.  Arizona is the big prize with 85 total delegates..

While Sec. Clinton is not the 2016 presumptive Democratic nominee yet, she took another huge step toward making history as the first woman to win a major party presidential nomination.

The obese opera singer may not be singing yet in this Democratic contest, but is definitely beginning to warm up to sing the aria.

TransGriot Perv Watch- Faith Based Freak

In our latest edition of the TransGriot Perv Watch, here's another incident that proves what the trans community is saying in terms of the peeps you have to watch out for aren't members of our community.

52 year old Mark Wayne Howington of Maumee, OH, the music director at Proclaim FM, a Christian radio station based in Holland, OH. decided to take the laying of hands on someone to another disturbing level at a Target store in the area.  

And he wasn't trans or in drag or trans when he did so.

58 year old Debra Piechowski was shopping at a Target with her niece looking for Valentine's and birthday gifts husband when she entered the women's restroom at 5:00 PM EST last Thursday afternoon.




Piechowski was violently pulled into the bathroom by Howington and slapped hard on the left butt cheek by him before he exited the bathroom without a word as she went to find the manager and store security.

The search for him was initially unsuccessful, but Piechowski spotted him in the parking lot attempting to pry open a car door, and she and officers chased and cornered him in another nearby store where he was apprehended.  He refused to give his name and when he was ordered to pull his hand out of hos pocket, revealed the sharp end of a screwdriver.

If he'd been non-white he'd be dead, but back to focusing on this perv watch story.

Howington was arrested and charged with simple assault, obstruction official business and carrying a concealed weapon.  He appeared in court Friday and was released from the Lucas County. OH jail on Saturday on $1000 bond.

Howington has resigned his position at the Dwelling Place church and is on leave from his WPOS-FM job.

I-71 Interstate Highway Stretch Where Leelah Alcorn Died Named For Her

For those of you that travel on I-71 through Warren County, Ohio, you'll be able to note the signs that the Ohio Department of Transportation erected that named a two mile stretch of it for Leelah Alcorn.

It is the same stretch of interstate near the intersection of I-71 and Ohio Route 48 in which the 17 year old trans teen stepped in the southbound lanes of it in front of an oncoming truck a few hours before her 'fix society' suicide note went viral.

Chris Fortin, who is a 2001 graduate of the same high school Alcorn attended, believed there should be some permanent memorial to Leelah.   Despite now living in Milwaukee, he filed paperwork with ODOT in August to get that section of interstate named for her as part of the state's Adopt-A-Highway program.

He hope to schedule the first cleanup of that stretch of I-71 sometime in January, and says he has far more volunteers than he can count eager to do so.

RIP Bri Golec

Just when we get the news that Penny Proud is being buried in New Orleans, and the perps in the California trans murder cases of Michelle Payne and Taja DeJesus cases have been arrested or found dead, now comes word of another young Ohio trans woman who has been murdered.

The perpetrator who murdered 22 year old Bri Golec of Akron, OH is already in custody.

It is Bri's father, 52 year old Kevin Golec who stabbed his trans daughter to death after an argument on Friday night in the family's home.

Kevin Golec has been charged with murder and domestic violence and is being held in the Summit County Jail.

It is the old parental threat of 'I brought you into this world, and I can take you out' becoming all too horribly real and resulting in the death of another trans woman.

Bri Golec is the sixth this year and we're barely one and a half months into 2015. And as usual, the trans victim is being misgendered in the media.

The end result of this tragedy is we have another trans woman who won't live to see her 30th birthday. It's even sadder to observe that it was her own father who killed her.

And once again we have another trans woman whose potential contributions to our world and society will be lost to us, and is being buried on February 20 far too soon..

Rest in power, Bri

Justice For Brittany Kidd-Stergis!

There is good news to report in terms of another one of our fallen transsisters receiving justice.

In my last update on this case back in June,  Delshawn Carroll was arrested and charged with the aggravated  the murder of Stergis while in the Cuyahoga County Jail on drug trafficking charges.

On Friday Carroll was convicted of the December 6, 2013 murder of Stergis as
she sat in her car in a Cleveland westside public housing project.   Carroll tried to deny that he and Stergis had a past association with each other, but that lie was blown up by evidence frond by investigators that placed him inside Stergis' car.

Carroll was also convicted of the drug trafficking charge.  It carries an 18 month sentence that he will serve concurrently with the life sentence he will get for killing Brittany Kidd-Stergis 

Justice has been served and another murderer of our sisters will be rotting in jail for doing so

Tiffany Edwards Case Update

Here's the latest news update in the Tiffany Edwards case courtesy of LGBTQ Nation. 

Quamar Edwards, the 25 year old waste of DNA arrested in the murder of our sister Tiffany after he turned himself in to Cincinnati Police on July 2, was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on one count each of aggravated robbery, aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence.

Investigators said Quamar Edwards solicited the victim for sex, and fatally shot her following an argument.   So much for his uncle trying to play the 'trans panic defense' card. 

Edwards is currently cooling his heels in the Hamilton County Jail under a $500,000 bond

And as always, I will keep you TransGriot readers posted concerning any new developments in this case.