Suspect In Tiffany Edwards Murder Turns Himself In

Good news out of Cincinnati to report.   

Quamar Edwards, who since Saturday has had a warrant out for his arrest in connection with the senseless murder of Tiffany Edwards, turned himself in yesterday morning to Cincinnati police accompanied by his mother, brother, aunt and uncle,

Edwards showed up at 11 AM EDT at Cincinnati Police headquarters, and while he was being booked, his family attempted to sow the seeds for the trans panic defense in the media while claiming 'this wasn't a hate crime'.

Oh really?  The uncle claims that Tiffany hit on him, Quamar didn't like it and his response is to shoot her and dump her body on a suburban street?   Go sell those transphobic woof tickets somewhere else.

That same day Tiffany's family, who is no relation to the alleged killer, held a vigil at the Tuxedo Place spot in Walnut Hills, OH where her body was found.

"I never expected the support that I'm receiving. I'm glad this vigil couldn't have been on a better day. This guy turned himself in (Wednesday)," Tiffany's mother, Temeka Edwards, said.

Will keep you peeps updated on what's happening in this case until justice is served for our fallen sister.  

RIP Tiffany Edwards

It is my sad duty to inform you about the senseless killing of another one of our transsisters

The body of 28 year old Tiffany Edwards was found shout to death in the middle of Tuxedo Place street by a sanitation worker in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, OH at 8 AM EDT Thursday morning.

Tiffany is the unfortunately the fourth transwoman of color killed this month alone and the fourth in Ohio in the last 18 months 

In a conversation with emerging Ohio based trans leader Cherno Biko about our fallen sister, she said, "I want to express my condolences to Tiffany's family and all who loved her." 
Biko in that conversation with me expressed concerns about the anti-trans violence aimed at trans women of color in the Buckeye State by adding. "Genocidal violence against Trans folks of color is spreading like a virus in Ohio and needs to end." 

TransOhio also expressed their concernes about this recent murder in their state.
“The brutality and violence we see being committed against trans communities of color is real. It’s happening in our own cities, in our own state. This violence needs to end. Trans lives matter,” said Shane Morgan, founder and chair of TransOhio..


The Cincinnati Police are still looking for information in this case, are asking people to call Crimestoppers at 513-352-3040

And yeah, as you probably guessed, the local Cincinnati media not only misgendered her, but used a police mugshot in the initial coverage and added her police record, which wasn't germane to this story..   

So if those of you who know Tiffany have some photos of her that aren't a fracking mugshot, please send them to me as soon as possible so I can replace it with a more respectful picture.  

Rest in power and peace Tiffany.  We will not rest until the waste or wastes of DNA who committed this heinous crime have been brought to justice.

TransGriot Update:  Cincinnati Police are looking for Quamar Edwards in connection with the murder of Tiffany. 

Quamar Edwards is 5'10" inches and weighs 250 pounds. Edwards was last known to live in the 1000 Block of Winfield Ave Cincinnati, Ohio 45205 in West Price Hill.

Edwards should be considered Armed and Dangerous........Help Police get Edwards off the Street!

If you have information that will assist in bringing him to justice please call 513-352-3040.

Kendall Hampton Murder Case Update-Dukes Indicted

Here's the latest news I've been able to find on Kendall Hampton, the 26 year old transwoman who was shot and killed in the Cincinnati metro area suburb of Walnut Hills, OH in August 2012 who was subsequently misgendered by the local media.


19 year old Eugene Carlos Dukes was arrested in September 2012 and charged with Hampton's murder.   But the wheels of justice have been moving at a glacial pace in this case since Duke's indictment by the Hamilton County grand jury.   

The family observed the one year anniversary of Hampton's slaying with a memorial service on August 18 with justice still not being served in this case.

According to a WCPO-TV report Dukes appeared in court September 4, 2013 and I haven't found any additional stories or information indicating a trial date has been set in this case, has happened or there has been a conviction.

So I'll keep monitoring it and ask my sources in the Cincinnati metro area to pass along any information they discover.  

My Remarks To The Cleveland TBLG Community Rally

There is a vigil and community meeting taking place in Cleveland as I post this and I was asked to submit some remarks to be read at it.

Here they are.

***  

To my Cleveland trans family, allies, family and friends of our fallen transsisters, and our supporters.

I wish I could be there at this moment to give you a comforting hug, help dry your tears, and stand in solidarity with you.  But my words will have to be an inadequate substitute for my physical presence at this time.

On behalf of myself, the trans community of Texas, the national and international trans community, we wish to express our deepest condolences for the loss of two of our Cleveland sisters. We offer our prayers and express our hopes that the perpetrators of these foul deeds will be caught and justice in these cases will be swift, fair and expeditiously served.

Once again as you gather in Cleveland to mourn the senseless loss of two of our trans sisters, you do so in the wake of media misgendering and disrespect robbing one of them of the dignity and the personhood they fought so hard to establish in their lives.

The deceased deserved better. So do the transpeople who are in the area struggling to live their day to day lives. And once again one of our two departed sisters lives was snuffed out before she had a chance to fully live it.

When will this carnage stop? How many more trans lives have to be lost to anti-trans violence before the Cleveland community says enough and shows through deeds and words that the lives of ALL its citizens are valued?

If there is anything that needs to happen in the wake of these senseless deaths, it is that the time has come to embrace the Cleveland trans community and ensure they become loved and valued members of the community, not shunned and disrespected afterthoughts.

May the upcoming New Year see this happen for my transfamily in Cleveland and beyond its city limits.

Sincerely,
Your sister in the struggle
Monica Roberts
The TransGriot

Cleveland TBLG Community Rally On Sunday

Been advised by Zoe Lapin that a community rally to discuss the trans murders of Brittany Kidd-Stergis and Betty Skinner, the latest outbreak of racist Cleveland media transphobia and other issues of importance in the local trans community will take place at Trinity Cathedral on Sunday,  December 15. 

Trinity Cathedral is located at 2230 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland and the event will start at 1:00 PM EST.  

What I am hoping for is that this event will be as diverse as the city of Cleveland is, and will feature someone from the local African American trans community to represent the people who are taking the brunt of the anti-trans hate crimes.  

I hope this does not turn into another event where white faces are the predominant ones we see all over the news, the media and the Net speaking, and irritatingly once again the Black trans community people who are the ones doing the dying, their representatives, leaders and local community leadership voices are shut out, ignored and the bodies of our dead are used once again to push somebody else's rainbow agenda.

In the runup to organizing this event, I hope and pray the organizers keep the I-words inclusion and intersectionality in their vocabularies and don't ignore the Black trans community as they put together this community rally.  

The Cleveland trans community has people besides white trans men who can eloquently speak for it.. Call them and invite them to the podium to speak for their fallen transsister who can no longer do so and their community. 


That being said, hoping for a large, diverse turnout and speakers at that rally reflecting the diversity of the Cleveland TBLG community.  I also hope for a frank discussion that takes place in that space which begins to address the frustration that I hear privately from many Black transpeople in the area about the state of the LGBT community in Cleveland, Ohio.   Their anger is mounting about their marginalization in it combined with the anti-trans violence being aimed at them and needs to be heard and dealt with. 

Cleveland Media Back To Disrespecting Black Trans Women Again

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.

So Much For Our Trans Murder and Trans Hate Free Holiday

Well, so much for our trans murder and trans hate free holiday in the United States and elsewhere around the world. 

Transfofa em Blog's Eduarda Santos is keeping up with the grisly task of documenting all the trans murders happening in Brazil and elsewhere in Europe.   I'm sad (and pissed off to report) that one has already occurred in Brazil this month during the holiday period with Agata de Melo being found shot to death.

And I was hopeful we'd be able to go at least a little deeper into the holiday season before I'd have to start reporting on anti-trans murders or transphobic idiocy being aimed at us.

We've also had one in the United States as well.  


Zoe Lapin passed the word to me yesterday that a home healthcare worker found 52 year old Betty Janet Skinner dead in her apartment early Thursday morning with severe head injuries. 

Cleveland Police say Skinner was physically disabled, required assisted living and received regular home health care.   She was last seen alive by her home health care worker when she left the Devonshire Road apartment of our fallen trans sister at 10 PM EST Wednesday night.

Unfortunately ther are no witnesses or suspects at this time in the Skinner case.   Police are asking if you do have information in this case to please call the CPD Homicide Unit at 216-623-5464.

And yeah, transphobic Colorado school board member Kathy Svenson continues to spread her special brand of trans hate for the holidays.  

She's not only  not backing down from her faith based conservaignorance around trans issues, but is doubling down on it by stating that she doesn't believe trans people exist?

Bless Kathy's little transphobic heart.   Hon, hate to intrude on your delusional world, but we transpeople most certainly do exist.   Matthew 19:12 will verify that for you along with a few other scriptures and even your boy Pat Robertson. .   

You can deny it all you want, but we transpeople are definitely part of the diverse mosaic of human life.

Now where's my egg nog?   And I'm definitely going to need something else stronger to mix with it this time.

Zoe's 2013 Cleveland TDOR Speech

Cleveland's TDOR memorial ceremony had the added sorrow of remembering one of their own this year in the person of Cemia 'CeCe' Dove Acoff.
  
In addition to mourning her death when the news broke of it back in March, the Cleveland trans community then had to deal with their paper of record in the Cleveland Plain Dealer subsequently committing a journalistic hate crime against Cemia by grossly disrespecting her.

When people complained about it including me, instead of listening to what people from the community were pointing out and correcting their mistakes, the Plain Dealer took the opposite combative path and defiantly doubled down on the transphobic disrespect aimed at Cemia.

Andrey Bridges, the waste of DNA who committed the senseless crime was quickly arrested, subsequently convicted of murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.   He will be serving a life sentence for it. 

There was even resolution between the Cleveland TBLG community and the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  After a letter was submitted requesting they cover the TDOR and do so with honesty and respect, the Plain Dealer agreed to not only cover the local TDOR , but meet with area activists to ensure that such grossly disrespectful coverage of a trans person never happens again. 

During their 2013 Cleveland TDOR, Zoe Renee Lapin, who organized one of the rallies held for Cemia  during that time person spoke to the assembled people at the memorial service. 

Here's her speech.

***

Realness isn't seen in your physical beauty but it's revealed through your heart. It isn't your ability to use one hand to give yourself a pat on the back and use the other to hold down others going through the same journey. It is your ability to look beyond the surfaces and empower your community. To be the greatest you that YOU can be, and then when you do that, do it again-but even better. The reality that your work is never over. The reality that this list gets longer and longer every year and yet the respect grows smaller and smaller.

Realness is realizing that "oddly dressed man found in pond" or "brutal murder marks the end of the fight for acceptance" is not appropriate, not ever. That until all of us are accepted and respected, we are all destroyed and neglected. That every "he, him, his, sir" that a transwoman gets is a direct attack to all of us. That every "her, ms, she, ma'am" that a transman gets is a direct attack to all of us. That every "it and thing" that a non-identifying person gets is a direct attack to all of us. Every drop of blood spilled, every tear shed, cannot exist in vain. That the time for silence is over and that the time for action has never been more prevalent.

My reality is that I am beautiful, my reality is that you are beautiful, our reality is that we are beautiful. And that when we come together in the name of equality, in the name of respect, in the name of our fallen-our cries will not fall upon closed minds and empty hearts. Realness is our ability to empower and encourage everyone from the young person living in the streets because they were forced out of their homes for manifesting their reality, to our elders, to everyone along the way.

Realness is if one of us makes noise, we all make noise, if one of us falls, we all have fallen. Realness is leaving none of us behind, in life and in death. The deceased before us have paid the price for their truth. The living in front of them must never forget them, we carry their names in our hearts and their vindication through our actions. Realness is realizing that Islan, Ce Ce, Ashley, Kelly, the unmentioned and the unknown, cannot continue to live their truths because of the ignorance and fear that propelled so many of their lives to a tragic halt. Realness is healing our wounds and healing the wounds of those around us. Realness is knowing that many in the outside world, even within our own community do not care about us. That we are a threat to their vision of equality, that we are a "burden" that they do not wish to bear.

As much as the term gay isn't a modifier of the entire lgbtq population, the slurs that some see endearing are not signs for our acceptance and validation. That the blood that landed on our footsteps is met with silence, but the bruises met on another are somehow unequal. That in Cleveland, we care more about pandering than we do the pandemic of inequality many of us face everyday. That we are told to all stand up for one cause, but have a seat for another. Your time will come, just wait. Wait...

Realness is the fact that the time is up. That our community cannot afford one more loss. That our family will not fall victim to your hand nor your words. That we ARE family. We are not in competition with each other. We must remain in harmony with one another. Our journeys may not be the same, but we are all in this race together. Our histories, our realities could not have made us any further apart-but I feel so close to each and every single one of you. Our realness, together, is our realness, together. We are our truth, we have manifested our reality. We are united, we embody those fallen and we shape the road ahead, and when we fall together-we rise together.

Andrey Bridges Sentenced In Cemia Dove Acoff Murder

Last week Andrey Bridges was convicted by a Cuyahoga County jury after a ten day trial of killing 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff.   Today he was back in Judge Hollie L Gallagher's court at 11 AM EST to find out what his sentence would be.

The 36 year old Bridges was sentenced to life imprisonment for his convictions on murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse and will be eligible for parole in 2034.

While Bridges will be going back into the Ohio penal system again for an extended stay this time, it still doesn't bring back Cemia for all who loved her

“She was a ray of sunshine. She was really, really sweet; very, very positive; very pretty,” said Tracy Jones, CEO of the AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland in a FOX 8 report.

And local Cleveland activists are making sure that their paper of record, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, never leads the charge to grossly disrespect another trans person in the area like they massively did in Cemia's case.

Justice was served in this case, but I would be willing to bet that everyone who loved Cemia would rather see her smiling face interacting in their lives and an immediate end to our young trans women being murdered

Andrey Bridges Found Guilty Of Killing Cemia Dove Acoff

After a 10 day trial that started with the empaneled jury taking a trip to the crime scene where it took place, a Cuyahoga County jury found Andrey Bridges guilty of stabbing 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff to death in January after discovering her trans status.

According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer report, the jury comprised of nine women and three men deliberated for a day before rejecting the recordings of Bridges' declarations of innocence made during his four hour police interrogation after his arrest in May.   

Acoff was called several times by Bridges on the morning of January 5, hired a taxicab to pick her up and paid the driver $100 upon her arrival at his apartment in Olmstead Township, OH.

She was never seen alive again after that date.  Later that day, two men stopped by the apartment house to pick up rent money that Bridges owed. They reported finding blood spattered in the apartment, Bridges’ hand bleeding profusely, and a bonfire burning in the yard.   

Acoff's body when found three months later was stabbed 40 times and anchored to a concrete block.  

Judge Hollie L. Gallagher has set the sentencing for next week and Bridges is facing 15 years to life for the murder conviction. 

Cleveland LGBT Group Delivers Letter To Plain Dealer

Many of you TransGriot readers remember how I blasted the unacceptably disrespectful coverage of the Cleveland Plain Dealer aimed at our fallen trans sister Cemia Dove Acoff back in late April.

I was so infuriated by it that I called the piss poor stenography (it didn't deserve to be called reporting) a 'journalistic hate crime'.

A group of concerned Cleveland LGBT citizens also had a problem with the way Cemia was covered in the Plain Dealer at the time and delivered a letter to their newspaper of record at 11:00 AM EST today.

***

November 6, 2013
To the Editor and Staff of The Plain Dealer:

As citizens of Northeast Ohio we are concerned about our city’s image at the local, statewide, national and international levels. We want Cleveland to be recognized as a diverse, inclusive, and respectful community. We know you share these values with us. However, your organization failed to live these values in the April 29th article covering the murder of CeCe Acoff.

We understand the difficulty of gathering information on the life of a murder victim in the days following such a discovery. We appreciate your willingness to remedy those mistakes. However, The Plain Dealer’s published “correction” was derogatory and disparaging of CeCe. It left many in our community deeply offended. CeCe was Transgender. Continuing to refer to her as male in those articles was demeaning and hurtful to those who loved her.

After the much-maligned series of transphobic, insensitive and misleading articles published by The Plain Dealer, the October 29th article announcing the trial of CeCe’s accused murderer, Andrey Bridges, was truly a breath of fresh air. We applaud your decision to follow the court’s lead and respect the deceased’s right to be referenced by her preferred name and gender.

We believe that right now, in Cleveland, this continues to be a teachable moment. We have the opportunity to educate our neighbors, law enforcement officials, and the general public on the central issue: “Who are Transgender people?” Working with Equality Ohio, local LGBT community leaders Phyllis Harris of the Cleveland LGBT Community Center and Jacob Nash of Margie’s Hope met with members of The Plain Dealer editorial board in May. This was an important starting point for discussion.

We are now approaching a significant event within our community. We want to further clarify what it is like to live as a Transgender person. And we need your help. We have three requests of The Plain Dealer as follows:
* inform the public of the Transgender Day of Remembrance prior to its occurrence;
* cover the Transgender Day of Remembrance; and
* publish an article on the Transgender Day of Remembrance after the event.
These are simple requests to fulfill and can be met with both print and online coverage.

We are pleased to see that some of the Plain Dealer journalists reference LGBT community leaders as they research and compose articles covering Transgender and allied communities. We encourage more journalists to make efforts to reflect our community with honesty and respect. The upcoming Transgender Day of Remembrance event offers an opportunity to do exactly that. The Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual event commemorated worldwide to remember those Transgender individuals who have been killed because of who they were. Coverage of the event by The Plain Dealer will provide a clearer view of the community response to violent acts perpetrated against Transgender people.

This year’s event is scheduled for November 22nd and will be held at Huntington Park at Lakeside Avenue and West 3rd St, beginning at 5:30pm. We would like to see notice of the event on or before November 18th with a follow up article during the weekend of November 23rd. We ask for your help in getting our message out to the larger community so that they may know that we are their friends, their family, their parents, their sisters and brothers.

We are looking forward to working with The Plain Dealer on these projects. We ask that a representative contact Jacob Nash (330-240-1600) no later than Monday, November 11th to gather information for the story about the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Now we'll see what the Plain Dealer's response to the community letter is.  Watch this electronic space..  

Andrey Bridges Trial Starts In Cleveland

TransGriot readers, here's another trial for us to keep our eyes on to see if the deceased trans person and all who loved them gets justice.

The murder trial of 36 year old Andrey Bridges, who is accused of killing 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff began on Tuesday in Cleveland.  He is charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.

Bridges has a long and violent criminal history that includes felonious assault and four stints in prison.  He was on probation in 2010 to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Hollie L. Gallagher for one of those assault charges according to Cleveland.com when he was arrested in connection to the Acoff case.

And guess who the presiding judge is in this case?  

According to the report by the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Rachel Dissell, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Brian Radigan briefly described for the jury how Dove's body was found and how police used taxi cab call records to link Bridges to the crime. He didn't present a motive but said witnesses would tell the story as the trial unfolded.  

Defense attorney Henry Hilow told jurors that there had been a lot of talk and conjecture about what the case was about. He asked the jurors to consider evidence and witness testimony, not theories.
"We're not here to create false impressions," he said. "It's about fact."

Well, Mr. Hilow, the fact is that a 20 year old person is no longer on this planet, and the evidence points to your client being the reason that's the case.  

But as I know from almost 20 years of being Moni and 15 years of trans activism, murder trials involving trans feminine victims, especially transfeminine victims of color sometimes have not so just endings.

I'm still concerned the blatant demonizing misgendering of Ms Acoff gleefully engaged in earlier this year by the Cleveland Plain Dealer may still have an effect on the jury pool that was empaneled yesterday

The jury in the Bridges trial has been selected, and they are taking a trip out to the Olmstead Township, OH crime scene that will be the focus of this case.

Let's just hope justice is served when they return to the courtroom, hear all of the evidence presented in this case by the prosecutors and defense attorneys and render their verdict.

Cemia Dove Acoff Case Update

The last news I had in the Cemia Dove Acoff case was that her alleged killer Andrey Bridges had been arrested on May 6 and charged with her murder on May 10. 

Unfortunately the stenographers at the Cleveland Plain Dealer are still thumbing their noses at the local trans community and still disrespecting Cemia by not only using old name in the story but that old mugshot and unflattering pics every chance they get.

And naw, I wasn't the only person who thought the jacked up Plain Dealer coverage of Cemia was problematic.

My fear is that the Cleveland Plain Dealer's ongoing journalistic hate crime and disrespectful coverage is poisoning any potential jury pool for the Bridges trial and will make it harder for Cemia and her family and friends to get justice in this case. 

But back to the update. 

Bridges was charged with aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and crime against a human corpse in the death of Cemia Dove Acoff. 

Many Cleveland area advocates and Cleveland City Council member Jim Cimperman believe there should have been a hate crime charge added to the indictment and I concur with that assessment.   

Judge Hollie L. Gallagher was assigned to the case and Bridges' bond was set at $5 million and there was a scheduled May 21 pretrial hearing that as of yet I haven't found any additional information on..

I will be keeping an eye on this case until justice is served in it.

Ohio High School Lets Trans Latina Student Graduate Wearing Correct Gown

This was the way Damian Garcia and Isaak Wolfe's cases should have gone.down and it's nice to see common sense prevail.

In a scenario that has become far too familiar in this 2013 graduation season,  17 year old Fostoria, OH high school senior Chris Calderon-Perez has been transitioning for the last two years, but was initially told by principal Tom Grine she would have to dress as a male and wear the black male graduation gown instead of the red female one that matches her current gender presentation.  

However, the dress code policy that Grine was trying to enforce runs counter to the Fostoria school board non-discrimination policy that had just been updated in March to include gay and transgender students as protected classes.   Forcing Calderon-Perez to dress as male for her graduation would have been in violation of that newly minted non-discrimination policy.

"All I want to see is my mom proud of me, to see me walking — because I deserve it," Calderon-Perez said. "My academic achievement has nothing to do with my appearance."

Exactly.  So when Calderon-Perez's graduation happened yesterday, she was wearing the red female gown and following the female dress code.

No fuss, no muss, everybody's happy and you peeps in Fostoria avoided the transphobe instigated drama that happened in Pennsylvania and New Mexico.

Congratulations Chris, and may you have much sucecess in your future endeavors.

Just Stop, Cleveland Transphobia Dealer

You've dug this hole so deep in terms of your epic fail of covering Cemia Dove Acoff's murder that you'll probably be popping out on the other side of the planet into the outskirts of Beijing soon.

You and your stenographers have more than demonstrated you don't know, don't wanna know and you simply don't care about our issues or respectfully reporting on Cemia.

It's becoming more clear that you delight in flipping the journalistic middle finger at the local Cleveland and national trans community.

I'm sure you'll be getting that call from the Pulitzer Prize Board soon for your stellar reporting in this case.

Cleveland Plain Dealer STILL Hatin' On Cemia

Far from seeing the error of their transphobic ways and correcting them, the Cleveland Plain Dealer continues to flip the journalistic middle finger at the Cleveland trans community.

In their latest article, the stenographers at the Plain Dealer continue to conduct a journalism class case study in how not to report on Black trans people. 

They continue to misgender Cemia and demonize her by using the mug shot and problematic references that people found so odious in the first place.  

As a reminder, not that you care anyway Cleveland Plain Dealer, here's what the AP Stylebook says about 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.

It's sad when a smaller local news outlet in Cleveland, out of town news media and bloggers show more respect for the victim of the crime than the local paper of record.

It's crystal clear at this point through this latest article they are defiantly obtuse about how offensive this is to the trans community and instead of making their corrections, have tripled down on the transphobia.So what can you TransGriot readers do to help our friends and allies in the Cleveland trans community? 

Help our Cleveland transpeeps and allies get that sorely needed meeting with the Plain Dealer editors and staff to discuss their fracked up coverage on Cemia.  Call them out in the comment threads on these pathetic stories.   And if that doesn't work, be civil and e-mail the reporters in question as you point out the continued blatant AP Stylebook violations.   

Alleged Ce Ce Acoff Killer Charged

In the latest development in the Cemia Ce Ce Acoff case, the alleged perpetrator of the killing, 36 year old Andrey Bridges of Parma, OH has been charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse in his appearance before Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.  

Bridges has a long criminal history that includes felonious assault and four stints in prison.  He did not enter a plea, was assigned a public defender and his bail was set at $5 million.

That's the good news.  The bad news is that the Plain Dealer continues to stick their journalistic middle finger at the Cleveland and national trans community and obstinately traffic in transphobia.

And yes, I'm concerned that the relentless PD media negativity and demonization of CeCe may have a negative effect on this trial and the ability to get justice for her.

As long as I'm tracking this case, Cemia (and any other trans woman being disrespected in the media) will get the respect she deserves on these electronic pages.

Well, Andrey Bridges has now been charged for the murder of Cemia 'Ce Ce Acoff.   The question now becomes will he do time for it?

In my nearly twenty years of being transitioned and 15 years of activism, I have seen far too many killers of non-white transwomen walk or get ridiculously low sentences.  I'm not letting go of my skeptical cynicism or doing the happy dance until I hear the words 'guilty' come out of a jury foreperson's mouth.  

Naw Nicole, You DIDN'T Unconditionally Accept Your Cousin

Interesting comment that hit my inbox yesterday from Nicole Cantie, who had something to say about my post Why The Negative Plain Dealer Coverage May Result In Cemia NOT Getting Justice

First off let me tell you something you don't know anything about me and how dare you make an accusation saying what I did and did not accept. I have always called my cousin by his given name and he never had a problem with it so why should you. I'm the 1 that watched him growing up not you. I love all of my family members and I don't give a damn about what their preference is. My cousin was a beautiful person inside and out and he took some beautiful pictures and looked damn good. I have to respect my aunt and her feelings. Do any of you know what it's like to bury not 1 but 2 of your children? You all don't know what our family has been through this is the second family member we have had to bury within a month's time. Cece wasn't treated different because he chose to live as a transgender woman. All we told him was to be careful because it's crazy people out here. Y'all have no idea how we are feeling

Now Nicole, it's my turn.  

First off, I do have an idea how your family is feeling, and my condolences by the way.  My father was buried the day before Easter Sunday.  There are also two other families in the Orlando area and Baltimore burying trans loved ones who were also killed in the month of April like Cemia..

But back to focusing on you since you stepped to me. 

I calls it as I sees it Nicole, and based on that interview, if you accepted and loved your cousin Cemia like you claim you do you wouldn't have misgendered your cousin in that interview and used the name she chose to reflect who she is now.   You may love your cousin and are proud of her, but misgendering her is what caused me to call your relationship with Cemia into question in the first place because to those of us in transworld, misgendering us IS disrespecting us. 

Unlike you Nicole, I'm a proud African descended trans girl like us just like Cemia and have been for almost 20 years.  I've been an activist for trans human rights issues for fifteen of those twenty transitioned years so I have intimate knowledge of what  does and doesn't bother girls and guys like me. 

So yeah, it is my business and pisses me off when transpeople, especially transpeople who share my ethnic heritage are killed and grossly disrespected in death like your cousin was by the media.  It's a pattern I've seen far too often going back to 1998 when Bay Windows disrespected Rita Hester of Black trans women being misgendered by media outlets inside and outside the LGBT community.

I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of it.     

The one way I know for certain a cis person inside or outside my family respects me and the person who I am now is the use of feminine pronouns to address me and addressing me by my current name, not my birth one which I changed a long time ago.    

Nicole, you not only admitted to using Cemia's old birth name, you've misgendered someone you claim to respect FOUR times in this comment you fired off to me.  That's not acceptance or unconditional love, that reeks of conditional tolerance.    It's also a huge presumption on your part as a cisgender female to assume that Cemia DIDN'T have a problem with you calling her by her old male name or misgendering her. .

But neither one of us can ask Cemia that question now because some waste of DNA took her life and she won't be taking any more pretty pictures. 

If you didn't care about Cemia's 'preference' as you called her gender presentation and claimed in this comment I'm responding to, I can't emphasize this enough, you would have respected your cousin by using feminine pronouns while describing her and calling her Cemia. 

I'm just sayin'

I'll concede the point you have the obligation to respect your aunt as your elder and inside her home.  But Nicole, once you are out and about in the world and in your own home you are your own woman. You aren't obligated to march lockstep with a loud and wrong position she may hold even if she is your elder or her feelings if they conflict with yours, much less defend them.

I don't have to respect someone who is being a transphobic bigot or who threw her trans child out of her home and put her in the position to be killed in the first place knowing how brutal the streets can be for a trans kid.

And yeah, your aunt throwing her trans child out of your home qualifies as 'treating them differently'. 

Speaking of homes, if you loved your cousin as you say you do and didn't care about 'her preference' which is a problematic conflating of sexual orientation and gender identity, why didn't you open your home to CeCe?  

One thing we can both agree with is that CeCe was taken away far too soon and I'm just as pissed off about that as your family is.  But y'all need to ponder the fact at your next family reunion that if y'all had shown CeCe more unconditional love, she'd still be in your lives.

Ce Ce Acoff Case Links

Ce Ce Acoff's funeral was yesterday, and as you know I've been on this story since I first got the word about our fallen transsister and how she has been grossly disrespected by the Cleveland media. 

I'm going to make it easy for you to follow the TransGriot coverage of this ongoing story by putting the links to the posts I've already written here.

Another Black Transwoman Dies And Is Dissed In The Local Media

Three More April African-American Transwoman Deaths

Acoff Murder Updates

CeCe Acoff Rally Today At 3 PM

Rally For CeCe Acoff

Y'all Must Think We're Stupid Cleveland Plain Dealer

Arrest Made In Acoff Case

Why The Negative Plain Dealer Coverage May Result In Cemia NOT Getting Justice

Why The Negative Plain Dealer Coverage May Result In Cemia NOT Getting Justice

As I noted yesterday, the police in the Cleveland suburban hamlet of Olmsted Township have arrested 36 year old Andre L. Bridges,who is accused of the murder of 20 year old Cemia Dove Acoff.

Cemia's funeral is going to be this morning at 10 AM EDT at The Temple Baptist Church in East Cleveland, OH and there will also be a vigil held afterwards at the AIDS Taskforce of Cleveland.  It's a local organization in Cleveland according to Zoe Lapin that has heavy trans POC participation levels and significant POC trans involvement .

While the police and FBI capture of Bridges is a wonderful development in this case and as Olmsted Township Police Chief John Minek noted there is still an active investigation going on, I fear the damage has already been done that will ensure that Cemia may not get justice when this case finally goes to court.

While I hope and pray that when it goes to trial, it's proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Bridges did it and he spends the rest of his life getting three hots and a cot at the Ohio Iron Bar motel for what he's allegedly done, I fear that the Plain Dealer's transphobic coverage may have already poisoned the well and tainted the Cleveland area jury pool in the direction of Cemia NOT receiving justice for what was done to her.

If it happens that Andre L. Bridges gets a ridiculously low sentence or walks, you'll only need to look back to the day that the Plain Dealer's rabidly transphobic coverage of CeCe's death was unleashed upon the world..

For starters, the Plain Dealer went too far in ignoring the AP Stylebook guidelines and erasing Cemia trans feminine status.  Instead of reporting the murder of a trans feminine woman, you stripped her of any dignity by misgendering her, commenting on what she was wearing when the body was discovered, and categorizing her as 'it'  Then on top of that, you used her old name in the story, used mugshots of her and dragged her old criminal record into it   

Way to go in your first class efforts Cleveland Plain Dealer to dehumanize her.

Because you set the demonizing and dehumanizing framing of the story, that meant the other Cleveland area media outlets followed your transphobic lead to the point where the Lanigan and Malone morning team at Majic105.7 cracked jokes (around the 7:00 minute mark) about this killing. 

That initial negative framing led to a television interview with a family member that obviously wasn't down with Cemia's gender transition.  That family member constantly misgendered her as old male pictures were shot without balancing the story out with people who knew and loved her as CeCe and pictures reflecting that. 

Never mind the fact that Cemia was the victim in this and isn't the one that should be on trial.  And when the backlash started, instead of correcting the story, you started wallowing in white male cis privilege, circled the wagons and blamed everybody else but yourselves for the fracked up coverage you justifiably got called on and kept on digging that transphobic hole you started with. 

Even in the article you claimed was an apology, you are still using the jacked up photo of Cemia when there are more tasteful feminine photos of her and trying to stick to using her old male name which isn't germane to the story.

Tina Turner's old name is Anna Mae Bullock.  Do you call her by that name in any story you write?   See how fast you get another interview with Cher if you insist on repeatedly writing Cherilyn Sarkisian in that article or Reginald Dwight in one for Sir Elton John.   

 But back to focusing on the transphobic news coverage.   What it did was basically paint Cemia in a negative light, and it's something that Bridges' defense attorney will possibly exploit now that you media peeps did all their work in demonizing Cemia for them.

You've laid the groundwork for Bridges' defense attorney to possibly deploy the 'trans panic' defense and make the murderer look like a everyday and twice on Sunday church attending choirboy vis a vis the 'crazy tr---y' who 'deserved what she got'.  

Oh my bad, you refused to acknowledge that she was a trans woman.

And when that trial starts, we'll have an empaneled jury whose minds are already compromised by marinating in the anti-trans media negativity stirred up by that journalistic hate crime.   We already know the odds are going to be long (but not impossible) for obtaining a murder conviction of a cis person who kills a transperson.

Worst case is he walks, best case is he gets life in prison pending the evidence and skill of the prosecuting attorney.   What I wouldn't be surprised that happens in this case is we possibly get a plea deal for aggravated manslaughter.

Your transphobic reporting has pretty much framed this trial one it starts as a Black cisman kills 'deceptive' Black 'man' or in the minds of many people not well versed in the lives of trans people a 'freak who deserved to die for tricking an unsuspecting cis man'.

That's not me spouting over the top rhetoric, that's the gist of the comments running around in the comment threads on the various posts.  A mentality that may seep into the jury deciding Andre L Bridges fate.  

So Cleveland trans community, if Bridges walks or gets a ridiculously low sentence, you'll know where it started.