Read Your AP Stylebook, Robert Littal

Nothing gets me more pissed off than seeing media stenographers misgender a murdered transwoman

It's even more infuriating when one of my own people does it.

The latest stenographer to try it is Ms. Robert Littal of Black Sports Online.

In this waste of bandwith article discussing the arrest of Underwood's boyfriend Carlton Ray Champion for her murder, Miss Littal misgendered Ty, disrespectfully used the dead name, and referred to our fallen sister as a 'transgendered male'

News flash for you Miss Littal.   Ty Underwood is a transgender female.  If you can't tell the difference then you need to have several seats in a human sexuality class and take copious notes when they cover Transgender 101..

Meanwhile let me hip you to the pertinent section of the AP Stylebook that covers how to report on transgender people since you have demonstrated you don't have a clue about that subject.

Now pay very, very close attention.   These are the AP Stylebook guidelines that have been in place since 2001 for reporting on 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 individuals live publicly.

If I as a mere award winning blogger can easily grasp that concept, surely you as a grad of The Ohio State University can as well.

Robert, a male to female transperson is a transgender woman or a transwoman, NOT a 'transgendered male'.  

You also use FEMININE pronouns when referring to that trans feminine person.

But you would have known that Robert had you referred to the AP Stylebook, The National Gay And Lesbian Journalism Assn (NGLJA) guide or GLAAD's guides

But since you went for the salacious headline and misgendering story, and tried to weakly justify it by claiming you were going to follow the police report, as we say in Texas, that dog won't hunt, and I'm calling your ass out on it.

Far from being an 'unusual story', it's an all too common one when it comes to the murders of African-American trans women and some media person posthumously misgendering or disrespecting them..

I am sick and tired of Black stenographers (you don't deserve the title of journalist or reporter) murdering my fallen sisters in the media by misgendering them because of ignorance or transphobic hatred. 

There's no excuse for it when you have this marvelous invention called Google to help you out if you have questions about how to respectfully cover us.

And by not using the correct pronouns in this story, you are not only disrespecting and dismissing Ty Underwood's FEMININE life, you are feeding the anti-trans animus that has led to what is now 17 trans women that have been killed since June 2014

FOX 26''s Damali Keith Lies On The HERO And The Houston Trans Community Again

My post about unchecked trans hate speech having deadly consequences is barely a little over 48 hours old and the FOX Noise affiliate here, KRIV-TV Fox26 has once again in their coverage of the HERO trial once again led with the discredited trans predator lie.

Damali Keith needs to read her AP Stylebook and focus on the section that covers reporting on trans people.

Just an FYI for you Damali, since journalism and balanced reporting doesn't seem to be a strong suit for your station that you've been at for over a decade or your station's parent so-called 'news' network on this subject, here's what it says:

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 individuals live publicly.

This is how you reported the story on the HERO trial on January 26:

Chances are you've heard of the fairly new Houston ordinance that allows transgender men to use women's restrooms among other things. Now a judge and jury will hear about the ordinance. Today is day one of a trial that names Mayor Annise Parker as a defendant.

You followed that lie about the  Houston Equal Rights Ordinance the very next day with this transphobic attack on my community, pushing the opponent's HERO lies that "transgendered men" would be allowed to enter women's restrooms:

The controversial equal rights ordinance came under fire when it was revealed as part of the measure transgendered men would be allowed to use women's restrooms. This petition is an effort to give Houstonians the right to vote on the ordinance.

It is a pattern of slanted stenography Ms. Keith that FOX26 has repeatedly engaged in ever since the HERO became an issue, and those of us in the Houston trans community are sick and tired of you and your station repeating the debunked lies of our opponents without giving us a chance to rebut them on air or talk about from our perspective why a HERO that protects our human rights is necessary.

And since it seems Ms. Keith that you don't know the difference between a transgender man and a transgender woman, time to break it down to you.

A transgender man  (or trans man) is one who was born with female genitalia but has transitioned to and lives life as a male.    A transgender woman (or trans woman) is one who was born with male genitalia, but has transitioned to and lives life as a female.

I can do more basic Trans 101 education later.   My eye is on the more important prize of calling out your recent lies and FOX 26's  consistent slandering of the Houston trans community.  Broadcasting that unchecked transphobia has consequences, and your report is only the latest fuel fanning the hell- fire flames of anti-trans bigotry, hatred and violence. 

I have no doubts and fear that the attack on Thailand Warr at her Southwest Houston apartment building back in November is only the beginning of violent attacks that are being fueled by you and your FOX26 colleagues inaccurate HERO reporting combined with anti-trans hate speech coming from the pulpits of the Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity.

Ms Warr survived her attack.   The next trans person attacked by people motivated by your misguided reporting and the faith based trans hate of the Pastor's Council may not be so fortunate..

And when we have already have  had three trans people killed in Texas, Virginia and Kentucky because of anti-trans violence and we aren't even done with the first month of 2015 yet, you can understand why I'm pissed off along with the Houston trans community of your station's continued attacks on an ordinance that also benefits you as a cisgender African-American woman.

We are also angry about FOX 26's repeated loud and wrong attacks on the humanity of Houston area trans people

#TransLivesMatter  #BlackTransLivesMatter.  We're tired of FOX26 stenography that  has a deleterious effect upon our community

Chill with the anti-trans lies.    But based on your station's anti-trans track record, I have a better chance of seeing the Astros, Rockets, Dynamo, and Texans all winning championships in the same calendar year than FOX 26 ceasing and desisting with their trans baiting

Read Your AP Stylebook, JIm Kiertzner And WXYZ-TV

When I took a trip up to Boston recently for the National Association of Black Journalists convention to discuss the coverage of Black transwomen, one of the things I implored them to do was make sure they got it right the first time because white run media consistently screws up when it coves to covering us.

And right on cue, thanks to Can We Talk 4 Real  podcast host 'Michelle Brown bringing it to my attention, here's another example of messed up media coverage courtesy of WXYZ-TV and reporter Jim Kiertzner..

In the process of reporting on a string of attacks on trans women in Detroit's Palmer Park, one fatal, Kiertzner got it horribly wrong.

Let me do your job for you and write the story properly before I put you on blast for failing to read your AP Stylebook.

(WXYZ) - Detroit Police say they are investigating three hate crimes that may be related.

All three targets were transgender men women. One was killed in Palmer Park last Friday.  In that case, the killer drove off, crashed into another car and ran away on foot, but a gun was left behind.

Another shooting on Sunday and another last week were not fatal, but the victims were also transgender men women. Police are not releasing any identities of the victims.  No one is in custody but police say they have a person of interest.

Palmer Park is located along Woodward Avenue between 6 and 7 Mile.    The area east to John R and up to 8 Mile is also a well known Detroit "red light" district.  Many in the LGBT community live here and some work the streets for sex.

For now, in this area, a killer is on the loose.

***

Now, let's get to discussing the problematic August 20 video report.    Jim, a male to female transperson is a transgender woman, NOT a 'transgender man'.   You also use FEMININE pronouns when referring to that person.

And using 'lifestyle' in the context of a report on a transgender person is problematic and offensive.

But you would have known that Jim had you referred to the AP Stylebook, The National Gay And Lesbian Journalism Assn (NGLJA) guide or GLAAD's guides

The way this story was reported was not only confusing to those of us in the trans community and our allies, but has raised questions of just how committed you and your station are to respecting the humanity of transpeople and reporting accurately on our lives.

This won't be the first or last time you encounter trans people in the Detroit area.  Past time for WXYZ-TV and other Detroit media outlets to get it right in reporting on us.

TransGriot Update:  Looks like the story has been cleaned up to remove the misgendering language. 

Is The Media Disrespect Of Deceased African-American Trans Women Ever Going To End?

We have lost four transwomen of color this month to anti-trans violence in 40 year old Kandy Hall, 28 year old Zoraida Reyes, 31 year old Yaz'min Shancez and now as of Thursday 28 year old Tiffany Edwards.  

One has been buried in Ms Reyes, with the funeral arrangements pending on the others.  

And sadly, Ms Reyes is the only one of the four who has had respectful media coverage of her life and death.

When it comes to reporting about murdered African-American trans women, it seems as though the operative pattern of media outlets is to dehumanize, disrespect and follow the How Not To Respectfully Cover Black Transwomen playbook to the letter.    

*Misgender them at every opportunity?                         Check.
*Use their old male name in the story?                           Check.
*Use a mugshot if discovered?                                      Check. 
*Add criminal record to the story?                                Check.
*Salaciously suggest she was engaged in prostitution?    Check.

I have repeatedly seen this racist pattern when it comes to fallen African-American trans women and I'm tired of it.  I'm beyond sick and tired of media outlets across the country disrespecting African-American trans women in death by not only misgendering them, but if they happen to discover a criminal record, injecting that into the story and publishing a mugshot if available.

It's even more infuriating when an influential gay paper like the Washington Blade does so as in Michael K Lavers' June 8 article about our fallen Baltimore sister Kandy Hall.

Guess I should be thankful for the small favor of them not publicizing a mugshot in the article.

But if we can't get gay media outlets like the Washington Blade to respect our trans lives, what chance are we African-American trans people going to have to get television stations, magazines, and newspapers to do so? 


Publishing a person's criminal history is not germane to the fact that a transwoman was murdered and is problematic.  We transwomen of color already have enough racist stereotypes to overcome while inhabiting Black female bodies like the 'unwoman' meme in addition to the other transphobic baggage we have to deal with.

The last thing we need is media outlets unnecessarily injecting a criminal record into a news story about the untimely demise of an African-American trans woman, much less posting a mugshot pic of her when it is not germane to the narrative and unnecessary to do. 

Once again media professionals, we don't want to be fighting with you about this.  All we are asking is that you simply do your jobs and respectfully tell our stories, even in death. A murder has been committed in which this person tragically lost their life.  Focus on that, not demonizing and postmortem disrespect of the trans murder victim.  .

Houston Style Magazine, Stop Pimping The HERO Bathroom Lie

One of the things that has really pissed me and Team HERO off about this battle to pass the now week old Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is how the elements of the Houston media are still stuck on stupid in continuing to deploy the bathroom meme.

The latest demonstration of facts free Houston media stenography concerning the HERO comes from Houston Style magazine.   It's a local African-American oriented publication that's available on newsstands in predominately Black H-town neighborhoods.and has a Facebook presence.

I was angered along with Team HERO to see Houston Style post this grossly inaccurate June 2 commentary on the HERO on their Facebook page that made it all about the bathroom and once again poured gasoline on the lie injected into this HERO debate by the Daves and the Black auxiliary ministerial sellouts about the damned bathrooms.

The push to pass the HERO started because of the discrimination experienced by a straight Black woman who is a sitting judge (Alexandra Smoots Hogan) at a Washington Ave nightspot.  She discovered along with Councilmember Ellen Cohen there was no way to address that type of discrimination locally unless you filed a federal lawsuit.  . .



Houston Style, it is irresponsible stenography like this (it doesn't deserve to be called reporting) that leads to anti-trans hatred and attacks upon trans African-Americans.

Here's a crash course in Trans 101 that you sorely need.  You also need to remember that some of the trans people you are dissing have melanin in their skin and African heritage.

As one of those proud Black trans Houstonians who fought for passage of the HERO and is a leader in the African-American trans community locally and nationally, I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the anti-trans hatred and ignorance being trafficked in our community and our media outlets.    

You should be ashamed of yourselves, Houston Style magazine for perpetuating the debunked transphobic lies of longtime gay baiters Dave Wilson and Dave Welch.   I'm sure the Daves, the Republican Party and their Baptist Ministers of Houston and Vicinity sellouts are pleased you continued the perpetration of disinformation about a long needed ordinance that protects the human rights of ALL Houstonians, not just those of us in the trans, SGL and Bi community.



I'd demand a retraction and apology, but I'd probably have better odds of seeing the Astros, Texans, Rockets, Dynamo and Dash all win championships in the same year than seeing you post an apology for this transbaiting piece. 

How about you do the Houston African-American community a huge favor by doing your jobs and actually printing the facts about the HERO instead of the 'fear and smear' talking points of the opposition?


TransGriot Update: A retraction was made for the problematic bathroom lie  comments I was lambasting in this post.

Racist TMZ Poll Wants You To Decide Whether To Call Us African-Americans Or N**gas

I guess TMZ thought because of the holidays no one would be paying attention to that racist poll they have on their site, but they guessed wrong.

Suge Knight parted his lips in a December 16 article posted on the site to say he's 'offended' when people refer to him as an African-American because he's not African.  

Your DNA says otherwise, you idiot even though you weren't born on the African continent.

Sheesh, where is the D.R.O..P. Squad when you need them?  

And vanillacentric privileged elements of the white community don't consider you to be simply an American, either.   And they would love to call you the word you don't have a problem with.  

But TMZ for whatever stupid, clueless, racist, they though it was funny or all of the above reasons decided to create a poll which had this question. 

What should black people call themselves?  

The only possible answers in this reprehensible poll are African American or N**ga.    And you know that white folks are constantly bitching because we have told them NOT to call us the n-word and are gleefully flocking to this racist one.  

Over 82,547 votes have been cast at this writing, with N**ga currently ahead of African American at a 54%-46% clip as of this writing.    The script on that poll needs to be flipped ASAP while at the same time we cuss TMZ and their editors the hell out for even coming up with that racist poll in the first place.   

MediaTakeOut Unleashes Transphobic Slurs At Mia Ryan

Why am I not surprised to hear about transphobic crap coming not only from Black gossip blogs, but the Black gay people who run them?

They flap their lips to say 'they're not transphobic' while gleefully trafficking in the transphobia running rampant on their sites.

Thanks to The G-List Society, was made aware of the transphobia outbreak that happened recently on MediaTakeOut aimed at Mia Ryan.

For those of you who watched the OWN reality series Houston Beauty, Mia was one of the breakout stars of the show.  Her storyline in which she was trying to complete her beauty school education at Houston's iconic Franklin Beauty School while trying to leave the escorting world and conquer her personal demons was at times fascinating and painful to watch.

MediaTakeOut claims in an April 15, 2013 commentary it has the 'utmost respect for all people regardless of sexuality'.  

But that respect sure doesn't extend to transpeople.

For starters, you transphobic idiots, if you're going to insult us with the t-word that we've more than made clear across Trans World and beyond is a slur, learn how to spell it properly. 

Frankly, I'm more than sick and tired of the repeated pattern of transphobic hate being spread by Black gossip blogs like yours, Bossip, Sandra Rose and The Skorpion Show .  I'm fed up with the rampant transphobia that runs like sewage in your comment threads.  

I'm also sick and tired of being sick and tired of the fact that you Black SGL peeps, who should know better and be intimately aware of how hurtful that crap is, would stoop to that level in the first place.  

We get enough transphobic microaggressive and macroaggressive bull feces aimed at us as Black trans women from society, the media, our families, white trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERF's), the Religious Right, the Republican Party and Fox Noise.. 

We don't need you transphobic idiots at MediaTakeOut gleefully pouring gasoline on the flame of anti-trans hatred in the Black community that results in us getting burned with it, and leads to far too many Black trans women getting murdered.  

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.

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..  

Tampa Area Media, Read Your AP Stylebook

White I was happy about how the Tavares Spencer trial turned out in terms of being tried as an adult for his hate crime perpetrated upon Ms. McDonald, and convicted of all five charges yesterday in his attempted murder trial, one thing I was NOT happy about was the repeated misgendering in the Tampa media of Coko McDonald

Tampa Bay Times , Bradenton Herald and other area media, Coko McDonald is not a 'transgender man', 'a crossdresser', 'really a man' or a 'man dressed as a woman', she is a transgender woman and as such, feminine pronouns should have been used to describe Ms. McDonald in any story you wrote or broadcast about her.

Several Tampa area television stations weren't much better in reporting this story either and I am more than beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of African-American trans women being disrespected in the media in life and death.  

Coko was the one who was shot and robbed by Spencer, remember Tampa media?    
 
Sigh.  Let's do this once again and review what the AP Stylebook has said since 2001 about the coverage of transgender people in the media.

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 individuals live publicly.

Translation: transgender woman=use female pronouns in story. Transgender male=use male pronouns in story.   GLAAD has a media guide you can peruse in addition to the NLGJA in case you are confused about something so simple even the GEICO caveman gets it. 

So did WPTV-TV, the NBC affiliate.  They got it.  

So let's see Tampa media if you get it right when i comes time to sentence Tavares Spencer and beyond when it comes to reporting on trans people, because this won't be the first or the last time you'll encounter a transperson as you do your jobs..

Sue And Newark Star-Ledger Still Being Obstinate About Not Correcting Her Misgendering Article

Been over a week now and Sue Epstein, the reporter stenographer at the Newark Star-Ledger still hasn't corrected the misgendering story about Eyricka Morgan that has caused her to get called out by the local and national trans community, moi, Janet Mock , our allies and GLAAD for failing to do so

And no Newark Star-Ledger, posting a link to a subsequent story about Eyricka, while a step in the right direction because it has the correct pronouns, does not absolve you from doing what the trans community has asked you to do. 

We're still waiting on you to follow the AP Stylebook guidelines and correct the story we find and have already told you was disrespectful.

Looks like I'm going to have to show you peeps how you do it.

***

New Brunswick man charged with stabbing transgender woman to death in city boarding house.

A New Brunswick man is charged with fatally stabbing a transgender woman in the city boarding house where they both lived.

NEW BRUNSWICK — A New Brunswick man was arrested today and charged with fatally stabbing a transgender woman at the boarding house where they both lived.

Devonte Scott, 21, was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose in the death Tuesday of Eyricka Morgan, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said.

Carey said the investigation began when police were called to the boarding home on Baldwin Street in New Brunswick at 8:17 p.m. Tuesday.

He said officers arrived to find the victim injured. Morgan was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in the city, where she was pronounced dead at 9 p.m.

Carey said an investigation by Detective Kenneth Abode of the New Brunswick Police Department and county Investigator Jose Rodriguez determined that Morgan was stabbed. The results of an autopsy by the county medical examiner’s office were not immediately available, he said.

Police arrested Scott at 9:45 a.m. today at an undisclosed location, the prosecutor said. He was taken to the Middlesex County jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Carey said the investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Abode at (732)-745-5200 or Rodriguez at (732) 745-3300.

***

See how easy that was? 

I'll bet if this were a story that disrespected a deceased person in the Jewish or any other cis communities in the area it wouldn't be sitting on your website uncorrected for over a week.

But in your minds, that unprofessional journalistic behavior is okay for a dead Black transwoman.  

Nefertiti, Read Your AP Stylebook

Nefertiti Jaquez until January 2013 used to be an award winning reporter and part time anchor working for KPRC-TV, our local NBC affiliate here in H-town.

She now works for the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, and it's why I'm majorly disappointed to hear that in this unfolding case in which Charles Sargent has been arrested for killing and dismembering a girl like us, the story about it misgendered the victim, the 'male prostitute' angle was highlighted, an old arrest record and mugshot was plastered all over it without any attempt at balance in terms of finding anyone in the trans community who knew the victim.

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

The How Not To Report On Black Transpeople playbook was followed once again to perfection..

But then again Nefertiti, if you'd taken the time to call the William Way Center to balance this story out or use the femme name once you discovered the person was trans, maybe you would have quickly found someone who knows Ms. Williams by her femme name. 

The reason you're getting pushback from trans community people all over the country and GLAAD is that we have this crap happen far too often.  It happens far too frequently with trans victims of color and were beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of it..

BTW, here's what the AP Stylebook says about reporting on 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 individuals live publicly.

Translation.  If the transperson in question has acquired the outward physical appearance of a female regardless of the genitalia configuration between their legs, they are a transgender female and need to be referred to with feminine pronouns and a feminine name.   If the transperson in question has acquired the outward characteristic of a male regardless of the genitalia configuration between their legs, then that person is a transgender male and need to be referred to with masculine pronouns and a masculine name.

One of the reasons we're getting more combative about insisting on respectful media coverage for transpeople is because potential jurors that watch these misgendering and sensationalized reports are being poisoned with this slanted anti-trans coverage that could result in the murder victim at trial not getting justice and the alleged killer going free.

Granted we realize you were possibly on a deadline to get it out, or you possibly received incorrect gender info from the PPD about Ms. Williams, but whoever is doing the fact checking or research needs to be aware of that and ask that question, especially when the killer says he committed the deed because he discovered he 'slept with a man'.

That's a hint and a half that you're dealing with a trans woman, and questions you need to ask to get a story respectful to the victim need to change to fit this situation. 

TransGriot Update:  Been advised by several Philly activists Ms. Williams femme name is Diamond.  As soon as I get or can find femme pictures of her, I'll post them on subsequent posts about this case instead of that jacked up mugshot.

 

A Modest AP Stylebook Proposal

For those of you who have taken the time to peruse the over 6500 posts here, you'll notice that many of the posts I have written over the last seven years have chronicled the many journalistic fails in terms of following the AP Stylebook guidelines for reporting on transgender people.

To remind people, here's what they say in terms of writing about trans 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 individuals live publicly.

Translation: transgender woman=use female pronouns in story. Transgender male=use male pronouns in story.  

GLAAD has a media guide you can peruse in addition to the NLGJA. 

Since there seems to be confusion, a lack of reading comprehension, or outright blatant ignoring or disrespect of the trans person's humanity a la the Cleveland Plain Dealer's recent journalistic hate crime in these stories, I propose adding this line to the current AP Stylebook guideline in covering transgender stories.

When in doubt, use the name germane to the acquired characteristics or the way the persons live publicly and do not use a name inconsistent with those characteristics.

What that will do is make the stories about trans people more consistent, respectful and less confusing to readers, the trans community and our allies.  It is not necessary for a reader to know in a human interest story for example that Karen's name used to be Kendall or because Karen has yet to get her identity documents changed to seize on and add to the story 'her legal name is Kendall'.

You have already let your readers know that Karen is a transwoman by stating that fact in the headline or opening paragraph of the story.   Throwing the old name in the story is disrespectful, unnecessary (and in some cases triggering) to the transperson in question. 

The bottom line is trans people aren't going back into the closet or going away.  We are spread out all over the country and will eventually make news good, neutral or bad that you'll be in a position in your various locales to report on.

We in the trans community would prefer that those media interactions be positive ones and not adversarial. 

Ackshun Jackson Disses Jordana On His YoYo DC Podcast

'No fight is more just than the battle for self determination of one's own identity.'Jordana LeSesne April 2013

Last night got an e-mail alerting me to a situation in which a podcast called 'YoYoDC' went into problematic territory on a May 28 show they were doing concerning a local pediatrician, Dr. Robert Dickey who was facing pedophilia charges.

Three quarters of the way into it Ackshun Jackson as he calls himself segues from that discussion to disrespectfully talking about Jordana LeSesne, the girl like us who is a pioneering DJ, music producer and current frontwoman for a metal band. 

He claims he's a huge fan of hers, but referred to her as 'it' during the show banter that ensued while the track she produced and he claimed was his favorite played in the background.     

And yo, shouldn't you as a fan know how to spell your idol's name?   I'm just sayin'.

It's already treading into questionable territory to bring up a transperson, much less have a discussion about one on a show in which you started it discussing a pedophile doctor.   BTW, 98% of the people who get busted for doing so are heterosexual white males

I DESPISE the 'politically correct' term far too many conservafools and people attempt to use as a shield to insulate themselves from the jacked up crap they say.   The Golden Rule exists for a reason and I love this Dion Beary quote about the politically correct term that one of my TransGriot longtime readers Lilith posted in the discussion thread that ensued on Jordana's page.

''Politically correct" is just a term assholes came up with so they can dismiss people who have the nerve to want to be respected. Demanding not to be stereotyped is not political correctness, it’s a human right, and you are not some hero for refusing to respect people’s right to be treated like humans.'
—Dion Beary

Back to our post.

I need to get into the other ways this podcast was problematic.   He used her old name which was not germane to the discussion since 99% of the music she produces is under Jordana.    References were made to chopping off dicks, 'different strokes' comments and other transphobic language thinly disguised in bad joke drag.

It's also problematic in terms of the show being based in Washington DC and these comments being juxtaposed against the long, ugly history of anti-trans violence and discrimination aimed at POC trans women in the District.    

When Ackshun Jackson was advised Jordana was not amused by his show, he surfed over to her Facebook page to chat with her and ask for an interview.   And yes, Jordana asked me to be part of that discussion. 

While he was contrite about insulting her, Ackshun Jackson still has a ways to go in terms of Trans 101 education.  While Jordana believes he wasn't trying to be malicious about it, clueless transphobic bigotry still hurts the same as the willful transphobic variety.

I dropped the link to the GLAAD Media Reference Guide trans section in our discussion along with dropping knowledge about the 1995 Tyra Hunter case, the 2002 Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis execution style murders, Kenneth Furr's August 2011 incident firing his service revolver at a car with  three transwomen and friends in it and getting probation and the Deoni Jones killing Gary Niles Montgomery will be going to trial for next month. 

To Ackshun Jackson and everyone one else out there, here's two basic facts about a trans person's identity that you need to commit to memory.   

You don't get to define our identity, we do.

And disrespecting that identity, whether it's done overtly or covertly still hurts. 
 

WTF, HuffPo Gay Voices?

The HuffPo Gay Voices page posted a May 16 article about the upcoming TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, a groundbreaking interdisciplinary academic journal which will debut in 2014.

It will be co-authored by Dr. Susan Stryker (University of Arizona) and Dr. Paisley Currah (CUNY-Brooklyn) and will be published through a collaboration with Duke University Press.

The article briefly touched on the Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the TSQ project which is more than halfway to achieving its fundraising goal.of $20,000 by June 13.

But all that positive news in the article was ruined by the bathroom sign picture that was used to illustrate it.

Seriously?   All the directions that you could have gone to illustrate this post up to and including adding photos of Dr Stryker and Dr. Currah or the Transgender Studies Quarterly logo as I have done here, and you inject the bathroom meme?   We're working hard in the trans community to permanently destroy the bathroom meme, not perpetuate it.

We expect and get this kind of shady crap from misguided people in the mainstream media, but as fellow travelers in the TBLG rights movement and the rainbow community media you should know better.

Granted, this may have been an oversight in terms of you not realizing the unintended message you sent by using that picture with this article, but this is still unacceptable. 

What next HuffPo Gay Voices?  Are you going to use a picture of a plate of fried chicken to illustrate a story about a Black transperson?  

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.   

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.

 

Arrest Made In Acoff Case

Thanks to Zoe Renee Lapin, I was happy to find out from her that the Olmsted Township, OH po-po's have made an arrest in the Cemia Dove Acoff case.   

What I'm NOT happy about is the continued blatant violations of the AP Stylebook trans reporting guidelines by the stenographers at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and their ongoing disrespect of my young trans sister that is setting the tone for the jacked up coverage of this case by the Cleveland area media.  

Since they have basically lapsed into a 'we don't care' attitude concerning how to write a story that properly reflects the AP Stylebook and respects Cemia without erasing her trans identity, I'm going to show the stenographers there how it's done 

(Moni cracks knuckles)

***
OLMSTED TOWNSHIP -- A Parma man was arrested this morning (May 4) for the murder of Cemia Dove Acoff, the 20-year-old transgender woman whose body was found in a pond on Mackenzie Road April 17.


Andre L. Bridges, 36, is being held in Olmsted Township jail following his arrest by Olmsted Township police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Fugitive Task Force.

Acoff was reported missing by her family in late March, and her body was found by a resident who lives in the apartment next to the retention pond. There were multiple stab wounds on her body, and a chain and a concrete block were attached to her waist.

There is still an active investigation going on with this case, according to Olmsted Township Police Chief John Minek.

***

See Cleveland Plain Dealer how easy that was?    If you had done that from the beginning, you would have saved yourself a lot of unnecessary drama unless that was your intention in the first place.

But at this point happy to see that the alleged perpetrator of this crime has been captured.   My Cleveland trans peeps and their allies will be keeping a close eye on this case and watching it to see that Cemia and her family gets justice.