Rally For CeCe Acoff

The rally for Ce Ce Acoff in Cleveland that was organized by Zoe Lapin got moved to the steps of Cleveland 's City Hall yesterday on a gorgeous spring day with the trans flag flying from the City hall flag post.  

The rally was covered by several news stations who sadly continue to use the mug shot and other unflattering photo of Cemia and misgender her.

In addition to Zoe being one of the speakers for the rally that started at 3 PM EDT, another one was Cleveland City Council member Joe Cimperman, who has called the murder a hate crime.. 

Cemia lived a trouble life of acceptance,” said Councilmember Cimperman in a

news release on Wednesday. “While Cemia struggled, she did not deserve to die as what is likely a hate crime. Too often we lose loved ones because of fear or hate. Violence should not be tolerated against anyone regardless of race, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.”

If I find any video of the event I'll add it to the post...

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

When GLAAD, HRC, a host of other allied LGBT organizations, people in the trans community from Cleveland, Ohio, around the nation and the world tell you that the two transphobic articles you wrote in the Cemia Acoff case are deeply offensive, it would stand to reason that you would at least change them. 

Here we are three days later and the offensive headlines and paragraphs in the two awful hate crime stories penned by John Caniglia are STILL there.

And no, these two stories aren't even close to meeting AP standards for reporting on trans people. If you think Cleveland Plain Dealer we didn't notice the little stunt you pulled, just advising you we transfolks have above average reading comprehension.

And it's why you're getting called out on this in the first place.  

Bloggers by simply talking to people in the Cleveland trans community quickly established that Ms Acoff's name is Cemia.   From that we found pictures on her Facebook page.   Another friend of Cemia's created the RIP Ce Ce graphic that is up on my blog so I don't need to put up the mug shots that you disrespectfully continue to keep up on those two jacked up posts.

And you think we didn't notice you:

* Still have those jacked up titles for both articles
* Still kept the mugshots in both articles
* Still refuse to excise the criminal record that is not germane to the story
* Still are refusing to refer to Cemia as she, with female pronouns or as a transgender female.
* Still refuse to use her chosen name as part of the AP Stylebook guidelines you claim to have followed. 

Digging your heels in and hoping this will blow over is only serving to piss off the Cleveland, Ohio, US and  international trans communities, along with our allies in the United States and around the world.  

With each passing hour you continue to look like transphobic jerks for not doing the right thing and simply making the edits to the stories that will treat Cemia with the dignity that you stripped her of.

And if you think posting at the bottom of the offending article that you 'amended' it to comply with AP Stylebook standards, I have waterfront property along I-10 between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge, LA in the Atchafalaya Swamp I'd like to sell you

I could go on, but I'll let Dr. Kelley Winters give you her take on your wastes of bandwith articles.

The barely edited article is not at all within the AP Stylebook guidelines.

It states, "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."

The language in Caniglia and Corrigan's article is only somewhat more gender neutral and nowhere respectful of Ms. Acoff as a woman who lived, died and publicly identified as a woman (a point the authors sensationalized, regarding her arrest because she affirmed herself as a woman to transit police).

Male pronouns remain in paragraph 3-- one in a quote and another not in a quoted statement. Hormonal transition care is maligned for all transgender and transsexual people as "dangerous drugs." The authors make a point to ridicule the underwear she wore when she died, a humiliation they would never inflict on a person of privilege. Ms. Acoff is described throughout the article as more criminal than her murderer(s).

The authors depict the victim with a mug shot, rather than a respectful photo of the young woman she was ( http://tinyurl.com/chgevw5 ).

While sensationalizing her past petty infractions, the authors neglect to mention whether the police have a suspect or are even investigating her death as a murder. This article typifies the victim bashing and stereotyping that so many transgender women, especially trans women of color, suffer in the media. It is a disgrace to journalism.

And hey, Dr. Winters was nice to you.   I called it a 'journalistic hate crime' and stand by what I wrote in light of seeing the 'frack you' half azzed edits you did. 

You can circle the wagons to shield yourselves from the caca storm your articles and disrespect of Ce Ce Acoff touched off all you want, but memo to you Cleveland Plain Dealer, John Caniglia and everybody else whose transphobic fingerprints are on this.  We aren't stupid, and the trans community isn't letting up or letting go on this blatant disrepect of a deceased transwoman. 

Neither am I until you address the problems in those articles because it's transpeeps who look like me that are taking the brunt of these hate crime killings along with trans Latinas.

It's fouled up stories like this that create the climate for people to think it's okay to kill transpeople in the first place.

Another Black Transwoman Dies In Ohio And Is Disrespected In The Local Media

First the details of the third African-American transwoman this month to die too soon at the hands of a murderer, then I go Maya Wilkes concerning the over the top transphobic 'reporting' of  Cleveland Plain Dealer stenographers (they don't deserve the title of reporter) John Caniglia and Jo Ellen Corrigan

20 year old C. Acoff (I refuse to use the old name because this sistah has been disrespected enough) from Cleveland was found April 17 in a retention pond on MacKenzie Road, north of Cook Road, in Olmsted Township, OH nude from the waist down.  She was stabbed multiple times tied with a rope to a block of concrete

The body was found at 3:30 PM EDT by a renter living in an apartment building on the 20 acre property in the township. Acoff had been missing since March 27 and the body did match a previously filed missing person's report with the Cleveland Police Department.on April 19. 


Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's office positively identified through DNA on Monday

Police are looking for the wastes of DNA who committed the crime.

Now that I've gotten the basics out of the way, lets talk about the journalistic hate crime that was just committed against Ms. Acoff.  Caniglia and Corrigan must have read this TransGriot post because this is the worst piece of alleged reporting on a trans murder I've seen in a while.  

Misgender the person at every opportunity?  Check
Use police mugshot?  Check
Drag old criminal record into the story?  Check
'Deception meme' injected into story?    Check
'Tragic transsexual' meme injected into this story?   Check
Use salacious and sensationalist headlines?  Check
Not give a rats anus about the victim's dignity and their femme presentation?  Check
Disrespecting another African-American transwoman?   Check.

I am so fracking sick of African-American transwomen who have unfortunately been killed repeatedly being disrespected by predominately white reporters.  Would you have done a story on a white cis female murder victim that way?   Would you have used a mug shot or plastered her criminal record all through a story reporting on her death?

No John Caniglia and Jo Ellen Corrigan, you damned sure would not have disrespected a white cis female murder victim that way even if she had a criminal record.  You probably would have left it out of the story or your editor would have done so before publication.

But you (and your editor) felt it was okay to disrespect Ms Acoff  in that jacked up manner. Is it because you and your editor actually hate transwomen?   If you don't, the two articles you wrote sure do leave readers (especially in the trans community) with the impression that you don't care about or think transwomen, and especially African-American transwomen don't deserve dignity even in death.

You damned sure left no room for doubt to local, national and international trans readers and our allies how you felt or whether you even cared about the victim.   It's also apparent you weren't concerned how these stories would be perceived by a community who is beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of being dissed in the media.  

I'm even more pissed off about this journalistic hate crime because this is the third African-American transwoman who has been killed this month and the second who was disrespected by her local media outlet.

It's obvious you haven't heard of the AP Stylebook guidelines on how to RESPECTFULLY report on transgender people, so let's go over them shall we?

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.

These guidelines have been in effect since 2001, so I'd love to hear your excuses for how not one but TWO transphobic stories you signed your name to (and your editor allowed) got published. 

Better yet, talk to GLAAD about why you did it.  I'm sure they'll be calling soon to ask why.


TransGriot Update.  Thanks to TransGriot readers Jahaira, Zoe and Lilith found out Ms Acoff's femme name is Cemia Dove.  Friends called her Ce Ce.   Found the new picture of Ce Ce gracing this article on Ce Ce's Facebook page.

LA Times Meets With Local Trans Activists and GLAAD Over Transphobic Coverage

Been keeping an eye on Los Angeles and the unfolding story since February concerning the local trans community's outrage over a transphobic LA Times story featuring murdered transwoman Cassidy Vickers.

The story triggered a petition drive spearheaded by Gender Justice LA seeking a face to face meeting with LA Times officials to air grievances over the Vickers and  past misgendering articles.  They also wished to have the dialogue to suggest ways of improving coverage of the Los Angeles trans community and ensure transphobic reporting from their paper of record doesn't happen again.

The Times agreed to meet with the local activists, GJLA and GLAAD over the problematic coverage, and the meeting took place yesterday.  Hannah Howard was kind enough to send me a report of the meeting that she compiled.

1. The LA Times acknowledged mistakes in terminology and pronoun usage in the article about Cassidy Vickers
2. They acknowledged and apologized for harm this caused the community
3. They also acknowledge the need to provide context about trans discrimination when writing about crimes involving trans victims.
4. They acknowledged the need to attribute any terminology used by family members that doesn't match a person's chosen gender identity as their perspective and not representative of a neutral viewpoint.
5. They acknowledged they need to learn more about the community to accurately report on it
6. They committed to a trans sensitivity training for their staff
7. They gave us their internal style guide for talking about transgender issues for us to review and edit. Following edits, they committed to distributing it to their entire staff
8. They committed to distributing GLAADs updated style guide for talking about transgender issues when it is released next month to their staff.
9. They committed to using Gender Justice LA, GLAAD, and the TEEP program as a resources to check in with before publishing articles about trans issues.
10. We pitched to them a number of stories they might also consider writing about the LA trans community, including writing about GJLA's Theatre Of The Oppressed program and Transgender Leadership Development Program, profiling Trans 100 members and LA residents Bamby Salcedo or Michelle Enfield, documenting the state of talks between the trans community and LA County Sheriffs and incorporating it into ongoing coverage on the sheriff's department, and writing about the success of the TEEP program that serves as a model for trans-employment programs around the country and the world. Although they didn't definitively say they would do each of these, they were very enthusiastic about the stories in general, and they eager for us to help them dissever more stories they could write about the trans community.

Overall, I think it was productive meeting and they seemed very receptive. As with all these types of meetings, it is only a start and hopefully dialogue will continue over the coming months and years. But I think was a good start, and there is no way it could have happened without the grassroots response of so many amazing activists and allies over the past couple months. Everyone who signed the petition, came to the delivery event, publicized the issue, or otherwise contributed should consider themselves a true trans hero!

GLAAD is also publishing an article about the meeting and I will send the link when they do.

Thanks Hannah.  Will be interested to hear GLAAD's perspective on what took place yesterday. 

Your community fight was also important because like the New York Times, the LA Times is read far beyond the boundaries of your city and is an opinion shaping paper of record .  It's also why I was keeping up with what was transpiring on the Left Coast in these electronic pages.

It's important for our trans stores to be told in the media.  But HOW they are told matters.


I hope the Times does stay committed to what they outlined in yesterday's meeting and it does result in better coverage for trans people in Southern California and nationally  

Black Trans Woman Killed In Florida And Subsequently Misgendered By The Media

Here we fracking go again.   This time this all too familiar situation shifts to Orlando, FL  

30 year old Ashley Sinclair was found shot to death early this morning in a wooded area on Rio Grande Drive just off S. Orange Blossom Trail in Orange County.   Police responded to neighbors calling 911 at 6 AM EDT reporting shots fired in the 1600 block of Nimrod Lane. 

A neighbor said they saw a black sedan pull up and then heard four shots fired.

“I look out my window. I see black car here. Then I hear ‘boom, boom, boom.’ Four,” said neighbor Ramon.   Deputies searched the woods and knocked on doors to get any information.


“This is an obvious victim of a homicide. They have been out canvassing the area to see if they’ve seen anything. They do have the victim identified, but have not notified the next of kin yet,” said Jeff Williamson with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Anyone with information regarding this homicide investigation that will lead to the capture and conviction of the wastes of DNA who did this is urged to call  CrimeLine at 800-423-TIPS (8477).
Now that we got that business out of the way regarding another fallen trans sister and hopefully gotten the process started toward bringing the people who killed her to justice, let me start calling out the misgendering of another African-American transwoman by the media.  But before I go off, let's review the AP Stylebook guidelines for reporting on trans people shall we?

    

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.

I can't tell you how many posts I've written on this blog about media outlets all over the country REPEATEDLY failing to grasp what is so simple a concept to follow that even this humble blogger gets something Amanda Evans and the award winning journalists at News13 in the Orlando, FL area didn't   

Take a look at the photo the family provided of Ashley.  She is not a 'transgender man' as you reported, Amanda.  A transgender man is someone who was born in a female body like yours and whose gender identity and gender presentation to the world is male.  

Ashley is a transgender female.   

And I'm pissed off not only because once again another one of my trans sisters is gone from this Earth too soon, I'm pissed off because she was misgendered in this report.    I'm also angry because I've seen this crap happen with African-American (and Latina) girls like us far too often in the media.

Now lets see how long it's going to take for your award winning website to correct this misgendering of Ashley Sinclair.

Petition Delivered To LA Times-Meeting Soon

I posted a story about Gender Justice LA along with other trans people in the LA area being more than a little pissed off  about the disrespectful reporting in their paper of record concerning a recent article by reporter Sam Quinones that disrespected the slain Cassidy Vickers.

Hannah Howard brought to my attention the effort to not only collect signatures on a petition to be delivered to the Los Angeles Times offices asking the paper to use more sensitivity and care when it comes to covering transgender people and trans issues, they were also seeking a meeting to discuss community concerns about that coverage.

"The use of male pronouns, birth names, and terms like 'men with women's breasts and clothes' to refer to transgender women brings up painful memories for many of us in the transgender community," the petition states.  "Throughout our lives, people refuse to acknowledge our gender identities, use our birth names and birth genders to refer to us against our will, and respond with varying degrees of harassment and violence when we protest."

The petition containing over 300 names was delivered on Friday, and the Times agreed to meet with community members and GLAAD to discuss those issues.

Will keep you posted on this unfolding story..

LA Area Transwomen Pissed About Transphobic LA Times Article

Just as New York area transwomen were extremely ticked off about the transphobic reporting of the New York that came to a head in the story that was done on Lorena Escalera, our West Coast sisters are highly pissed off about the transphobic reporting in the West Coast's paper of record that has now come to anger raising levels with Sam Quinones' recent LA Times article about Hollywood's sex workers that focused on the murdered Cassidy Vickers.

The Quinones article disrespectfully referred to Vickers and the other trans sex workers as “male hookers dressed as women” and “men with women's breasts and clothes”.

It repeatedly referred to Cassidy in violation of the AP Stylebook guidelines for reporting on trans people by her old name and male pronouns.  It also disrespected the murdered Cassidy by asserting she was 'a gay male who dresses for attention and money.'   And as you wise readers probably guessed,  the trans person in question that was disrespected in death by the article was survey says, African-American. 

Note to the Los Angeles Times and their writers, check the AP Stylebook if you have questions about how to write about a transperson.

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. 

The pissivity of the West Coast girls like us over the article has triggered a petition drive that seeks to gather a modest 1000 signatures.  

In addition to the petition drive that seeks a retraction of the Quinones story, LA trans activists are also seeking a face to face meeting with LA Times officials to air grievances over past LA Times misgendering articles and ensure they don't ever see such a blatantly transphobic article written again. 

Hope GLAAD will also be there in support of the Los Angeles area trans community if and when they have this meeting. .

WWLT-TV, I Find Your Lack Of AP Stylebook Trans Understanding Disturbing

Why in Hades is it so hard for professional journalists to get this breathtakingly simple concept?

Per the AP Stylebook:

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.

Once again (sigh), we have another example of media misgendering of a transperson.

This person is being sought by the New Orleans po-po's as a suspect in a French Quarter robbery.   BTW, if you have info in that regard, call New Orleans Crimestoppers

But back to riffing on the media again.   WWLT-TV's report was in violation of the AP Stylebook guidelines for reporting on trans people.  Since they have shown no aptitude for being able to read the English language version of the AP Stylebook  the TransGriot is going to have to go back to her earlier blog policy of showing them by example how it should have been done.

(Moni cracks knuckles)

NEW ORLEANS - Police are searching for a suspect they describe as a transgender female who they say robbed a man while walking on Bourbon St.

According to police, the robbery happened early Tuesday morning at around 5:25.

According to police spokesman, Frank Robertson, the suspect reportedly approached the victim and tried to start a conversation, then two other suspects appeared, and attacked the man. They then took his wallet and money.

Police say they are searching for a Transgender African American female, 5’07” to 6’00” tall, in her mid-20’s to early 30’s. If you have any information that could help police, call CRIMESTOPPERS at 822-1111.

***

See, now that wasn't so hard was it WWLT-TV?    You might as well start now practicing how to get these descriptions of trans people consistently right since you have a large concentration of my trans peeps in the New Orleans metro area.    It will not be the first or last time you have to accurately report on a trans person in New Orleans, so get used to doing it. . 

And since it's more accurate, it might even lead to the capture of said suspect instead of the confusion you sowed when you wrote the aforementioned piece describing a person with a feminine gender presentation as a man.

Hampton Case in Ohio Update

I posted last week about the Hampton trans murder case in Ohio and my pissivity over the almost immediate deployment of the Black trans unwoman meme' in the initial reports by several Cincinnati media outlets.  

The local media in addition to immediately misgendering her, assumed Hampton was engaged in sex work, which pissed me off still further

Well, interestingly enough, there's a story that came out yesterday in GLBTNewsCincinnati.com by Worley Rodehaver about this latest trans murder based on an interview with a person purported to be a relative of Hampton's named Terri.

According to the article, Hampton had just had a fistfight with a transphobe who called her names, and the cismale she vanquished was being teased by other males for being beat up by a 'fag'.

Terri says another female relative was with Hampton and went inside a carryout.   Sometime during that period she was in the carryout Hampton was shot, and as we are aware of later died after being taken to the hospital

Terri is also quoted in the article as saying about Hampton “He always had to fight (literally) because of who he was. He lived in a bad area of town around young males who are in gangs and sell drugs.” 

“What I am concerned about is the State of Ohio does not have any Hate Crime Laws regarding sexual orientation or gender identity.”  Terri concluded, “I hope the Cincinnati Police Department will find this person/s and bring them to justice. 

Terri, that's the same thing we transpeople are hoping and praying for as well, that your relative get justice. 

Another thing we African-American transwomen are hoping for is the media actually pays attention to and starts consistently using the AP Stylebook guidelines on respectfully reporting on trans people.   

We transwomen of color are extremely sick and tired of the first words coming out of your media mouths when we are unfortunately killed and you report the stories is making the assumption filled and racist leap that we are engaged in sex work

You know the old saying about when you assume.

But it's more like you're making azzes out of yourselves, not the transperson you disrespected. . 

Another Young Transwoman Lost In Ohio

While I was in Charlotte for the just concluded TransFaith In Color Conference, heard about another young African-American transwoman who has been killed in the Cincinnati suburb of Walnut Hills, OH.  .

As usual, we have another case of an African-American transwoman being disrespectfully misgendered in the media, followed up by transphobic comments in the jacked up story on that media outlet's website.

What aggravates me even further about the developing story besides the pimping of the Black trans prostitute meme, is before I left for Charlotte had to report about another Chicago trans woman who had been killed.  

WKRC-TV. read your AP Stylebook as to the proper way to report on trans persons.  Umm, never mind, I'll do it myself since you trained professional journalists can't seem to get it right the first time.

Before I do your job for you, here's the pertinent section of the AP Stylebook you need to pay fracking attention to since this probably won't be the last time you end up reporting on trans persons

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.

***
Shortly after 10:30 PM  EDT Saturday night, police were called to the parking lot of a Dairy Mart on E. McMillan Street near Victory Parkway Drive where they found 26 year old Kendall L. Hampton suffering from a gunshot wound    She was rushed to University Hospital where she died  

Anyone with information about this homicide is asked to call the Cincinnati Police Criminal Investigations Section at (513) 352-3542 or Crimestoppers at (513) 352-3040.

***

See WKRC-TV?   That wasn't so hard was it?  So what's your excuse for the piss-poor reporting in your story?

This is early info on the latest transwoman to die in 2012   Until I find out what Ms Hampton's femme name was, I will refer to her in this and subsequent posts by her initials.

And if someone has a more flattering photo of her besides this po-po mugshot or info about Ms. Hampton, please e-mail it to me ASAP.

Your Point In This Misgendering Kara Article Is?

While perusing the Net for some interesting stories to comment on, I stumbled across this one about Kara Nicole Hays, the 26 year old trans Britney Spears fan who has spent $70,000 in surgeries, hormones, et cetera to look like the pop singer.   

Kara asserts in the NY Daily News article she hasn't had any work on her face because she fortunately resembles Spears.

While I have more productive uses for $70,000 if I were blessed to get that kind of money to stick in my bank account, if it makes her happy to look like Britney, I ain't mad at Kara for living her life to the best of her ability.   But what I didn't appreciate along with the transphobic remarks in the comment sections was the misgendering of  Kara.   

But then again I long ago ceased to expect quality journalism about #girlslikeus in a town with a tabloid in the New York Post that routinely stoops to the ignorant common denominator when it comes to writing about our trans lives.  The paper of record in the NY Times isn't much better lately when it comes to writing about trans people and now here comes the NY Daily News in the misgendering sweepstakes.. 

That doesn't mean I'll give up the fight to have journalists live up to the AP Stylebook standards when it comes to reporting and writing about transpeople and insisting they be followed to the letter

That's a nice segue into me calling out the author of this piece, Lindsay Goldwert.  
.  
Yo Lindsay, a 'transgender man'  is a transman.  Kara is a 'transgender woman' or transwoman.  The title of the article you wrote was also borderline insulting..

It also isn't a new thing for me to see someone go through surgical procedures to look like a celebrity.  In Houston back in the 80's and early 90's we had a female illusionist named Rhonda Blake who loved and resembled Cher, and had surgical enhancements done to perfect her look.  Unfortunately one of the things she had done on her road to to achieving Cher perfection was silicone pumping, and a botched procedure killed her.

But back to the post.
 
I have to ask Lindsay Goldwert what was the point in writing this article?  So Kara is a trans Britney Spears fan who has the genetics, ability, cash flow and desire to look like her idol.  At least she chose a living person to emulate.  

That's more than I can say for 51 year old Sarah Burge of Great Britain, who spent over $500,000 to look like Barbie and her competition in 21 year old Ukranian Valeria Lukyanova   

Burge is now handing surgery vouchers to her now 8 year old daughter and Botox shot to her 15 year old one. 

If by writing the post you were attempting to suggest that having surgical procedures to look like a celebrity is a transgender thang, it isn't.   I've already given you two examples of ciswomen who did so just to emulate a plastic doll and ciswomen also have plastic surgery to look like women they idolize, too.

And let's not forget about all the Michael Jackson impersonators who kept plastic surgeons in business during the 80's and 90's.

Disrespecting Lorena

Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, GLAAD and a long list of people have already commented on the jacked up and borderline transphobic way the New York Times and reporters Al Baker and Nate Schwebel  recently wrote about Lorena Escalera's tragic death in a fire.

Now it's my turn.

Over the last few years of this blog I have been more than pissed off (and written about it) in terms of what seems to be the obstinate refusal in many cases of media people to adhere to the AP Stylebook guidelines for reporting on transgender people. 

Once again, let Moni break it down for you in terms of how you peeps with the journalism degrees are supposed to report 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 way the individuals live publicly.

Now that is so simple even the GEICO caveman gets that concept.   The execution of it has been piss poor in article after disrespectful article around the country.  

As Janet so eloquently stated about this

“As my city's and our nation's paper of record, I would expect the New York Times to treat any subject, regardless of their path in life, with dignity.”

"In Lorena Escalera's life she was so much more than the demeaning, sexist portrait they painted of girls like us. It goes beyond a ‘choice of words.’ According to the Times' limiting, harmful portrait of Lorena, she was nothing more than a ‘curvaceous’ bombshell for men to gawk at. That is not the ‘personal’ story of any woman, and until we treat trans women like human beings - in life and death - with dignity, families and struggles, our society will never see us beyond pariahs in our communities.

What's even more galling is that New York Times Metro Editor Carolyn Ryan is adopting a bunker mentality and refusing to acknowledge mistakes were made in her reporters deploying the unwoman meme against a transwoman of color and disrespecting her all too brief 25 year life and tragic death.

Lorena Escalera lived her life and died as a Latina.  Too bad the words Baker and Schwebel chose robbed Escalera of her dignity and her femininity 

Detroit Fox Noise Affiliate Compares Murdered Transwoman To Trash

Black transwomen have to do battle with the 'unwoman' meme that is hurled at them on an almost daily basis along with disrespect in the media that I've documented on this blog ad nauseum.  

But even I am stunned and shaking my head at how low the reporting of Fox 2 in Detroit went in the wake of the murder of 35 year old transwoman Coko Williams and their reporting of it.

No attempts to get a photo of the victim, just a picture of random trash and attempting to plant the usual streetwalker stereotypes about Black transwomen.

Body of Person in Woman's Clothes Found Near 6 Mile & Woodward: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Williams was found shot to death in the 100 block of Parkhurst Street in Palmer Park, near the intersection of Woodward Avenue and McNichols (Six Mile) Road at about 5:30 AM EDT Tuesday morning.

"We are saddened to hear of yet another life ended too soon," said Nusrat Ventimiglia, director of victim's services for Equality Michigan, in a statement. "Our thoughts go out to Ms. Williams' family and friends who have suffered a great loss. We urge anyone with information about Coko's killing to contact the Detroit Police."

Friends recalled Williams as a loner .   

"She was really a sweet, quiet girl," said Dada, who had known Williams for the past 15 years and told Between The Lines that she sometimes worked as a hair stylist. "She was never shady or nasty. She wasn't that type of girl at all. She was always respectful of herself and to other people. It's sad for her to go out the way she did."

It's even sadder that Fox 2 would disrespect Coko's  life like that, but that's par for the course for a FOX Noise affiliate.  Every day the affiliates are becoming more like their parent news organization.   

What's even more irritating is that this happened the day after Qasim Raqib was sentenced to 25-40 years for the murder of Shelley Hilliard but it seems like the Detroit media didn't learn anything about respectful reporting on trans people in that case.

Fox 2 and media peeps, in case it escaped your attention, transpeople are human beings too.  I know that concept is hard to grasp no thanks to the unhinged screeching of transphobic radical feminists and transphobic elements of the gay and lesbian community, but I sincerely doubt you would compare dead cis people to trash especially if they are of European ancestry. 

So don't think for one nanosecond that it's acceptable to compare Black trans people to garbage.

Okay GLAAD, where are you on this one?

Queerty Racism And Transphobia On Display Again

There's no love lost between me and Queerty as many of you longtime readers are aware of.  I've written more than a few times about the failures Queerty regularly gets into when it comes to race and trans people.

It seems this rainbow themed site never fails to take the low road when it concerns the way transpeople are covered, the transphobia that is unleashed in its comment threads, the racism it sinks to or with gleefully wallowing in white gay male vanillacentric privilege .

But this was the latest classless move by this site that was revived from the dead in 2011 when it disrespectfully penned the headline in its take on the Daily Mail story about Evie, President Obama's Indonesian trans nanny.

Queerty referred to Evie in its headline about the story as "a tranny ho' 

Seriously Queerty?  Your pink sheets are showing again.   And don't forget the pointed hood.

How apoplectic would you be if a trans themed publication aimed a word you consider a slur to your community at you and your readership?  Umm, never mind, we already know the answer to that question.

Queerty and other stops in the Gayosphere, this transphobia in gay circles is really getting old.

This time you got a two-fer in terms of letting your transphobia and racism shine through in your headline aimed at Evie.

As Evie's story points out, transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of human life and we are intertwined with it to the point in which we not only make history, a transperson was the nanny for the future president of the United States.

Evie's story also reminds us of where we don't want to go in the international trans community of being unhappily forced to perform and live a gender role we don't feel comfortable with. 

The discrimination and transphobia aimed at my Indonesian transsisters is no joke, and only someone wallowing in vanillacentric privilege would see it that way. 

You Queerty peeps and your like minded acolytes may think being trans is a joke or we don't belong in 'your GL community',  but if you define your community as having the same whiteness and vanillacentric 'special right' to other, discriminate and harass people as cis straight people do without being called on it, that's a community I don't want to be a part of.