Transgender Day Of Remembrance-The Peeps We've Lost

We are rapidly approaching a solemn day in which we transgender people and our allies memorialize the people we lost this year to anti-transgender violence.

I'm beginning a week of posts to commemorate the TDOR, and I'll start it with posting some photos in memory of the 200 plus people we've lost over the nine years we've been doing these events. Thanks to Barney and HRC, that list is only going to grow longer.

I want to point out as well that 70% of the people on the Remembering Our Dead site are people of color. May we NEVER forget the people whose lives were tragically taken away from us.



Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis



Nizah Morris




Chamelle Pickett



Chareka Keys



Tyra Hunter



Rita Hester



Amanda Milan



Gwen Araujo

Mother Speaks Out For Wounded Trans Child

TransGriot Note: Not having transgender protections codified in federal law leads to a climate in which thugs repeatedly do this type of crap to transpeople because they feel they can get away with it.
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Mother speaks out on behalf of wounded trans child

By Timothy Cwiek
PGN Writer-at-Large
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News

As a young transgender woman clings to life with a bullet in her head, her mother is speaking out about violence against the trans community.

"I'm speaking out for Tiara, and for her community," said Arlene Coleman-Powell, mother of Tiara Coleman, a trans woman who was shot in the head inside her Frankford apartment Sept. 22.

Coleman, 25, remains comatose, in critical but stable condition, at Hahnemann University Hospital, unable to tell investigators what happened. She also was stabbed repeatedly about the head and face, her mother said.

"I want everyone to know about this brutal attack," Coleman-Powell said. "People don't understand the hard life that trans people have. I'm learning more about this every day."

Coleman-Powell expressed hope that other parents of transgenders will avoid the anguish she's enduring.

She heard of the incident at about 7 a.m. Sept. 22, when a friend notified her that her child had been taken to the hospital as a gunshot victim.

"The first week, I was just in a daze," she said. "I was totally lost."

Police said they don't have a suspect. "There are no arrests and the job is still under investigation," said Officer Raul Malveiro, a police spokesperson.

A resident of the Olney section, Coleman-Powell rented a hotel room near Hahnemann so that she could be closer to her child.

She said Coleman cannot speak, but she recently made a movement to acknowledge her mother's presence.

"I got some acknowledgment that she knew I was there," the parent noted.

Coleman spent most of her youth in Virginia, but returned to Philadelphia as a teenager and attended Strawberry Mansion Junior High and Northeast High, her mother said.

She became a talented hairstylist, who always brought joy to her mother.

"She was always saying things to make me laugh. When I would come home from work, tired, she was so good to me. She'd do things to make me feel better."

Jaci Adams, an advocate for Coleman, hopes the victim will regain consciousness soon. "My hope is that she can recover in some capacity to tell us what happened," Adams said.

Coleman-Powell plans to continuously prod detectives until the case is solved.

"I will not let this drop," she said. "You have to get involved. You can't sit back and wait for someone else to do everything."

In addition to regular visits from her mother, Coleman frequently receives visits from her older sister, Tara, and members of her large extended family, including nine aunts and uncles, her mother said.

The assault has been life-altering, not only for Coleman, but for her mother.

"My life will be forever changed because of this," she said. "I'm going to take care of my child forever."

www.epgn.com

Stephanie and Ukea-Rest In Peace

Five years ago today at the same Southeast DC intersection where transsistah Tyra Hunter was involved in the fateful auto accident that took her life, two transsistahs named Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis were brutally murdered.

19 year old Stephanie and 18 year old Ukea met at a SMYAL (Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League) meeting and became best friends. They were inseparable to the point where they helped each other transition and lived in an apartment together.

And unfortunately, they died together as well.

At 11:30 PM on August 12, 2002 the girls told friends they were headed to a nearby gas station to pick up cigarettes. No one's certain whether they actually accomplished their stated mission and were in the process of returning or had even left. At around 3 AM the girls were sitting in Thomas' Camry at a stop sign at 50th and C Streets. Suddenly a car rolled up next to them and sprayed them with semi automatic gunfire.

According to an eyewitness, another car approached the intersection after the shooting and the driver got out to ascertain what had happened. Ukea Davis was already dead and the driver nudged Stephanie to see if by some miracle she was alive.
She acknowledged she was by moaning as he touched her shoulder.

But unfortunately the good Samaritan was forced to flee when the shooters came back to finish their grisly work. The shooter got out of the car and peppered the mortally wounded teens with more gunfire. By the time rescue workers reached the bloodsoaked car Stephanie was also dead. She and Ukea had taken ten rounds each.

Even in a city with a high murder rate such as Washington DC, the execution style killings of two transgender teenagers rocked the city and the DC transgender community. Their joint funeral was packed. The people who spoke at the vigil held for them included then mayor Anthony Williams and DC congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

As of this writing the perpetrators in the murders of Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis still haven't been brought to justice. To make things worse just four days after the vigil marking the one year anniversary of the killings Washington underwent a series of transgender murders. In the span of eight days two transwomen were killed and another survived a shooting near the US capitol building.

The sad part about the Thomas-Davis killing was the brutality of it. While I'm happy that in the short time they had on the planet they got to transition, sometimes it shocks me just how visceral the hatred is toward transgender people. It saddens me to think about the fact that Stephanie and Ukea didn't get a chance to unleash whatever potential their lives held for them. It angers me to think that someone hated or felt so threatened by Stephanie and Ukea just openly living their lives that they picked up a gun and killed them.

Rest in peace, ladies.

Tyra Hunter Anniversary

Today is the twelfth anniversary of the death of transsistah Tyra Hunter.

The major differences in her death is that it didn't happen at the hands of a violent transphobe wielding a knife or gun. Her death was preventable. The disgusting part of it is that the transphobes in this case were a doctor and a Washington DC firefighter.

Tyra Hunter had been transitioned since she was 14 years old. On the morning of August 7, 1995 the popular 24 year old hairdresser was on her way to work as a passenger in a car. That vehicle ended up being involved in an accident at the corner of 50th and C streets in Southeast DC.

Tyra and the driver had been pulled from the smoking ruins of the vehicle by onlookers and were lying on the ground when fire department personnel arrived at the scene. The neighborhood began gathering to watch as a male firefighter began treating Tyra for her injuries. That is, until he cut open her pants leg and noted she had male genitalia.

At that point, according to eyewitnesses, the firefighter, later identified as Adrian Williams stood up and backed away from Tyra. She was semi-conscious, complaining about pain and gasping for breath as he was quoted as saying by one witness, "This bitch ain't no girl...It's a nigger, he got a dick."

Williams began joking with the other fire department personnel at the scene as the bystanders pleaded with them to resume working to save Tyra's life. One bystander is quoted as saying, "It don’t make any difference, he’s [sic] a person, he’s a human being."

The firefighters on the scene didn't share that assessment. They were more concerned with honing their comedic skills than doing their duty. Another witness at the scene heard one of the firefighters say, "look, it's got a cock and balls." While the firefighters stood around doing their not ready for prime time act, Tyra's treatment was discontinued for 5 to 7 critical minutes while bystanders pleaded for them to resume treatment. Finally an EMS supervisor arrived and resumed treating Tyra. She was rushed to DC General Hospital where she arrived at 4:10 PM.

But the nightmare was just beginning for Tyra. The DC General Hospital ER staff compounded the insulting neglect of the fire fighters. A doctor refused to treat her and she died of blunt force trauma at 5:20 PM in the now closed hospital's emergency room.

The case alarmed and enraged not only African-American transpeople nationally, but the entire transgender and local African-American community. Over 2,000 people attended her August 12 funeral.

Tyra's mother Margie Hunter, who ironically works as a nurse, filed a $10 million civil lawsuit in February 1996 in DC Superior Court against the District of Columbia, the firefighter and a DC General Hospital physician. The allegations contained in the suit alleged that the D.C. Fire Department personnel called to the scene of a car accident involving Tyra made derogatory comments about Tyra's personal appearance and withdrew emergency medical treatment. Mrs. Hunter also charged that Tyra died as a result of medical negligence while, or after being treated at D.C. General Hospital.

On December 11, 1998 a jury awarded Margie Hunter $2.9 million in damages. The jury determined that DC Fire Department employees violated the 1977 DC Human Rights Law, and that Tyra Hunter's death was caused by medical malpractice at DC General. Experts testified during the trial that had Tyra received proper medical care at either stage of treatment, she had an 86% chance of surviving the accident.

The city further angered DC transgender residents by immediately appealing the decision. The case was later settled for $1.75 million. DC transpeople were further enraged when they discovered that not only were none of the firefighters at the scene disciplined, but Adrian Williams had subsequently received a promotion.

In Washington DC the Tyra Hunter Drop-In Center is named for her and the sensitivity training that DC fire department personnel attend is named in her honor as well.

We must never forget what happened to Tyra on this day. We must also diligently work to ensure that what she suffered at the hands of emergency personnel is not replicated in our locales. The message must be made crystal clear to our first responders that when they swear to serve and protect, that means ALL citizens.

Amanda Milan Anniversary

black and white photo of Amanda and Nicole by Brian Lantelme.


Today is the seventh anniversary of the brutal killing of Amanda Milan.

In the early morning hours of June 20, 2000 25 year old Amanda met some friends at a McDonald's on the corter of 8th Avenue and 43rd Street. Around 4 AM she left and crossed 8th Avenue as her friends watched to catch a cab back to her Central Park West apartment in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

It would be the last time her friends got a chance to hang out with her.

She encountered a 20 year old man by the name of Dwayne McCuller. He saw the tall, buxom and beautiful African-American transwoman pass him and for whatever reason made a derogatory comment that escalated into a heated verbal exchange.

"Why would you say something like that to me? You don't even know me." she replied to the initial insult.

McCuller reportedly shot back, "I know what that is between your legs, you're nothing but a man. I'm going to shoot you."

Milan evidently replied, "Don't say you're going to shoot me. You want to fight me? Fight me like a man."

"Get away from me, you faggot," McCuller said, according to Milan's friends.

That exchange was typical of Amanda's feisty nature. She was a transwoman proud of who she was and didn't take crap from anybody. She was born Damon Lee Dyer in Chicago in 1974, moved to New York and transitioned in 1992. She was well-liked in the New York transgender community and often helped people down on their luck. The media played up the jet-setting escort aspect of her life but ignored that she had dreams of becoming a fashion designer.

According to a June 20, 2001 Salon.com article, her friend Patra, who is a transwoman of Jamaican descent explained Amanda's guiding philosophical principles. "Her philosophy was, ameliorate yourself from mental slavery, stand up and be who you are, play that role," said Patra. "She said all of us have an abiding reality and death is the only judgment on how a life is lived. She believed there is no justification in living a life of lies if deep down in your heart you know who you are."

Six months earlier she was lamenting the deaths of Kim and Simone, two of her closest transwomen friends. They'd been tight for 10 years, and Kim was found dead at the foot of a cliff in Australia. Simone was thrown from a fifth floor window a few months after she left New York and moved in with a man in San Francisco. She made the statement that 'things happen in threes' reflecting the belief in African-American culture that deaths occur in clusters of threes, fearing that she was next.

That statement turned out to be prophetic.

She headed to a row of cabs in front of the Port Authority Terminal after the verbal exchange. McCuller was told by 26 year old Eugene Celestine that he had a knife in his possesion which he handed to McCuller. He ran to catch up with Amanda and slit her throat. It severed her jugular vein, larnyx and cartoid artery and several people tried to stop the bleeding. With Amanda choking on her own blood she was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead at 5:10 AM.

One of the disturbing things that hasn't been confirmed but had become legend in the retelling of this story is that the cabbies, street vendors and other people in the vicinity that night allegedly cheered as McCuller cut Milan's throat.

The murder outraged and galvanized the New York transgender community. A memorial service was organized three weeks later for Milan on July 23 that was attended by 300 people. The crowd at the Metropolitan Community Church on 36th Street included fashion industry people, national and community transgender activists and the general public. (I'm still pissed to this day that I was unable to attend it).

Her friend Octavia St. Laurent (of Paris Is Burning fame) gave the eulogy. "Amanda was a transsexual. She was killed because she was a transsexual. Her neck was slashed and her story went unreported because she was Black and a transsexual,"

She had plenty to say. Her eloquent, heartfelt, angry and passionate eulogy earned her a standing ovation from the assembled crowd when she was finished. She spared no one in her commentary and indicted bigots, sexists, the ignorant, the media and the mainstream Black community.

"The Black community is the worst," St. Laurent said. "They who have suffered from prejudice in this country have treated us worse than any other people."

"Gays have rights, lesbians have rights, men have rights, women have rights, even animals have rights. "How many of us have to die before the community recognizes that we are not expendable?

McCuller was convicted in November 2002 of Milan's murder and sentenced to 17 years in prison. The New York transgender community was additionaly outraged that it wasn't classified by NYPD as a bias crime despite the fact that several witnesses heard McCuller hurl anti-transgender statements and threats to Milan.

David Anderson was convicted of hindering prosecution and received a sentence of one and a half to three years in prison for attempting to help Dwayne McCuller leave New York after the killing. Eugene Celestine, the man who handed McCuller the knife that was used to kill Milan went to trial in 2003.

Milan's mother Adaritha Dyer stated in a New York Amsterdam News interview, "Damon was the joy of my life. The Lord saw fit to bless me with a son of many talents. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, my everything, the Lord looked down upon me 25 years ago and realized that I needed a gift and a treasure that I could enjoy and rejoice in. So he blessed me with you. I love you, and you will be my memory."

Milan's aunt, Diane McKee, who ironically lived several blocks away from the murder location, stated, "I gave him unconditional love."

Octavia was right when she stated at the memorial service, "Death will not be the last word for Amanda Milan." Amanda's death became like the Stonewall Riots in 1969, the spark that once again galvanized the New York transgender community into action.

May Amanda rest in peace.

Sakia Gunn Anniversary

Today is the fourth anniversary of the hate crime murder of 15 year old African-American lesbian Sakia Gunn.

During the early morning hours on May 11, 2003 Sakia was returning to her hometown of Newark, NJ from a night out socializing on the Chelsea Piers with several friends. It's been a popular hangout in the New York metro area for young GLBT peeps of color for so long even some scenes from Paris is Burning were shot there.

After getting off the train fron New York the group was waiting for a bus on the corner of Broad and Market Streets in downtown Newark. Two men approached in a white station wagon around 3 AM and propositioned them. When the girls rejected their advances by declaring that they were lesbians one of the men got out of the car and attacked them. Gunn fought back and was stabbed in the chest by Richard McCullough who fled the scene. One of the friends flagged down a passing driver to take the mortally wounded Gunn to nearby University Hospital where she died in her friend Valencia's arms in the emergency room.

The murder set off a wave of protests in Newark and sparked outrage from the local GLBT communty. More than 2,500 people attended Gunn's funeral on May 16, 2003 and in the wake of the tragedy an LGBT advocacy group called The Newark Pride Alliance was formed. They are putting presure on the city to make good on the promises made after Sakia's death by then Newark Mayor Sharpe James to establish a community center for gay, lesbian and transgender young people in Newark, so young people don’t feel they have to go to New York City to have a safe place to hang out. The GLBT center idea is also supported by current US Representative Donald Payne (D-NJ). That promise so far has not been fulfilled and they are still working diligently to make it happen.

On the same day that Gunn's funeral was held McCullough turned himself in to authorities and was arrested in connection with the crime. He admitted calling the girls "fags" and "dykes" but claimed that Gunn died after she ran into his knife. He dropped that story after the judge threated to revoke the plea bargain deal and order a trial. McCullough also continually referred to Gunn as a "little dude."

The murder charges were dropped as a result of the deal and on March 3, 2005 McCullough pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and bias intimidation. He was sentenced on April 21, 2005 to 20 years in prison.

Gunn's murder also raised questions from her friends and family about a 2002 campaign promise made by then Mayor Sharpe James during that contentios race in which he defeated current mayor Cory Booker. At the corner where Gunn was killed there's a police booth that is supposed to be manned 24 hours a day but wasn't on that fateful night. Gunn's family and others in Newark contend that if an officer had been posted there Sakia would still be alive.

The Gunn murder also pointed out the glaring disparities in reporting and reactions when African-American GLBT peeps are bias-crime victims vis-a-vis white GLBT peeps like Matthew Shepard. Shepard's case was plastered all over the media while Sakia Gunn's case (and sadly others like JR Warren, Rashawn Brazell, Michael Sandy and Erica Keel's) received scant attention.

The editions at the Internet journal The Gully noted the tone of coverage in those few articles that were written on the Gunn murder. The reporters tended to highlight the scuffle that occurred between Gunn and implied that if Gunn and her friends had not only announced their sexual orientation, the men would have lkeft them alone. The Gully's editors argued that it is "far more likely that the men only propositioned Gunn and her friends because they knew the girls were lesbians and a sexual advance would provoke some kind of exchange."

Professor Kim Pearson at The College of New Jersey discovered after doing a media analysis that in the seven month period after their attacks there were 659 stories in major newspapers about Shepard's murder compared to only 21 articles about Gunn's. Pearson also noted the disparity in the speed of the justice system in response to those bias crimes. Shepard's attackers tried and convicted within seven months after his murder. It took seven months for Gunn's attacker to even be indicted.

Recently a group called The Sakia Gunn Film Project began work on a documentary. It is the filmmakers hope that they can not only shine a light on what happened to Sakia but point out the negativity that African-American GLBT people are exposed to in our communities that lead to these tragedies.

May they have much success in compiling this film. It would also be fitting if they could debut it on May 26, Sakia's birthday.

Life after Gwen

An Op-Ed piece that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle
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Sylvia Guerrero
Thursday, January 26, 2006


I am not sure how I expected to feel at this point. When my daughter Gwen, a transgender teenager, was brutally murdered on Oct. 4, 2002, I was sure that I would never feel whole again. Looking back, I didn't yet know exactly what "transgender" meant or how to fully embrace my child's identity. But I knew one thing: I wanted justice for my child.

I thought that maybe I'd feel better on the day when the four suspects in her murder were brought to justice. More than three years and three months since Gwen's murder that day is finally here. On Friday, these men are being sentenced to prison terms for their actions, two of them convicted of second-degree murder and two taking plea bargains for voluntary manslaughter. I guess I hoped that once we got to the sentencing date, the pain would end and I could get back to my life. But it hasn't and I can't.

No amount of justice can return the part of me that these men took when they killed Gwen. The closure that people keep talking about hasn't come. It would be so much easier to write that it had. After all, that is what most people want to read: The system worked; my family is whole; the story is over. It would be comforting and allow us to get on with our lives. Of the many things I'm feeling, closure isn't one of them.

I'm angry. Angry that Gwen's brothers and her nieces and nephews won't get to grow up knowing her the way her aunts, uncles, older sister and I did. Angry that instead of celebrating her birthday, we get together each year to commemorate her death. Angry that, in both trials, the defendants tried to blame Gwen for her own murder. Angry that other young lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender kids continue to face the discrimination she did in our public schools and our workforce.

I'm also grateful. Grateful that my family and our friends rose to the challenge and sat through two gruesome and explicit criminal trials to make sure that everyone knew that Gwen was loved for who she was. I'm grateful for the support we've all received from perfect strangers who have told us in-person and through e-mail that we are in their thoughts and prayers. I'm grateful for the remorse that two of the defendants and some of their family members have expressed to me and my family.

And I'm sad. Sad that I'll never get to see Gwen grow into the beautiful woman she would have become. Sad that four men chose to end my daughter's life, and throw away their own simply because they thought they were acting like "real men." And sad that other transgender women have been killed since Gwen's murder and that we don't have a realistic end in sight to that violence.

Within this mix of emotions, though, the one that I hold onto most dearly is hope. Since that tragic night, my own family has grown by two beautiful grandchildren. More and more parents are supporting their transgender children. California has become the country's most protective state for transgender people. And just this month, a new law has been proposed in Sacramento, the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act, authored by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, and sponsored by Equality California, an LGBT civil-rights lobbying group, to protect people from being blamed for their own murder.

Maybe the reason I don't have closure around Gwen's death is that there is still work to do. If I've learned anything since Gwen's murder, it is that hope alone is not enough. Each of us who hopes to live in a state where our families are protected needs to work toward making California that place. For instance, boys and girls in schools throughout the Bay Area need to hear, firsthand, how important it is to be themselves and to respect each other's differences.

None of us can change the way the world was on Oct. 4, 2002. But each of us now has an important role to play in creating a state where we can celebrate more birthdays and commemorate fewer murders.

Sylvia Guerrero is the mother of Gwen Araujo and an activist for LGBT civil rights. She speaks at schools around the Bay Area through the Gwen Araujo Transgender Education Fund administered by the Horizons Foundation.