Since 2010, trans women in Colombia, Ecuador and Chile have attempted to run for their national legislatures and not only become the first out trans people in their various nations to do so, but the first in South America and the Western Hemisphere.
While the efforts of Shelcy Sanchez, Diana Rodriguez and Valentina Verbal fell short for various reasons to make that history, the historical breakthrough came last November when attorney Michelle Suarez Bertora was elected last year to Uruguay's senate.
Latin America is leading the way when it comes to trans elected officials, with the most recent electoral breakthrough happening in October when trans woman Luisa Revilla Urcia was elected to local office in Peru.
Attorney, professor and trans human rights advocate Tamara Adrian became the next South American trans person to attempt to run and win public office when she announced in August she was running for Venezuela's National Assembly.
The Venezuelan national elections happened yesterday and history was made as Adrian was successful in breaking through that trans glass electoral ceiling in her nation.
Adrian made history on multiple fronts because of this historic win. She is not only the first out trans Venezuelan to be elected to their national legislature, she is the second trans person in South America, the second in the Western Hemisphere. the second in Latin American and only the fifth worldwide to accomplish the electoral feat of being elected to her national legislature.
So yes, Adrian's election to her national legislature is a Big Fracking Deal. It's so much of a BFD that Luisa Revilla Urcia said to the Washington Blade "We are very pleased with another trans woman in power. This is a great triumph."
So am I and all my trans brothers and sisters in the US. It gives us hope that one day we will see one of our own elected to Congress and our various state legislatures.
Congratulations to Ms. Adrian, and hope we see more trans people follow in your footsteps and get elected to their national legislatures.
TransGriot Update: Was advised by Andres Duque of Blabbeando about Michelle Suarez Bertora, and post corrected to reflect that new information
Been hearing the mounting bad news that trans actress, icon and Warhol muse Holly Woodlawn was ill with cancer, and her health had been deteriorating for the last few months.
Woodlawn in addition to being a girl like us, was the inspiration for the Lou Reed song Walk On The Wild Side, and her life was chronicled in the 1991 documentary A Life In High Heels.
She was born in Puerto Rico in 1946 and raised in Miami Beach, FL. She ran away from home and hitchhiked to New York, linked up with Andy Warhol and became one of his superstars.
Woodlawn starred in the 1970's underground classic movies Trash (1970) and Women In Revolt (1972) along with performing on the New York and Los Angeles cabaret circuits..
While Woodlawn received critical acclaim for those film roles, she struggled to turn it into mainstream success and moved back to Miami in 1979. She did make a comeback into public consciousness starting in the 1990's with the rise of queer and independent films, and most recently had a role on the show Transparent.
Been hearing rumblings from my Dallas area trans family this might be happening in the Janette Tovar case,, and what has been feared by the Dallas trans community and Janette's cousin Marisa Anguiano has sadly come to pass.
When he enters a Dallas County courtroom tomorrow, the 29 year old Kenney is expected to plead guilty to felony aggravated assault as part of a plea deal. He has basically done two months of jail time for assaulting her in an October 2012 domestic dispute that turned violent.
Tovar and Kenney had been in a relationship for a year when Kenney slammed Tovar’s head into the concrete in the 830 block of West Davis Street, then continued to assault Tovar when they returned home to 918 W. 8th St.
Tovar subsequently died of according to an autopsy performed by the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office of blunt force trauma to the head.
It's just another infuriating slap in the face to not only Janette Tovar's family and all who loved her, but the Dallas area trans community. Janette Tovar's murderer is walking the streets.
It's also jacked up cases like this that help grease the skids for more anti-trans murders..
Y'all know I have much love for the Trans Latina Coalition, and have gotten to know many of their officers and members over the last two years since their founding by Bamby Salcedo.
They are the voice for trans Latina immigrants in the US, and they not only have been fierce advocates for their own community, but have done advocacy for the entire trans community by engaging in in our face protests that fearlessly speak truth to power.
I got a chance to look at their new logo, and I like it.
May the Trans Latina Coalition continue to provide fearless leadership for trans feminine people inside and outside of our community, and looking forward to the next opportunity to spend some quality time with you.
While the first South American, first in the Western Hemisphere and fourth trans person worldwide elected to their national legislature won't happen in this election cycle unless there's somebody running I'm not aware of yet, it's only a matter of time before it does.
-TransGriot, June 15, 2013
I've documented the attempts in several South American nations of out trans women unsuccessfully trying to run for and win office in their national legislatures in Colombia, Chile and Ecuador.
Another trans woman is about to attempt to make that history in Venezuela.
Last month attorney and trans advocate Tamara Adrian made history when she registered as a opposition bloc Voluntad Popular candidate in the upcoming December 6 parliamentary election. The opposition bloc is comprised of many of the most vocal critics of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and in addition to Adrian is putting up two gay candidates for election.
Adrian is the first out trans person in Venezuela to run for national office. Rummie Quintero, another Venezuelan trans advocate, was trying to run as a ruling Socialist party candidate along with two gay ones, but didn't get selected to be a Patriotic Axis bloc candidate.
Unfortunately due to the ID issues that plague transpeople worldwide to various degrees, combined with a Venezuelan law that forbids people born in masculine bodies from legally becoming female or taking a female name, Adrian had to register for this election under her dead name. .
The Venezuelan Electoral; Council stated in June that 40% of the candidates running for national office in this election be female, and it's still unclear whether Adrian will be allowed to run as a woman despite having transitioned in 2002
She still is jumping into this race to advance TBLG rights in her nation. She asserts that the predominately Roman Catholic Venezuela, along with fellow South American nations Guyana, Suriname, Peru and Paraguay have done little to extend rights to their BTLG citizens.
"We're going to fight so that everyone gets respect," said Ms. Adrian, amid a tussle of candidates and cheering supporters at the gates of an elections authority office in Caracas
We'll find out on December 6 if Ms. Adrian makes history and becomes the first out trans person in the Western Hemisphere, first in Venezuela and fourth worldwide to hold a seat in her national legislature.
MeChelle Salinas is a hardworking Austin based hairstylist and makeup artist who I met when I attended my first Southern Comfort Conference in the ATL back in 1999. She's a native Texan born in the Rio Grande border town of Eagle Pass who loves to travel, and would love to have the ability do so internationally.
For that as everyone is aware of, you need a passport. But MeChelle has been stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare that has dragged on for now almost five years just to get it.
Acquiring the identity documents we need as trans people can sometimes be a pain in the behind as my nine month battle just to get my Texas drivers license was testimony to. There are also times that we trans people as forced to jump through hoops and encounter additional procedural hurdles before we even can get those necessary identity documents.
Being born in Texas makes Salinas an American citizen by birth. Both of her parents are also American citizens. But she was also born in her parent's Eagle Pass home with the assistance of a midwife instead of in a hospital.
That's her first problem. Problem number two is Eagle Pass is on the US-Mexican border. And oh, did I also mention that on her way to adulthood she came out to her family as trans in her teens?.
"I
just wish people would open their minds and hearts and accept that we
are all human, no matter what gender you chose to be,." says Salinas as we
discussed her situation.
Fast forward to a now in adulthood Salinas starting the process to get her new passport. She has a copy of her certified Texas birth certificate. She has copies of her doctor's and medical records going back to infancy. She has copies of all the paperwork for her legal name and gender marker change that occurred in 1998. She has even enlisted the help of her local congressman Lloyd Doggett to try to break the bureaucratic logjam to acquire her passport.
She has even held a US passport in the past. "I had a passport before.
But they are claiming that any passport info over 20 years old
was deleted from the system."
But because the paperwork and documents she has in her possession have been deemed as 'insufficient proof' of American citizenship, the passport reapplication process she started in 2010 has now been stuck in the bureaucratic maze for nearly five years.
Salinas shared with me the reason she was reapplying for her US passport was also work related. "I was hired by one of my regular clients to do a wedding in Italy. I had been doing her hair since she was 8 years old and I was not only looking forward to that trip to see her get married, but get a chance to get paid doing what I love at the same time." she added.
"Because of the passport problems, I not only missed out on that trip and the money I was going to get paid, but I also missed getting to see one of my longtime clients get married.".
Salinas is frustrated that she not only missed out on that paid wedding opportunity, she's upset that she's still enmeshed in this bureaucratic nightmare when all she wants to do is get her passport, have it in case opportunities like that missed Italian wedding pop up in the near future and start traveling the world. She is searching for an attorney to help her out.
Salinas also suspects that because of her intersectional status of being a trans Latina who happened to be born on the US-Mexico border, in a time in which anti-Latino immigration animus is being stirred up in the United States for political gain combined with transphobia, are factors in why her passport reapplication application process is moving at a glacially slow pace.
"It has taken me three years just to get a caseworker," said Salinas. "It's been so hard and frustrating that I have almost given up. But I know I have to fight to make it happen. I'm just tired and frustrated about the whole experience right now.." .
"I was denied by mail. All my info and paper work was sent back and I was told to try again in 60 to 90 days " she added. "They also kept every cent of the fees I had paid to them as I .was left with once again to starting the process again from scratch"
"When I asked the caseworker what would change in 60 to 90 days to be able to get my passport she answered, 'I don't know' '".
Despite
the emotionally draining at times bureaucratic drama, Salinas is hopeful that she will eventually get her
passport and will soon be jetting off to the places that she has
dreamed about visiting since she was a child.
I met Jennicet Gutierrez during the 2015 edition of Creating Change in Denver, and I enjoyed the time I spent getting to know her.
She is passionate about immigration issues as a undocumented trans Latina and other trans human rights issues.
A lot of people have been bumping their gums about Jennicet speaking truth to power during the recent LGBT reception on June 24 and interrupting President Obama's speech with a call to stop the jacked up incarceration of trans feminine detainees with the cis boys in ICE detention centers.
She was not only escorted out of the White House event, but hurtfully booed by other LGBT leaders as people opined, some in mind numbing ways, with their take on what happened.
Comparing her to Kanye West? Seriously? That's worthy of an SUF nomination. But back to the post.
Here's what Jennicet had to say about it:
"[Obama] came out, started speaking and started to get into his speech on how wonderful everything is, and I couldn’t help but think about the conditions that my LGBTQ Latino/Latina, especially trans women of color, are facing in detention. So, to me, that was the moment I had to speak up. I had to raise awareness to the President and to everyone else watching that I’m not just going to celebrate, when my trans sisters are facing a lot of violence in the detention centers. [Trans women are facing] sexual and physical abuse, and I just had to send a message."
While I'm not happy about what happened since I believe along with a wide majority of African-Americans this POTUS has had far too much disrespectful crap aimed at him on a consistent basis, neither am I happy about the vitriol that has been aimed at Jennicet either.
Some of that vitriol has been borderline racist and transphobic in nature in some corners of the Internet, and it also in LGBT World has had the foul stench of respectability politics.
As far as I'm concerned, Jennicet at that moment was channeling another trans Latina who in 1969 kicked off the very movement we celebrated at the White House during the last weekend of June in Sylvia Rivera.
As someone who met Sylvia in 2000. I can guarantee you that if she were still in this plane of existence, she would not only approve of what Jennicet did, but probably had she been in the East Room, joined her in speaking truth to power in calling on President Obama to halt what was happening to trans detainees and calling out you peeps who booed her.
For those of you who bask in the afterglow of respectability politics and a landmark Supreme Court case win, complete with access to those power circles, instead of whining about how 'it wasn't the right time or venue' to bring that issue up, how about you peeps using your influence to get something done about the inhumane treatment of trans feminine detainees when you can spare a moment from planning your weddings.
The safety of trans people in ICE detention may not be an issue of importance high enough on your priority list for the all marriage all the time peeps, but it has been important enough for people to get arrested protesting the horrid conditions in ICE detention for immigrant trans women.
And it was also important enough for Jennicet Gutierrez to interrupt President Obama's speech amongst her LGBT leadership peers and risk the consequences of that action.
I also note for those of you trying to claim that Jennicet's action was ineffective, how do you explain the fact that 24 trans feminine women are being transferred soon to an ICE women's facility?
And it's interesting to note that 35 members of the House of Representatives recently sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson urging him to end the detention of LGBT undocumented immigrants.
How do you explain the conversation that has been started about the conditions trans women face in those detention centers? Not bad for a so called ineffective gesture.
So stop giving Jennicet hell, and start giving ICE hell until they stop housing trans feminine women with cisgender men in those detention facilities for starters. Then we can move to the next step of ending incarceration and deportation of all LGBT people back to countries they fled to the United Stares from.
Because in many cases, the reason they are in the United States is because it wasn't safe for them to live their TBLG lives in their birth nations in the first place.
As I like to remind you peeps on a regular basis about, trans rights are an international human rights issue.
I also need to point out that the US and Brazil aren't the only nations in which we have had an obscene number of trans women murdered inside their borders. They happen in Central and South America, and in 2015 alone there have been seven killed in El Salvador this year that we will be unfortunately reading their names at TDOR.
Being a trans activist is tough to begin with, but in some parts of the world you are literally putting your life on the line when you do so. The seventh trans person killed this year in El Salvador is a concrete example of that.
She is 29 year old Francela Mendez Rodriguez. She has been a member of the Salvadoran trans advocacy group Colectivo Alejandria ever since it was founded in 2010. She has not only worked tirelessly in her nation to advance the cause of trans human rights in El Salvador, she has also worked in local HIV prevention programs.
On May 30 Mendez was visiting her friend Consuela Flores Martinez at her home in the town of Sonsonate, 40 miles west of San Salvador when a group of unknown assailants murdered both of them.
It was a murder condemned on June 4 by David Morales, the Attorney For The Defense of Human Rights in El Salvador, and said in a La Prensa Grafica interview, " The LGBT population is victimized by discrimination, rejection and intolerance which can be seen in grave violations of their human rights.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also condemned Mendez's murder, and urged the Salvadoran government in a June 8 statement to initiate an exhaustive investigation to be
conducted with due diligence, and to prosecute and punish those
responsible.
Rest in power, Francela. May the people who committed this heinous crime be caught and punished for it.
The
29-year-old had been a member of Salvadoran trans advocacy group
Colectivo AlejandrÃa since it was founded in 2010, working tirelessly
for human rights and in HIV prevention programs. - See more at:
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/leading-trans-activist-murdered-el-savador090615#sthash.Rwezp2P0.10yH9172.dpuf
A few years ago I met this amazing and beautiful young Latina woman during a local event not long after I moved back to Houston from Louisville.
I watched her tell her story about growing up in Honduras as a young trans feminine woman who moved to the US to get her education and make her dreams come true, I was also impressed by her intellect.
As I've gotten to know Marie Angel, I'm also been impressed by her determination and drive as she strove to balance her collegiate studies with her work and personal life.
She managed to at times add a little advocacy into her life equation. She was part of the effort on the University of Houston Downtown campus to get gender neutral restrooms there last year, and was invaluable in explaining the issue to our local Spanish language media.
I've also had the pleasure of doing a few panels at local schools here since that initial meeting, including last month's one of the TSU campus. I've also had the pleasure of having some long conversations with her at times about a host of other issues.
Was experiencing mixed emotions when Marie told me after that TSU panel that she was now engaged, and will be getting married.
While that is wonderful news and I'm deliriously happy for her. the bad news part of it is the man who was smart enough to put a ring on her finger lives in California, and she's moving there to be with him.
Thursday was the last day she spent here in H-town, and she's packed up the car and pointed it west toward California and a new chapter in her life. While I'm going to miss being able to see her from time to time, I'm also happy that she has found someone to share her life with, even if it is on the West Coast.
Goodbye, Marie Angel! All of us who love you in Houston will miss you, but wish you the best of luck and safe travels as you begin this new adventure and a new life
California has led the way in crowing trans feminine prom and homecoming queens, and I'm happy to report that another trans teen has been selected by her high school as their prom queen.
Meet 17 year old Angie Esteban, who not only has persevered through a transition that has been bumpy at times, but on April 18 became Salinas High's first trans feminine prom queen.
The road to it started several months ago during homecoming when she was a volunteer on the senior class homecoming dance committee.
She saw the homecoming court girls during a pep rally and thought, "I'd like to do that."
Several friends got together, got her nominated, and the campaign to get her elected started earnest with the enthusiastic support of her classmates.
Angie's post graduation plans are to attend college and become a contestant on America's Next Top Model.
I've been asking the question in these TransGriot electronic pages what are Hillary Clinton's stances on trans human rights issues? Will she not only say the word 'transgender' repeatedly in this 2016 presidential campaign cycle, but if she becomes the Democratic nominee and eventually the POTUS, will she exceed what President Obama has done for transgender Americans?
In her recent campaign stop in Nevada, Clinton was asked a question about an issue that has long been a concern of my trans Latina sisters in terms of what would she do about trans women being housed in immigration detention facilities that don't correspond with their gender presentation.
“I think we have to do more to provide safe environments for vulnerable populations,” she said in answer to that question. “I don’t think we should, you know, put children and vulnerable people
into big detention facilities because I think they are at risk. I think
their physical and mental health are at risk,” Clinton said in response to a subsequent question about trans asylum seekers.
She answered she would be in favor of reviewing and changing some of those policies
We now have an indication of where Hillary stands on one issues of importance to trans people. Where does she stand on the passage of ENDA? Open trans military service? A nationwide standard for changing identification without undergoing genital surgery.
To give you another taste of the birthday girl's video blog, check out what my Lone Star sis had to say in this January 2015 post about the all purpose insult that our cisgender detractors like to fling at us in the "You'll always be a man" one.
Have some updated information concerning the trans murder cases of Taja DeJesus and Michelle Yazmin Payne, who were murdered in northern and southern California within days of each other.
I'm happy to report there is good news in both of theses California cases in terms of bringing their killers to justice.
In the Michelle Payne case, 25 year Ezekiel Dear, who has been IDed as the boyfriend of Ms. Payne, turned himself into the LAPD 7th Division headquarters at 3:30 PM PST on February 1 accompanied by a pastor and confessed to killing her.
He was arraigned the next day at the Van Nuys courthouse on one felony count each of murder, with a knife-use allegation, and arson of an inhabited structure or property.
Will continue to keep you posted on this case.
Meanwhile, up I-5 in the Bay Area, the Taja DeJesus case has had a interesting twist.in the suspected perpetrator of the murder of our fallen sister being found dead himself.
49 year old James Hayes was found dead on February 2 hanging by the neck from a fence in the 4000 block of Third Street.
The location was behind a warehouse a half mile from the crime scene where DeJesus was found stabbed to death, and Hayes was still wearing the clothing he wore when he allegedly stabbed Ms. DeJesus.
A die-in was held in front of San Francisco City Hall to protest the DeJesus killing and the murders of other trans women since June in California and elsewhere across the country.
After an operatic rendition of 'Amazing Grace' by Breanna Sinclaire, trans leaders in the San Francisco area called for an end to transphobia fueling these murders.
"We're still being murdered, harassed, and cast aside. We have to show that our lives matter," said Danielle Castro.
Yes they do, Danielle/ #TransLivesMatter. #BlackTransLivesMatter #LatinaTransLivesMatter And let's hope that the people who have committed these heinous crimes aimed at us are captured, tried and convicted for killing us.
Made a commitment while I was at Creating Change Denver to highlight and raise the profiles of my trans Latina sisters and talk about their issues they face on the blog.
To get that started, going to post the video of my sis Arianna Lint,. I met her when we were both going through GLAAD POC Media training in 2012, and we've been close ever since.
This is a Spanish language video from Arianna's recent appearance on the Maria Elvira Salazar show that discussed a Cuban transwoman, the Catholic Church position on trans people, and the Bruce Jenner situation
If you 're looking for something to do in Dallas later today, you may wish to head to the Texas Theater and check out the documentary TransVisible.
It depicts the life and advocacy story of Los Angeles based Latina trans activist Bamby Salcedo, and the movie was produced by Dante Alencastre.
The free event is starting at 4:00 PM and the featured guests at this screening of it are Bamby and Dante. There will be a question and answer segment once the movie concludes and a reception with light snacks.
Whenever I pop into Washington DC, one of my mandatory stops, especially when she makes it happen by grabbing me at the airport before my other DC area friends do, is one at Casa Ruby.
It's run by longtime DC activist Ruby Corado, who has overcome a lot of personal challenges in her own life to become an iconic leader inside I-495. She is building Casa Ruby into the go to bilingual service provider for LGBT people in Washington DC, and I've been thrilled to watch it grow and prosper .
Yesterday my homegirl got married to her fiance David in a ceremony held at the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in which the blushing bride was escorted down the aisle by Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray.
I met Ruby's now hubby David a few moths ago during the Philly Trans Health Conference, and there is no doubt that these two love each other.
And I couldn't be happier for her.
She's still basking in the afterglow of her special day, because here is her comment about it from her Facebook page entitled 'Dreams Do Come True!'
***
My whole life, I have been told that I was not supposed to love or be loved.
I was not supposed to love myself because I was different( Trans, indigenous, dark haired, immigrant, HIV Positive, you name it). I was made to believe that no one could love me back because I was different.
Yesterday, life proved everyone wrong.
I love myself more than ever because I am SOMEBODY. My husband showed the world that it is ok to love me even though I am different. My city's mayor Vince Gray walked me down the aisle and showed the world once again that he stands for love.
My friends and Family showed me, that I am SOMEBODY, and they stand with me in sickness and in health until death do us part.
Today as I lay next to my husband, I want to tell my friends, clients, supporters, followers and the entire world that It is ok to be different and that no matter what anyone says, YOU ARE WORTHY OF LOVE AS MUCH AS I AM
Never stop dreaming, never stop believing because dreams do come true.
A Million Thanks To Everyone Who Shared This Special Moment in person or from A distance, I felt your love
Love For All
Ruby Corado-Walker
***
Congratulations Ruby and David! May you two have have a long, healthy and happy marriage.
Lucia Revilla Urcila (left in photo) was elected by the voters to a seat on the local council in La Esperanza in the province of Trujillo in northwestern Peru.
This electoral breakthrough in that nation came mere weeks after a groundbreaking September 5 LGBT conference of 300 Latin American and Caribbean LGBT advocates was held in Lima with the goal of increasing LGBT political participation in their various nations.
One of the co-organizers of that conference was the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute along with the US Agency For International Development.
“I
will execute my office with great humility and tenacity,” Revilla told
the Washington Blade on Thursday. - See more at:
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/10/10/peruvian-voters-elect-countrys-first-trans-council-member/#sthash.DNPI1XWc.dpuf
This is also wonderful news after several trans people in various nations across the South American continent in 2012 and 2013 fell short in their attempts to get elected to their respective national legislatures in Colombia, Ecuador, and Chile.
The 43 year old Revilla told the Washington Blade in a recent interview, "I will execute her office with great humility and tenacity."
"I am going to promote equality and say no to discrimination" she said to the Blade. "We want everyone to have equal access, to succeed and achieve their goals. When there is no discrimination, there is pacification. Infrastructure and modernity is important, but promoting values and having concern for the people matters even more."
Revilla's win was hailed by Peruvian LGBT activists as a watershed moment for their country and their movement.
"We as a community feel proud for the significant achievement of our colleague," said Lima-based trans advocate Maricielo Pena Hernandez. "The labor we had undertaken years earlier for the fight for respect of our rights have seen their fruits come to bare, showing the bad perception that society has toward us is going to change."
It remains to be seen if this is the small step that results in giant leaps of progress for not only Peruvian trans people, but their national TBLG human rights movement.
But it definitely is an accomplishment to be celebrated.
“I
am going to promote equality and I will say no to discrimination,” she
said. “We want everyone to have equal access, to succeed and to achieve
their goals. When there is no discrimination, there is pacification.
Infrastructure and modernity is important, but promoting values and
showing concern for the people matters even more.” - See more at:
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/10/10/peruvian-voters-elect-countrys-first-trans-council-member/#sthash.DNPI1XWc.dpu
There is finally some great news to report concerning the case of our fallen trans sister Zoraida Reyes. The 28 year old activist was one of four trans women of color killed across the nation during a deadly month of anti-trans violence that broke out in June.
Reyes' body was found dumped near an Anaheim, CA Dairy Queen back on June 12. The speculation was that she was killed in another location and the body was bought there.
Anaheim Police on October 8 arrested 38 year old Randy Lee Parkerson and charged him with Reyes' murder. He is accused of meeting Reyes on June 10, choking her to death, and driving around with her body in the trunk of his car for a day before dumping it, according to the charging documents.
Parkerson is charged with one count of murder. He is being held on $1 million bail at the Anaheim PD Temporary Detention Facility.
The case according to an APD spokeperson still is not being investigated as a hate crime.
"The motive is still unclear" said Lt Bob Dunn in an LA Times interview. “There is nothing to suggest that Zoraida was specifically targeted.
As Parkerson undergoes questioning in this ongoing investigation, that is one of the questions that is crying out for an answer.
We are another step closer to getting justice for Zoraida, her family, and all the people who loved her.
Well people, it has unfortunately happened again. We have lost another one of our trans sisters and her name is Alejandra Leos. This time it happened in Memphis, TN on Friday, just steps away from her North Memphis home in the 1600 block of Berkshire St. According to news reports the 41 year old Leos was shot around 8 PM CDT on Friday.
The Memphis PD arrested and charged 21 year old Marshall Pegues with first degree murder in what appears to be a domestic violence case. Pegues and Leos had an argument at their home prior to Pegues shooting her in the back.
Hopefully Pegues will be expeditiously tried and convicted for this crime and justice will be served.
Leos' funeral is planned for Wednesday, September 10 between 5:00-8:00 PM CDT at Hickory Hill Funeral Home. Address of the funeral home is 5270 Knight Arnold Rd, Memphis, TN 38118 and their phone number is (901) 795-6688. Family members are asking for those who would like to help with funeral expenses to contact the funeral home directly.
I hope that members of the Memphis trans community can attend and show the family some love during this difficult time.
Unfortunately Alejandra will be another one of the names we'll have to read at this year's Transgender Day of Remembrance memorial ceremony this November.
There were nine trans people named to the 2014 edition of the Honor 41 list honoring the contributions of LGBT Latinos. As their videos get released, I'll be posting them to TransGriot.
I've already posted Ruby Corado's video, and now I'll post the latest ones to be released in the persons of Luis Gutierrez-Mock and Brenda Del Rio Gonzales
So yes, Adrian's election to her national legislature is a Big Fracking Deal. It's so much of a BFD that Luisa Revilla Urcia said to the Washington Blade "We are very pleased with another trans woman in power. This is a great triumph."
