Questioning Transphobia

I am not doing well with the summarizing or the commentating on the news, but here are relevant links, with the note that they contain descriptions of violence. Three people were shot (two trans women), but none died and their injuries are not life-threatening.

Drunk DC Cop Shoots Trans Women

Off-Duty DC Cop Arrested for Shooting Trans Women

Officer in transgender shooting had prior alcohol run-ins

Hearing postponed for cop charged with shooting trans women

My heart goes out to the survivors and families.

Police Dispute Shooting Victim’s Hate Crime Claim:

The victim of a shooting in Halifax says she was targeted because she’s transgendered, but police doubt it was a hate crime.

Chris Cochrane, an entertainer who goes by the name Elle Noir, is recovering from a gunshot wound to her right arm.

She said her attackers yelled homophobic slurs as she was hit with gunfire at her Fairview apartment early Tuesday. She said she believes they intended to kill her.

“They were yelling, ‘Tranny faggot, open the door, let us in, let us in,’ which leads me to believe they knew who I was. I’m in a second-floor apartment. You know, you have to have a security key to get into the building.

“Obviously it was 100 per cent hatred.”

Halifax Regional Police had not interviewed Cochrane as of noon Wednesday. But after speaking with witnesses, investigators doubt her claim that the shooting was a hate crime, said a police spokesman.

“We believe this particular unit at least — while not saying this particular victim — was targeted specifically,” said Const. Brian Palmeter.

“Certainly we don’t believe this was a hate crime based on the information that we have so far … There may have been other reasons at play why this might have occurred.”‘

Really, now.

I really don’t have the cognitive bandwidth to add a lot of commentary to this. I am extremely displeased and disappointed with how the police are handling this situation.

The Baltimore Sun has the story:

A video of a vicious beating at a Baltimore County McDonald’srestaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident.

The video shows two women — one of them a 14-year-old girl — repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee of the Rosedale restaurant and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men appear to be standing idly by.

Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim’s head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man’s voice tells the women to run because police are coming.

Apparently the proper activity (link NSFW – also, the video shows violence and the screencaps show transphobic language) when viewing a trans woman being beaten down and kicked in the head is to make a video to post on youtube:

This morning there was a video of two girls beating up a third in a video taken by a Baltimore McDonald’s employee. It turns out that the reason she was beaten was because they realized she was transgender and they thought it was the proper thing to do. Regardless of their reasoning it was a cold and calculated savage beating of another human being with no provocation. Here as some examples of just how upstanding the folks of Baltimore can be are the actual video as well as screenshots taken from the employee’s Facebook and Twitter.

The link also has pictures of the video-taking employee’s former Facebook and Twitter pages. As well as his rather vicious tweets and status trying to defend the two cis women who attacked the trans woman.

You can contact McDonald’s to let them know how you feel about their employee’s horrific actions here, especially as the guy who videotaped the whole thing is an employee himself.

h/t to Bilerico for posting about this.

Also, if anyone tries to debate whether trans women are too dangerous to be allowed to use women’s restrooms, I will ban you. I have no interest in propagating hate speech here, and especially not Focus on the Family’s “talking points” about trans women. If you argue these points, you are not arguing in good faith. You are simply an asshole.

If anyone tries any racist dogwhistling because the cis women who attacked are black, I will ban you just as quickly. I do not have patience for bullshit, so just don’t do it.

I trust my regular readers, but seeing the treasures that washed up in the Bilerico comment thread, I thought I’d make these things explicit.

Update: This page is perhaps the most thorough assembly of links related to this story that I could find. Thanks to Human Eye for doing this.

Update Again: Diamond Stylz’ video commentary on the attack.

I received this e-mail from Prerna Sampat of All Out today, and am passing the word along. The petition website is here, and the letter follows.

This is the video:

Posted on Diamond Stylz:

Angel is friend of mine and we have many friend in common. She was shot by a home invader in her face, chest, and leg. By the grace of God she is recovering. Here is how the story is being portrayed on the news Now some of the dialogue has been change because they will not call her by her birth name on my fucking blog.:Police aren’t saying yet if they believe a victim’s sexual identity lead to a shooting late Sunday night. Angel Johnson was transgender. She was shot four times after a man kicked in her chained apartment door.

It happened at the Canterburry apartments around 10 p.m. Sunday. Two sisters were living inside an apartment there. One of them was shot multiple times by an intruder. The other was able to escape by jumping off their third-floor balcony. Neighbors wonder if shooting victim targeted due to sexual orientation

Fox59 News spoke to a neighbor, who says she is now scared for her life.

“When they broke into the apartment, they just started shooting,” she explained.

Police say 23-year-old Angel Johnson opened the door to the barrel of a gun. Investigators say the gunman broke through the chain lock and shot Angel multiple times in the face, chest and arms. He then took off.

There is more at the link.

The only thing about this story that is promising is that the suspects are known to the police already and Angel is alive and recovering. I wish the best to Angel and her family.

EDIT: h/t to Jane LaPlain

Information here at SWOPUSA.

As is often the case, my brain is being stingy with words, but I wanted to make sure this was up.

December 17th is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. This event was created to call attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers all over the globe. Originally thought of by Dr. Annie Sprinkle and started by the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle Washington. International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers has empowered workers from over cities around the world to come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence. During the week of December 17th, sex worker rights organizations will be staging actions and vigils to raise awareness about violence that is commonly committed against sex workers. The assault, battery, rape and murder of sex workers must end. Existing laws prevent sex workers from reporting violence. The stigma and discrimination that is perpetuated by the prohibitionist laws has made violence against us acceptable. Please join with sex workers around the world and stand against criminalization and violence committed against prostitutes.

Signal boosting this story:

Thursday, December 2, 2010

BREAKING NEWS: Transwoman assaulted at Kohl’s Department Store in Jackson, TN

Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving Day) is known for being one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Intrepid shoppers appear hours before the doors open at retail establishments across the country in search of deeply discounted merchandise for holiday gifts. We hear stories each year of customers storming the doors when they open to ensure purchase of an often limited supply of items on sale. Sadly, holiday cheer and good will is sometimes in shorter supply than the merchandise being sought.

Such was the case at Kohl’s Department Store in Jackson, TN on Friday, Nov. 26. A transgender woman and her mother were assaulted by other shoppers as the store opened for business. When store personnel unlocked the doors to the store, Akasha Adonis and her mother of Humboldt, TN made their way to one of four entrances where there was no line. As they were entering the store, a girl from another entrance where there was a line ran up to Akasha’s mother and another woman and attempted to ram through them into the store. When Akasha stepped between the girl and her mother to protect her, the girl jumped into Akasha’s face and began cussing at her. At the same moment, a man attacked Akasha and another woman at the entrance. The assailant hit Akasha and pulled out her hair as he pulled her through the door into the store. The man then shoved his hand in her mouth with his thumb, tore three of her teeth out of socket, and broke her jaw as he forced Akasha to the ground. The assailant then stood up and walked into the store to shop as Kohl’s staff stood idly by greeting other shoppers.

The other victim who was hit by the assailant called the police. Four Jackson Police Department officers responded to the scene. Officer Ashley M. McCullar interviewed Akasha, her mother, and the woman who was attacked. At first, Officer McCullar treated Akasha with respect. But Akasha noticed a marked change in attitude towards her when the officer learned she was transgender (name redacted):

When the officer first arrived on the scene and asked about the assault, he addressed me as she then asked for my i.d. and my name. [When] the  officer saw that it was a male name, and I was a male to female transexual, he immediately changed his demeanor in how he treated me and the other witnesses. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to not look at me and said that he had ‘other places to be.’ There was no more conversation directed to me but to fellow officers and [other] people. He was short and rude/dismissive to witnesses and to the officers I was the ‘He not She.’ The officer told my mother that the case would take a few days to write up and he would get the surveillance tape and then walked away. In the officer report he put in that “the black male then defended himself and put Quick in his place.”

After learning that Akasha was transsexual, Akasha states that the officer made no real attempt to apprehend the suspect nor cared to view the surveillance video knowing that the suspect had not yet left the store.

Further to my and Lisa’s recent posts about the murder of Victoria Carmen White in Newark on 12 September, I see from NJ.com, APP.com and others that two suspects have now turned themselves into the authorities. That’s the same authorities whose County Prosecutor’s office so comprehensively misgendered Ms White in its official report of her death, by the way.

A second suspect in the death of a 28-year-old Newark woman has turned himself in to authorities.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino said Monday that 23-year-old Alrashim (al-RAH’-sheem) Chambers of Newark walked into a Newark police station and surrendered late Sunday night.

The other suspect, Marquise Foster of North Plainfield, surrendered on Saturday.

Both have been charged with murder in the Sept. 12 death of Victoria Carmen White in Maplewood.

Laurino has said authorities are investigating whether White was killed because of her gender identity. She was described as transgender.

Chambers is being held at the Essex County jail on $1 million bail. Authorities did not know if he had retained a lawyer. [Via APP.com]

Apparently both Mr Chambers and Mr Foster have been “charged with murder and weapons offenses in the slaying on Sept. 12” [Via NJ.com].

The Prosecutor’s bias crimes unit is investigating the case, and both could face an additional charge of bias intimidation, [Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino] said. [Via NJ.com]

Given the previous failure of the County Prosecutor’s office to respect and accept Ms White’s legal status, and the continuing misgendering of her by various “newspapers”, I can only hope that justice will finally be served in this brutal murder of a young woman.

Further updates to follow as and when they become available.

—————

Cross-posted with minor edits for continuity from Bird of Paradox by Helen.

So David Chang writes this horrible article for NBC:

A Point Breeze resident was found dead and strangled in her bedroom Monday Oct. 11.

Her boyfriend Malik Moorer discovered her body. Police had few clues as to who committed the crime even a week later.

The victim is Michael Lee, a 31-year-old man who lived his life as a woman named Stacey Blahnik.

Seriously, I just want to fire the entire fourth estate and start over with decent human beings. What is wrong with this man that it is okay to casually murder Stacey a second time with the stroke of a keyboard?

He gets pronouns right, refers to her by her correct name through most of the article, but makes the point of misgendering her and claiming she only “lived [her] life as a woman”, and wasn’t actually a woman. I wonder if David Chang only lives his life as a reporter, but is not actually a reporter.

One wonders if any real concern for the lack of a suspect motivated this story, or if it was an opportunity for some salacious cisgender bullshit.

Not that I’m bitter.

A couple of posts by Gemma Seymour on the tumblrs:

The first one  is The Continuing Erasure of Trans Women: The Murder of Victoria Carmen White and the Suicide of Tyler Clementi:

WARNING: What I have to say here may seriously piss you off, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. This post is intentionally designed to be extremely inflammatory.

As I’m sure most everyone has heard, this past week, a young man by the name of Tyler Clementi, who was an 18-year-old freshman student at Rutgers University in New Jersey, committed suicide by jumping from the George Washington Bridge after his roommate publicized Clementi’s sexual relationship with another man. The sordid details of this event have been widespread and do not need repetition. This is a terrible tragedy that absolutely deserves the coverage it has received.

What has gone largely unnoticed, however, is that two weeks prior to Clementi’s suicide, a young woman by the name of Victoria Carmen White, who was a 28-year-old fashion model and by all available accounts a wonderful person, was murdered in Maplewood, NJ, not 30 miles away from Clementi’s family home in Ridgewood, NJ.

I found out about Tyler Clementi through a Facebook post by Garden State Equality. Garden State Equality’s Facebook page, as of this afternoon, contains five official posts related to Tyler’s death, while it contains not a single mention of Victoria Carmen White. GSE has released an official press release about Clementi’s suicide, while they remain utterly silent about White’s murder, this despite the fact that White’s murder took place only two weeks prior to GSE’s highly publicized “Equality Walk” in Maplewood (evidence of which is no longer available at the GSE website).

While Garden State Equality quoted on their Facebook page from a Star-Ledger editorial published October 1 concerning Tyler Clementi’s suicide, the Star-Ledger’s editorial board says nothing about Victoria Carmen White’s murder, despite the fact that the Star-Ledger, a respected local New Jersey newspaper, seems to be one of the only mainstream news outlets that ever covered her murder in the first place.

The rest is at the link.

The second is Garden State Equality responds:

This morning, I received three emails via Facebook from Steven Goldstein, chairperson of Garden State Equality, in response to my criticism of their silence concerning the murder of Victoria Carmen White as opposed to their vast publicization and outrage over the suicide of Tyler Clementi.

I hope all is well. Where were we when someone transgender was murdered in Maplewood? Last month, we took to the streets in Maplewood and marched through town, and are working with public officials across the town and county. Where were we when an African-American LGBT person was killed in an Essex County park, probably 15 minutes from Maplewood, this summer? We, along with wonderful LGBT community leaders in Newark, met with public officials, and we are all developing a task force on LGBT issues, including safety issues. We also used our lawyers to get documents that shed light on the problem of police violence against LGBT people and are preparing further action. Where we were when African-American LGBT young women Sakia Gunn and Shani Baraka were murdered? We marched in several of the walks and rallies. Where were we on so many other cases of discrimination involving LGBT people of every gender, gender identity, race and heritage? We were there either leading the way or helping to lead the way with many other fine organizations. With regard to our record on transgender rights, by the way, Garden State Equality led the campaign get the legislature to enact the country’s most sweeping, progressive laws on discrimination against transgender people and to toughen sentences against those who commit hate crimes against transgender people.
I’m sorry your message was deleted from our Facebook page – many volunteers help us run that page – because I would have liked to respond there. Because when you say you will not be silenced, neither will we when criticism is wrong.

Steven Goldstein
Chair, Garden State Equality

Dear Mr. Goldstein:

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Before I continue here, I would like to point out that I consider it disrespectful of Victoria Carmen White, and of trans people in general, that you fail to acknowledge her by name, let alone your usage of the problematic terminology, “someone transgender”. There are many, many resources publicly available to you regarding the respectful reference to human beings who happen to be gender variant. I suggest you avail yourself of some.

Against, the remainder at link.

Now, I cannot disagree strongly enough with the statement in Gemma’s post Tyler chose his fate. I feel this sentence minimizes suicide significantly. I do think it is a fair point that trans women’s murders and suicides are hugely neglected while cis gay men’s deaths are kept front and center (and some trans women are redefined and misappropriated as cis gay men), but I think she makes several good points.