Hate-Crimes Against Transgender People Grow but Community Response Deepens
October 11, 2008
The ten-year remembrance of Matthew Shepard’s murder is also the ten-year remembrance of Rita Hester’s. Rita was a transgender woman from Boston, Massachusetts who was viciously stabbed to death on November 28, 1998. Rita was murdered only one month after Matthew was brutally attacked and died in Laramie, Wyoming.
Rita Hester
Rita’s murder prompted activist Gwen Smith to begin the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day which marks the many lives lost in the transgender community due to hatred and bias. This year, the Day of Remembrance will be observed on the 20th of November, although local observances vary.
In 2008, the transgender community and its allies suffered some of the highest incidents of violence against people targeted for their gender identity or expression. High-profile murders of transgender people and people targeted for their gender expression reached double digits as we lost Adolphus Simmons, Ashley Sweeney, Sanesha Stewart, Lawrence King, Simmie Williams, Ebony Whitaker, Angie Zapata, Jaylynn Namauu, Nakhia Williams, and most recently Ruby Molina. You can click here to learn more about their lives.
These people were multiracial, native Hawai’ian, Black, Latina, and white. They ranged in age from early teens to mid-40s and spanned the US from coast to coast.
In many of these cases GLAAD worked closely with the families and friends of the victims, forming responses to these senseless crimes. By meeting one-on-one with family members and local activists we helped to heighten awareness that hate crimes against transgender people still happen across the nation. Members of our staff strongly advocated for accurate and fair reporting on these murders, issuing Calls to Action against the papers that used dehumanizing language to describe Sanesha Stewart and Nakhia Williams after their deaths.
When hate crimes against transgender people are reported they are often sensationalized, as was the case with the brutal stabbing of Sanesha Stewart in the Bronx, New York. The New York Daily News used defamatory language to describe Sanesha by running the headline “Fooled john stabbed Bronx tranny” which not only used an offensive term, but also implied that she “fooled” the people in her life, a common attitude towards transgender victims.
New York Daily News reporters continuously used improper terminology and male pronouns in three separate articles despite numerous quotes from her neighbors and friends who used female pronouns.
When media refuse to use proper pronouns they further dehumanize the victims of hate crimes, as the murders of Jaylynn Namauu in Honolulu and Nakhia Williams in Louisville, Ky show.
Jaylynn’s murder generated two news reports both of which innacuratley referred to her as a “transvestite” and used male pronouns. GLAAD worked with the local organization Kulia na Mamo to ensure that the papers would refer to her as a woman and use female pronouns in future coverage.
GLAAD also reached out to the Kentucky Fairness Alliance to correct inaccurate coverage of Nakhia Williams’ death when initial reports used her birth name and male pronouns, and GLAAD later issued a Call to Action. However, no other outlets have covered Jaylynn’s death, and only one other publication, the Louisville Eccentric Observer, has covered Nakhia’s story.
Like so many other transgender victims of hate-crimes, their stories are at risk of being forgotten.
While local and national publications did cover the death of 15 year-old Lawrence King in Oxnard, Calif, few local papers covered the murder of 17 year-old Simmie Williams of Fort Lauderdale, Fla who died the day after Lawrence.
Simmie was a bright, energetic person who often wore dresses and makeup when out with friends. Our Media Field Strategy Team worked with Simmie’s mother, Denise King, to bring media attention and accuracy to the murder of her child.
When Angie Zapata from Greeley, Colorado was brutally murdered, the national news media did pick up her story, and papers all over the country turned a spotlight on the hatred that led to her death. As with many hate crimes it took advocacy, this time by Colorado Anti-Violence Program, a local organization, and GLAAD, a national organization, for news media to give her story significant print space and responsible coverage.
Angie’s sister, Monica, recently wrote a beautiful op-ed about Angie’s life in The Denver Post that relayed how proud Monica was to have a transgender sister.
“My sister came to us as a family, when she was 15, to let us know she was a transgender person. I admired her for the bravery and courage it took to share, but it wasn’t a surprise — I always really knew she was my little sister, and I loved her every bit for it.
[...]Angie was a transgender Colorado girl. But more than that, she was our sister, daughter, aunt and friend. Her murderer failed to see her as human, as a member of our family and our community”
The Denver Post also published an inclusive article that covered the commemoration of Angie’s 19th birthday party. Angie didn’t live long enough to reach 19, but her family and friends gathered that day to both mourn her absence and celebrate the beauty of her life.
The shock so many people felt about the absolute hatred of Angie’s killer brings back the shock we felt when Rita and Matthew were murdered. Ten years later hate crimes against gay and transgender people are still pervasive, and they have yet to receive the level and depth of responsible media coverage that these crimes deserve.
These cases spotlight not only the violence that our community faces across the nation, but also the climate of intolerance that fuels that violence. Until both our culture and our laws make it clear that violence against gay and transgender people is not okay, our nation will continue to be scarred by these horrific acts of violence.
Murder of Transgender Woman Goes Unmarked in Media
October 7, 2008
Whether it was writing poetry or organizing in her community, Nakhia Williams was an active and vocal member of her hometown of Louisville KY. Williams, known as Nikki to her friends, proudly attended the 2005 Transsistahs-Transbrothas Conference where she met with other transgender people of African descent. Through her friendly attitude and genuine love of people, Williams touched many lives.
Nakhia Williams, a 29 year-old transgender woman murdered in Louisville, KY. Image courtesy Monica Roberts.
On August 20th, a few days shy of her 30th birthday, however, Williams was brutally murdered by a number of men outside her Louisville, KY apartment.
She died on August 30th.
Williams’ death prompted two disrespectful and inaccurate reports from FOX affiliate WDRB and CBS affiliate WLKY. Kentucky Fairness Alliance (KFA) members and GLAAD staff reached out to both stations multiple times offering feedback and recommendations on accurate coverage of transgender people. Neither station agreed to accurately reflect Williams’ identity or honor her life.
Over a month later, no other media outlets have covered her murder or followed up on any outcomes of the ongoing police investigations.
As we observe the 10 year remembrance of Matthew Shepard’s tragic murder, the silence the media has taken around Williams’ death is troubling. While it is still not clear if her death was the result of a bias-motivated crime, what is clear is that media outlets across the country missed the mark by failing to investigate her murder.
KFA published a press release detailing their desire to have Williams’ murder investigated to the fullest extent, and to have it covered inclusively and accurately by media outlets. KFA also called upon the state to include gender identity in Kentucky hate crimes laws. GLAAD has published a Call to Action urging fair, accurate and inclusive coverage of Williams’ death and is calling on local papers to report not only her death, but the lack of accurate media coverage.
One of Nakhia’s many friends was prominent African American transgender leader Monica Roberts, author of the Transgriot blog and a coordinator of the Transsistahs-Transbrothas Conference. Roberts attended Williams’ wake and wrote the following on her blog:
“It was hard looking at Nikki peacefully sleeping in that white casket…there were more than a few tears shed, but simmering under the surface this morning was anger. Anger over the way she was taken from us, and anger over the disrespectful way the story was covered by the local media.”
Through these initiatives and through pressure from community members, media professionals will hopefully cover the story of Nakhia Williams with the same accuracy and fairness that has been shown in the media coverage concerning the recent murder of Angie Zapata, a transgender woman from Greeley, Colorado.
While the case remains open, Williams’ murderers have yet to be found. It is important for community memebers and allies to do everything possible to bring attention to this senseless crime and to ensure that her story is presented by the media with dignity and respect.
Nakhia Williams worked throughout her life to bring attention to the lives of transgender people, and her legacy must be respected in her death.
