9/29/13

Why Star Ledger do you continue to misgender a murdered transgender woman despite receiving emails confirming her trans status?

As reported earlier this week by planetransgender, The Brunswick Patch and The Advocate Eyricka Morgan a transgender woman was murdered in New Brunswick NJ.

*Update! Immediately after posting this Sue Epstein begun reaching out to our community. See the tweets at the end of the story for updates.

All of the before mentioned news sources used the most basic tools in confirming the trans status of the victim. In the trans community and the greater mainstream media as a whole, this procedure is paramount. It is considered and rightfully so a serious breach of protocol to incorrectly identify someone as transgender or cisgender.

Sue Epstein at the Star Ledger originally reported on this crime but has yet to follow these basic principals of journalism by failing to properly investigate and worst yet, by ignoring information on the victims transgender status that she herself  requested.

Like some mainstream media have done in the past the Star Ledger is adhering to a editorial policy of ignoring social media. But when it becomes s so apparent that they are ignoring the facts they asked for from the community one begins to question if this behaviour is transphobic in nature.

So for the Star Ledger it time to be edified.




GLAAD Blog Sept 27

Star Ledger Jornalist Sue Epstein posted this comment on the original article on the 28th of Oct

Sue Epstein's confusing comment first seems to acknowledge that there have been people who contacted her confirming Eyricka Morgan's trans status then she says that no one has contacted her at all in contradiction to GLAADS statement.

There seemed to be a missed connection as many of the trans community tweeted to the @StarLedger and not directly to Sue Epstein's.

I will now put Sue Epstein in contact with Janet Mock and Darnell L. Moore who personally knew of the victims transgender status and Glaad for information on how to write her updated article.







Action Required: Ask Susan Epstein to Respect Eyricka Morgan’s Identity + Life

Today, I sent the following email to Susan Epstein of the The Star-Ledger about her report of the murder of Eyricka Morgan, a young trans woman of color who was murdered in her boarding home.
I’m heartbroken about the death of someone I knew, and shocked by the fact that Ms. Epstein chooses to carelessly erase Eyricka’s identity as a woman and her life as well, telling our community that she needs confirmation or proof that Eyricka was a trans woman.
Please email (sepstein@starledger.com), tweet  or call the reporter at (732) 249-5670 about misgendering Eyricka Morgan in . The point of this action is not to vilify Ms. Epstein, it’s to set the record straight on our lives.
Feel free to use my email as a template:
Hi Susan,
I will go on record, as an activist who knew the victim, Eyricka Morgan. She was a transgender woman of color and an advocate in the community. She went by she and her, and her identity should be respected even after her passing, despite what records may or may not say.
As a journalist who worked for mainstream media (I previously worked for People.com), I know that reflecting the truth of people’s lives is vital. The misgendering and erasure of Ms. Morgan’s identity does not only hurt her life and legacy, it also hurts an entire community of marginalized and often stigmatized people who are grappling with discrimination on many levels in our country.
Please fix this careless error and stop requiring that our lives need proof. We are who we say we are.
Thanks,
Janet Mock

Moments after posting this article and mentioning Susan Epstein on twitter she responded. You can call the timing serendipitous if you want too but I'll call it advocacy and that's my story and I'm stickin too it :) In any case we are moving forward.








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9/28/13

Hollywood Trans Woman Unique McKenzie victim of Hit and Run on Santa Monica Blvd

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Fiday morning around 3:20 transwoman Unique McKenzie, 22, was standing with some friends at a bus stop after a night out. Her friends say reacting to a joke Unique accidentally slipped onto the street where she was then struck by a white or grey colored Ford Thunderbird.

The accident turned into a felony after Unique was carried on top of the car for 30 feet and the driver "didn't even slow down". Los Angeles is in the middle of a crisis with over 14,000 hit and run incidents this year alone. There are 51 hit and run incidents everyday in LA.

Click here to watch opens in new window


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Cambridge News reporter Raymond Browns Trans monsigny on full display in "Tea and a bit of spanking"

Raymond Brown, 'journalist' for the Cambridge News, just earned the dubious distinction of becoming a poster boy for transphobic writers worldwide.

Raymond Brown authored 'Tea and a bit of spanking, so what?' says transgender Cambridge councillor after Trumpington Village Hall bondage saga" about Cambridge Counsolor Sarah Brown.   Cllr Brown had the fortitude to speak up against the canceling of a public informational B and D event.

Raymond Brown vigorously defended his article on twitter claiming he wrote it with no ill intent.

But for Brown it was all about linking fetishism with transsexualism making mention of Cllr Browns trans status three times.

His tweets (nudge, nudge pointing to the trans counselor) reveal his desire to demean a Cambridge counselor because of her gender expression and link that with children's welfare.

Another councilor tweeted:



When confronted with his article and tweets Sarah Brown tweeting her personal account as @auntysarah



Sarah Brown is a serious politician, driven to help others. She should be treated with the same respect cisgender people are.



For the record I have no issues with B&D. Usually the people who point fingers are the ones who secretly indulge themselves in the same fetish.




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Media blames Thai trans womans murder on her taking alleged killers word verbatim

A Transgender woman from Thailand was stabbed to death in a motel and according to the reporting media the man arrested for her murder said she was to blame.

Thoraphol Thonompholkrang was arrested for the murder and theft of personal belongings of a trans woman identified only as "Korn Sirinya" after police linked him to the crime through his facebook postings.

Thonompholkrang said that in the past he had been paid for sex and was enraged after Ms Kornsirinya refused to pay him.

And of course people caught red handed with the murder of trans woman always tells the truth.

More than likely this was a transpanic murder. There is no evidence left on facebook to substantiate this but many in the Thai Forum are questioning the reporting for these same reasons.

All of the other articles about her murder are parroting the original account and likewise are profiting from sensationalist victim blaming.

Her murder will not be blamed on her in this article.

R.I.P. Ms Kornsirinya.


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9/27/13

Eyricka Morgan New Brunswick NJ Transgender woman stabbed to death

Originally reported as the murder of a man the New Brunswick Patch's updated article Boarding House Victim was Transgender Woman and Advocate, Friends Say properly identifies her as a transgender woman.

Eyricka attended a Queer Newark' Conference in 2011 and was interviewed by the school's media illustrating how hard it can be for LGBTQI youth in urban areas:

Eyricka Morgan, 23, a transgender Newarker and Rutgers student, remembers when family members told her “all gay men have AIDS’’ and forbid her from dressing like a woman. “I had to make a decision. Either I be myself or let others control me. So at 14 or 15, I packed up all my stuff and I left.’’



HT Lexi Cannes

Police continue to investigate and ask anyone with information to call Det. Kenneth Abode of New Brunswick Police at (732) 745-5200 or Investigator Jose Rodriguez of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at (732) 745-3300.


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9/24/13

Photo shopped Picture slamming the Salvation Army does no good

Update 12/9/2013. TRV has since changed the original image to a obviously staged picture.
You can still see the original cached image from the site here.
This change in imagery only serves to highlight the ill intent of the article as the content remained the same. 
There is a story circulating the Internet and facebook with a very disturbing picture featured. It shows two happy young woman fund raising for the Salvation Army but the disturbing sign between them says "Gays Not Allowed". The story is presented as current news and combined with the visual has elicited strong angry reaction from the LGBT community.

The picture to the right published by June 13 by  The Gay Voice News (TGV) in a article titled "Salvation Army says Gays Need to Be Put to Death” was originally publicised by the Pegasus news Dec 22, 2009.

The accompanying story that TGV calls "recent" was from 2012. The Salvation Army has already apologized for the Australian official who made that anti LGBT statement in June of 2012. The TGV did publish the Salvation Army's apology without dating it, but left out this part of the apology:
“The Salvation Army sincerely apologises to all members of the GLBT community and to all our clients, employees, volunteers and those who are part of our faith communities for the offence caused by this miscommunication.”
The problem being is the photo has been photo shopped without any disclaimer and the story is old.

I use pictures freely (fair use) on the planetransgender so it would be fair to say I'm the pot calling the calling the kettle black. But In my humble opinion, as a blogger this "News" story does LGBT people no good. It should be edited if it is to be presented as news. OK so the Salvation army isn't the most inclusive of organizations but this story is at best just muckraking. At worst its blatant hate mongering by a news source.


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