Did Islan Nettles' Killer Walk?

Three days ago--the 20th--was our fifteenth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Now, right here in New York City, we've had another reminder of why the day is necessary: the only person charged in the murder of Harlem transwoman Islan Nettles saw his case dismissed.

Now, it very well may be that Paris Wilson, the young man accused of killing her, is innocent.  He was arrested after Nettles was found at the corner of 148th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.  She was lying on the ground, unconscious, with one eye swollen shut and blood on her face.  For five days, she lay in a coma until she was taken off life support.  

After Mr. Wilson's arrest, another young man came forward and took responsibility for the attack.  That left the Manhattan District Attorney's office unable to pursue the case against Wilson even though the young man who claimed responsibility for the attack on Nettles' said he was too drunk to remember details of his crime.  

Further complicating matters is the fact that in that upon his arrest, Wilson was charged with misdemeanor assault and harassment.  Here in New York, someone charged with a misdemeanor must be tried within 90 days.  If he or she isn't, he or she goes free.  Since Wilson was arrested shortly after the attack on 17 August, he was sprung on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Of course, one could argue--as the District Attorney's Office did--that had Wilson (or the young man who claimed responsibility) had gone to trial, there was a real risk of dismissal on some technicality or another.  If I were a DA, I'd probably think the same way.  And I certainly wouldn't want to see a killer--whether of a trans person or anyone else--walk free because the prosecutor's office "didn't have their ducks in a row".  Still, it's frustrating and sad to think that Islan Nettle's murder could become another hate crime that falls through the cracks of the criminal justice system.

 

JFK

Today, I am going to go off-topic.  I believe I have good reason:  This is the 50th anniversary of JFK's assasination.

I was five years old when it happened and have no memory of it.  Perhaps that says something unfavorable about me: I can remember a lot of other things from that time, but I can't even recall having the day off from school or the throngs of grieving people.

Still, I can't help but to wonder how different this country and world might be had he survived and served a second term as President.  He did some things that were misguided and politically-motivated, but I somehow think he had a more ideal, if romantic, view of people, his country and the world.

Perhaps the US military still would have been in Vietnam and we might have been involved in other wars.  After all, the man was a Cold Warrior, as nearly any politician elected to any office above the local or county level was in those days.

Also, he didn't act as quickly on Civil Rights issues as some would have liked.  However, he did lay the groundwork for the laws and policies that his successor, Lyndon Johnson, would sign into law.  And, somehow, I don't think it would have taken prodding from his vice president (as it did, ahem, with a certain President who fashions himself as JFK 2.0) for him to declare his support of same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights.

Whatever else we can (or can't) say about him, we "gotta give him props" for saying, "Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."

Transnews

Today's post is brief, but it bears good news.

Actually, the real bearer of good news is the subject of this post.  It's a website I just discovered:  Transnews.

It bills itself as "a transsexual and transgender news source with a twist:  all of our content is 100 percent trans positive news."

That alone is reason, at least for me, to follow them.  I hope you'll do the same.
 

Recovered From A Trash Can

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This day was first commemorated in 1999,one year after African-American transwoman Rita Hester was found murdered in Allston, a suburb of Boston.  

Since then, hundreds of other trans people have become homicide victims.  Most of them--92 percent, to be exact--share something with Ms. Hester:  their killings have not been solved.  

One such murder is emblematic of the reasons why we have TDR and why we have to continue to draw attention to the ways in which we are killed, and the official response--or lack thereof.


On 8 November--less than two weeks ago--a woman's body was found in a trash can in Detroit.  While investigators do not have her name or other details of her life and death, they have identified her as a trans woman.

A woman and her son found the body when they were scavenging for cans, bottles and other scraps.  They made their gruesome discovery behind a bar.

From what you've read so far, you may have guessed--correctly--that the body was that of an African-American trans woman.  That, the way she was disposed and the way her body was discovered tell you much about the dangers we face, and the undignified ways in which we are treated in life and death.

I can hope only that someone gives her the honor and dignity in death that she did not experience in life--during the last moments of it, anyway--and that Detroit police are more diligent in investigating her murder than too many other law enforcement officials in other places are when the victim is a trans person.

After all, even though she--and Islan Nettles of Harlem--are trans women who were murdered, not all anti-transgender violence happens to people because they are transgendered or even to people who are transgendered.  You see, someone who kills someone over gender identity makes a judgment on his or victim's identity and decides that person is somehow lacking.  So a man who is not deemed "masculine" enough or a woman who doesn't seem sufficiently "feminine" can fall victim in exactly the same way as someone who is indeed known to be transgendered.  It almost goes without saying that someone who cross-dresses in public can meet a similar fate.

So, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, we're not only mourning people like Rita Hester, Gwen Araujo, Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, Islan Nettles and the woman whose body was found in a Detroit trash can.  Rather, we are acknowledging the fact that someone who doesn't fit into someone else's notion about gender can end up in a trash can behind a bar.

Turning A Transsexual Into A Lesbian

"I was surprised.  I thought you were a straight man."

So said one of my then-coworkers not long after I came out.  Other people, I'm sure, had the same reaction.  A couple of years earlier, had I met someone like me, I would have been just as surprised as my old co-worker.

It was, in fact, one of the reasons why I didn't transition sooner:  I thought that if I were really a woman, I'd feel more attracted to men.

Mind you,  I have been in relationships in men, as you know if you read some of my early posts.  But throughout my life, I have felt more attracted to women than to men.  I did not disclose this fact to some friends, acquaintances and co-workers until I'd been living as Justine for a couple of years.  

When they expressed consternation, I said something along the lines of "You've heard of lesbians, haven't you?"

Now, I know transsexual women whose feelings are similar to mine.  I know other trans women who have been attracted only to men, and others only to women.  

But I'd never before heard of a transsexual female who never had any attraction to a female before her transition or surgery, but felt such an urge afterward.  On top of that, the woman I am about to mention completely renounced men.

The woman in question is Britain's first openly transgender parliamentarian:  Nikki Sinclaire.  She revealed recently that her change in her feelings resulted from a rape she endured in London some fourteen years ago.

What's really interesting is that she fits into a narrative I heard often in my youth (but hadn't heard in a long time) :  that of the female who becomes a lesbian after a bad experience with a man.  I'll bet there are still some people who believe that's the biggest cause of lesbianism.

I'd be very interested to know what reasearchers who claim there is a "gay gene" say about this story.

The Current State Of Transgender Health Care

The folks at Fenway Health have given us a useful infographic that provides disturbing--though, sadly, not surprising--information about the state of transgender health care.

One of the most startling facts it presents is that a transgender person is more than four times as likely as anyone else to be HIV-infected, while a black trans person is more than six times as likely.

One of the facts that most resonated with me is this : 62 percent of trans people have experienced depression.  And, among the 41 percent who have attempted suicide are several trans people I know, including two who took their lives over their gender identity issues.

Finally, I am among the 25 percent who have been harassed by the police and 29 percent who have received disrespectful treatment in health care settings.

And I'm one of the lucky ones.