I AM SICK TO DEATH OF HEADLINES LIKE THIS!!!
And I'm not talking about the headlines about people being shot, although it
is a shame that our news is filled with as much violence and hatred as it is. No, what I'm sick of is the fact that the media persists in labeling those who are killed with some term which denotes sexual orientation! Every time there is a death which involves someone that doesn't fit Moral Majority's idea of 'normal', instantly that murder becomes a "Texas Trans Woman Fatally Shot" or 'A Lesbian Shot Waiting for a Bus'; anything to denigrate the victim. Why can't it just be "Texas Woman Fatally Shot"? Or (as much as I hate the thought) someone like Fox would say "Texas Man Fatally Shot" and in the story they'd probably say something about 'him' undergoing a sex change. (After all, some do believe that's why she was killed.) Really though, they are not sure why she was killed; it says it in the headline! "Police Search for Leads"!! If you have no idea if it had anything to do with her trans status, why are you mentioning it???
I know I'm ranting, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves; you never see headlines reading 'White Pedestrian Killed By Unknown Assailants" but you will see 'Pedestrian Killed, 2 Black Men Sought'. You don't see 'Straight Woman Shot While Waiting For a Bus', but you will see 'Lesbian Gunned Down In Bus Stop'. Do you see how they change the whole perception of the article with those few simple words? It is so aggravating; I would love to see some kind of movement to try to make them stop labeling people in the news media that way. It's just not right.
And that's MY opinion, straight and Live From Bikini Bottom!
Texas Trans Woman Fatally Shot; Police Search for Leads
BY Mitch Kellaway
January 27 2015 12:32 PM ET
No arrests have been made yet in the murder of Ty Underwood, but friends
of the victim say police should consider the attack a hate crime.
Ty Underwood, a 24-year-old transgender
woman of color, was fatally shot early Monday morning in North Tyler,
Texas, reports local news station KYTX.
Police found Underwood when responding to a 911 call from a woman who
said her children had heard gunshots and that a car had run into a
telephone pole nearby. Detective Andy Erbaugh told reporters he believes
that Underwood was near or inside the car when shots were fired at it;
Underwood was likely struck while she was trying to drive away.
While Tyler police say they are still investigating a few leads and
have yet been unable to make arrests in the murder, Underwood's friends
told KYTX that they believe Underwood was targeted for being trans.
"She was lovely, just a lovely person. Very real, down to earth
person who didn't deserve this, did not deserve this at all,"
Underwood's roommate Coy Simmons told KYTX. "This has to be a hate
crime, this has to be a hate crime, nothing else because that was an
upstanding person with a good heart."
Underwood's friends and family fondly remember her as a dedicated
nursing assistant who wanted to return to school to further her career.
She had recently been accepted into and was planning to attend Kilgore
College's nursing program in Longview.
The Tyler Police Department has offered a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest for Underwood's murder.
Anyone with relevant information is asked to call the Tyler
Police Department at (903) 531-1000 or Tyler-Smith County Crime Stoppers
at (903) 597-2833.
Underwood is the second transgender woman of color reportedly murdered in 2015, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. On January 23, police in Norfolk, Va., found Lamia Beard,
a 30-year-old trans woman of color, suffering from a gunshot wound.
Beard later died at a hospital from her injuries, prompting the local
anti-violence program to organize a crowd-funding campaign for Beard's
family to offset funeral costs.
