Ethan St. Pierre: My Statement regarding the vigils on Sunday for Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado

Viciousness, Brutality and Youth

Although I understand the frustration, I think you have to remember that it is always easier to get people to a vigil concerning a specific person, and this case was so horrifying that it attracted a lot of attention. The viciousness of the crime, the dismembering of the remains, and the youth of the victim all demanded attention that, sadly, the more run-of-the-mill violence against gays, lesbians and especially trans people simply doesn't.

Similar criticisms can be made about the Matthew Shepard case, which attracted world-wide attention denied to almost all other anti-LGBT murders. The circumstances of his death, his youth and his appearance all grabbed attention.

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by: CPT_Doom @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 15:36:56 PM CST

no

this level of violence is often very standard against trans people on the list and this murder was about gender expression; Read through the list some time. Having memorial events on the same day was a clear message that a gay life is worth more and was the hallmark of insensitivity when this was a time we could have all mourned together especially considering how very low turnout by GLB is for Transgender Day of Remembrance. Its apathy, pure and simple. Enough excuses.

co-host of trans-ponder

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by: Jaynatopia @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 15:44:01 PM CST

[ Parent ]

This is way beyond sad.

He wasn't a transgender woman, so why does St. Pierre even bother to mention that he might have been?

If we're going to split hairs over this poor young man's death, then let's talk about why he was really killed, according to his killer.  He was killed not because of gender expression, but because of deceit.  His killer claims he didn't kill him because he recognized him as a man in a dress, but because he was deceived into thinking that he was a woman.  He says he didn't kill him because of the way he was expressing his gender, but because he used his presentation deceitfully.

Do you really want to link gender expression to deceit?  Seriously?  That gender expression or idenitity that's in conflict with the person's genitals at birth is a deceit?  How is this not saying that his killer has a valid point?

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by: diablorobotico @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 16:35:32 PM CST

huh?!

Ethan's point was that it doesn't matter if the victim was trans or gay...this is the reason trans people are killed all the time. Which is why gender variant gays are also memorialized at TDOR. You are seriously accepting the explanation of a murderer? Wow.

co-host of trans-ponder

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by: Jaynatopia @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 17:02:03 PM CST

[ Parent ]

By that logic

It ought to be open season on all the straight-acting gays who brag about having sex with (purportedly) straight guys after they've gotten them drunk...

Epic fail.

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by: LenaD @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 17:49:36 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Balming the victim, diablorobotico?

When you agreed to participate in the threads of diaries at Pam's House Blend, the updated terms and conditions of this website define your defining of cross-dressed individuals -- whether as identifying as trans or not -- as defamatory.

From the Pam's House Blend Terms And Conditions Of Service:

You may not post or transmit any message which is harmful, threatening, abusive, hateful, or defamatory (defamatory anti-lesbian, anti-gay, anti-bisexual, and anti-transgender language will include, but not be limited to, the language identified as defamatory within the current online version of the GLAAD Media Guide). Excessive use of profanity is discouraged, epithets directed at community members are grounds for suspension or deactivation (banning) at any time.

From the GLAAD Media Guide:

DEFAMATORY TERMINOLOGY

Defamatory: "deceptive," "fooling," "pretending," "posing," or "masquerading"
Gender identity is an integral part of a person's identity. Please do not characterize transgender people as "deceptive," as "fooling" other people, or as "pretending" to be, "posing" or "masquerading" as a man or a woman. Such descriptions are extremely insulting.

I'm going to interpret the GLAAD identification of transgender people as applying to all people who are crossdressed, or could be assumed to be transgender by how they are dressed. With that in mind:

Whatever Jorge's "sins" may have been, Jorge didn't deserve the death sentence imposed upon him by someone who committed a homicide -- a homicide for reasons involving anti-gay and/or anti-transgender prejudice/hatred.

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~~Autumn~~

As if there were safety in stupidity alone.
--Henry David Thoreau

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by: Autumn Sandeen @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 18:06:43 PM CST

[ Parent ]

With all due respect...

This post makes very little sense to me, a big proponent of trans rights, and strikes me as internally directed anger. At times like these, aiming fire at our own community members for not mourning enough is beyond counterproductive.

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by: TonyC @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 17:11:35 PM CST

Let's try this thought experiment...

Imagine that there was a Gay DOR scheduled for last December and that just days before that previously schedule event was when Jose Osvaldo Sucuzhanay was killed.

(If you'll recall, it was clear in the initial reports that it was a gay bashing as well as a race bashing -- but it wasn't clear how Sucuzhanay identified, and as it turns out his killers incorrectly thought he was gay because he was walking arm-in-arm with his brother, something that's common in Ecuadorean culture.)

Now imagine that Hispanic activists, on the spur of the moment, had organized a number of large memorial events for Sucuzhanay on the same day as GDOR -- and neglected to mention that Sucuzhanay might have been gay (or at the least had been perceived as gay). And neglected to make any mention that GDOR was occurring on the same day.

Might you be a bit torked at the oversight?

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by: LenaD @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 17:44:47 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Why?

Co-opting someone's death to make a point aside, I fail to see how this is relevant.

People are free to memorialize the dead in their own way, and not everyone is going to make the connections we deem important. This is why everyone else is, again, free to memorialize the dead in their own way.

Nobody grieving for Steven's death was doing so as an affront to any other community. It's almost unconscionable to think that this was some sort of oversight for the purposes of dismissing who Steven was.

People relate to death how it most closely effects them, and that's really the most you can grant to people at this rate. Educating them on the truth (rather than perceived reality) is important, but in a time of grief, it's really better to let people do as they see fit.

Otherwise it's just noun, verb, Steven Mercado.

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by: Baconcat @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 20:12:20 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Possible, but...

Nobody grieving for Steven's death was doing so as an affront to any other community.

That's possible.  But, (1) I'd hesitate to make such a blanket statement-in-the-negative, and (2) "Nobody grieving" doesn't necessarily encompass those who have reported on it.

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 20:30:02 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm getting a bit worried about all this in-fighting

I think everyone should go to their corner and have a breather.

All sides are accusing the others of bias, and it's sounding more and more like that last gasp of in-fighting before collapse.

There's a reason it's "GLBT", and it's not to cry foul whenever one group leaves the other out, and it's not under any circumstances for the purposes of leaving other groups out.

The GLBT press is going bonkers over this one, and we've gone from "you shoulds" to "you can'ts". That's never good.

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by: Baconcat @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 23:05:17 PM CST

[ Parent ]

My position

Look, ultimately my only stake in this doesn't involve the appropriation (though I do think its pretty clear that there's been come co-opting) or the biased reporting (it is, of course, possible that it was egregiously sloppy rather than biased) but, rather, what I wrote on another thread when first I hear about this: Irrespective of how the victim identified, there is no argument that had "gender identity" not been included in the hate crime law, the murder would not be classifiable as a federal hate crime.

Sadly, I'm left thinking about a line from the first Robocop movie - from immediately after the 'Robocop' program is greenlighted by OCP, at which point someone says "Now all we have to do is wait for some poor fool to 'volunteer.'"

Unfortunately, Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado has become the same sort of 'volunteer' for the "gender identity" prong of the hate crime law - and the larger issue of the necessity for trans-inclusion - that Officer Murphy was to OCP's Robocop program.

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 00:11:03 AM CST

[ Parent ]

and with all due respect back

Then, as a person in a same sex coupling and a big proponent of same sex rights, you are failing to acknowledge that perhaps a marginalized group might have reason and justification in their anger. Furthermore, said marginalized group is trying to discuss it openly and enact dialogue and you accusing them of being the counterproductive ones for asserting themselves is called derailing: http://www.derailingfordummies...

co-host of trans-ponder

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by: Jaynatopia @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 17:50:43 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Nobody is marginalizing, here

People are grieving the loss of life, not attacking the Transgender community or squatting all over TDoR.

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by: Baconcat @ Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 20:07:28 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Its about the disrespect shown towards TDoR on the 20th

The sad thing about all this is elements of who Steven Lopez Mercado was straddled both gay and trans identities yet in death he was used to divide both.

I personally took offence at so called LGB allies when they  calling off attending TDoR events on the 20th Nov because they wanted to attend vigils for Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado.  LGB groups that have done this should hold their heads in shame for treating TDoR with disrespect and contempt.

Trans people turn up and show solidarity at LGB events all year round and we are happy to do so.  The one day of the year we ask for the LGB to respect and reciprocate our support and they failed and this must be addressed.

Love who you are on the inside and the outside will follow.

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by: Abi Christopher @ Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 01:15:27 AM CST

[ Parent ]

It certainly wouldn't be the first time...

...that the trans community has been tossed aside by the LGB.

That's why some of us are saying "Give me back my T!"

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by: RadarGrrl @ Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 08:10:55 AM CST

[ Parent ]

well..

When an LGBT org doesn't even know its TDOR and puts a coinciding event and when a gay male ally mentions it decides to do/change nothing, cannot see the convergence of communities here, and even as an alternative won't lead a procession to TDOR afterward there is indeed some issue: http://www.equalityforum.com/n...
He, like many other gays on our list, is remembered at TDOR. He is in no way de-gayed, simply recognized as having died while transgressing gender.

co-host of trans-ponder

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by: Jaynatopia @ Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 09:02:24 AM CST

[ Parent ]

It could be worse

One lesbian radical feminist view of the TDOR -

http://aroomofourown.wordpress...


There is no situation so complex it can't get even worse

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by: ZoeB @ Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 06:41:41 AM CST

It isn't the first time

If this was some sort of strange "we got caught up in the moment and made a quick decision" anomaly I would be totally different. But that's not the case - over and over trans people (particularly women) are used to legitimize GLB issues that don't affect us or toss us out of legislation after using us as examples.

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by: rioTgirl @ Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 08:47:36 AM CST

thanks

for transponder146

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by: veranda @ Thu Nov 26, 2009 at 00:38:27 AM CST

welcomed

very welcome and thanks for listening!  

co-host of trans-ponder

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by: Jaynatopia @ Thu Nov 26, 2009 at 09:50:47 AM CST

[ Parent ]