Tonight, a Comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. – Rorschach

Most who read this blog have probably heard of Victoria White’s murder by now – albeit not as much as readers may have heard about Tyler Clementi’s suicide.

I’m not one who is trying to rank one of the deaths above the other…

but I will confess that its taking some energy for me not to say anything about those who are still living who, by conscious omission, are doing just that and/or trying to spin the expected christofascist indifference to LGBT death into yet another money-sucking extravaganza:

However, from the reality-based reality of Pam’s House Blend, we have:

People are mourning the tragic suicide of 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi; over in Maplewood, NJ, the young life of another person was taken from this earth as the result of a fatal shooting that should also receive your attention. (Maplewood Patch): The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office reported today that the victim of a fatal shooting in Maplewood on Sunday was Victoria Carmen White, formerly James White. White had legally changed her name to Victoria Carmen following sex reassignment surgery.The Prosecutor’s Office and Maplewood Police had originally identified the victim as James White. However, as stated in a release from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office this afternoon: “Following an examination by the Medical Examiner and further investigation, it has been confirmed that the victim was a post-operative transgender female having undergone sex reassignment surgery.”

Was the “further investigation” done by referee on the sideline at a football game?

Upon further review, the call is not confirmed. The victim is female. First down on the twenty yard line. Shoddy, perfunctory investigation to go.

Actually, “investigation” should be plural here.

There should be an investigation into who killed her – but we know how investigations into the murders of trans women go.

First down on the twenty yard line. Don’t hold your breath for any investigation at all. Last one to the donut shop is a diseased tranny.

But there’s a second investigation that needs to take place here – and, contrary to what some who are venting about this killing are saying, its not over the fact that White’s birth name and sex appeared in reports of the murder per se. Was it really necessary? No. But was it an unforgivable desecration of a dead woman’s memory? A fine line indeed exists, but I’d also have to say no.

Sadly, that’s the state of “public figure” status – and being murdered makes one a public figure…

even if those whose duty it is to investigate such a murder might be criminals in their own right.

My buddy Monica Roberts reported on the murder+ at TransGriot:

The Maplewood Police and Essex County Prosecutor’s Office initially identified her using her old name and incorrect gender pronouns. They had to retract that initial press release and add the following statement: “Following an examination by the Medical Examiner and further investigation, it has been confirmed that the victim was a post-operative transgender female having undergone sex reassignment surgery.” Take a look at the photos of Victoria interspersed throughout this post. Does she look like a ‘man’?

A good question – which leads to what should become a critical legal question: How did the authorities in Maplewood not simply ‘identify’ her as ‘a man’ but also manage to do so with her birth name?

One commenter to Monica’s post invoked the future death of possibly the most famous person known to have changed his name.

Of course, I’m sure some will be shocked to learn that that person is not Chad Ochocinco.

[W]hen Muhammad Ali dies, his birth name Cassius Clay will be mentioned. It’s not disrespect, it’s the facts.

And I agreed – with caveats.

The primary sources that one would find from 1960-64, regarding his Olympic victories up through his victories over Sonny Liston, would refer to Cassius Marcellus Clay. His fight to be recognized in the media and by other boxers as Muhammad Ali makes reference to his birth name legitimate. But if, when Ali dies, the headline of the New York Times – or even the Louisville, Kentucky paper – reads: “Cassius ‘Muhammad Ali’ Clay Dies” then I’ll not only de-transition, but I’ll become a priest and volunteer to become Joe Ratzinger’s personal knob-polisher. I’m sure that that headline will appear somewhere, but the terms “freerepublic,” “nationalreview” and “onenewsnow” will likely be in one or all of the accompanying URLs. If Victoria White had ever fought Sonny Liston (or Cleveland Williams, or Ernie Terrell, or Buster Mathis, Sr., or Nino Benvenuti, etc.) or had any public presence *as James* which makes the pre-transition name relevant, that would be one thing. But giving the pre-transition name primacy and making her legal name at the time of her death a parenthetical afterthought is as erasive as HRC’s hiring policies toward trans people.

Gwen Smith, when dealing with this subject, often mentions two headlines that never occurred, even though the deaths in question did:

Leonard “Buddy Hackett” Hacker Dies…

Leslie Townes “Bob” Hope Dies…

Hell, I’ll make the aforementioned de-transition wager if anyone can find a legitimate, verifiable, published news source that ran this headline:

Harold Lloyd “Conway Twitty” Jenkins Dies…

And he never even legally changed his name to Conway Twitty!

But he was Conway Twitty.

Just as a certain fellow who played basketball for UCLA, the Milwaukee Bucks and the LA Lakers is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and is not Lew Alcindor (or Roger Murdoch for that matter.)

And Victoria White was Victoria White when she died, not James anything.

But this is how a report of Sept. 13 read about the death of Victoria White:

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Squad and Maplewood police are investigating a homicide that happened Sept. 12 at 5 a.m. at 159 Jacoby St. James White, 29, of Newark, was pronounced dead at the scene when police arrived, according to a prepared statement sent from the Prosecutor’s Office on Sept. 13. The statement didn’t disclose details of the incident, such as how the victim was wounded or why the victim was at that location. But, the statement did report that the incident occurred inside the residence.

The following day, that same news source had the following:

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has issued a clarification of the victim’s name and gender that was fatally shot Sept. 12 at a private residence at 159 Jacoby St., Maplewood, according to a statement they released on Sept. 13. The victim’s legal name is Victoria Carmen White, 28, of Newark. Authorities said following an examination by the medical examiner and further investigation, it was confirmed that the victim was a post-operative transgender female having undergone sex reassignment surgery. The victim’s birth certificate was legally changed from James White to Victoria Carmen White, authorities said. According to the statement, “The case is under active investigation. No other information is currently available.”

I’m reasonable.

Really.

I can see the how it might be possible that the police found Victoria’s body sans ID of any kind (which I don’t know to be thecase; again, this is a hypothetical to show that I’m capable of offering up more than a sliver of a benefit of the doubt) and that the process of ID-ing the body – perhaps by fingerprints or some other means (this does not equate to an assumption that she had a criminal record; I don’t have one but my prints are in the system from when I made my application to practice law) – led back to her birth name sans connection to her current name.

Seriously.

That’s possible.

But here’s where my reasonableness hits the road – head first after being launched off of the Sears Tower (or whatever the hell its called these days).

Once the reasonable scenario I detailed above occurs – involving a body with obviously female external anatomy – how unreasonable does it then become for the police to not assume that there is at least a slight possibility that (1) the body with obviously female external anatomy has a female name of which they are currently unaware, (2) the incongruence between the known male name and the known female anatomy might well have played some role in the circumstances leading to the murder, and (3), assumptions (1) and (2) might be cause to not simply issue a press release stating that the murdered body of a man had been found and, for that matter, might be cause to not issue any press release at all until the likelier-to-exist-than-the-possibility-of-the-Bears-now-coming-back-to-beat-the-Giants (10 sacks in one half? Oy!) female name of the victim is ascertained.

And as of Sept. 16:

A Newark resident was shot to death in a cousin’s apartment on Jacoby Street Sunday morning and authorities continue to look for the killer. Victoria Carmen White, 28, had gone to the 43rd Street Cafe in Irvington with her cousin, where they met two men, White’s relatives said Sept. 13. The two men later were let into the first-floor apartment, although the Essex County Proscutor’s Office would only say the shooting occurred around 5 a.m. White was pronounced dead at the scene of “multiple” gunshot wounds, said Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino. As for a possible motive, Carter said, “We’re investigating that at this point.” While across the street from the apartment building on Sept. 13, relatives of the victim said they want justice.

They said White was a model and dancer who had no enemies. “We’re very angry. We’re upset,” said Robelia Reid-White, Victoria’s maternal grandmother, in a subsequent phone interview. As recently as Sept. 13, the Prosecutor’s Office continued to identify the victim as James White, 29, of Newark. Later in the day, Laurino’s office issued a press advisory saying that “following an examination by the medical examiner and further investigation, it has been confirmed that the victim was a post-operative transgender female having undergone sex reassignment surgery.” The Prosecutor’s Office said White’s birth certificate “was legally changed to identify her as Victoria Carmen White.” Laurino’s office, which has not released more information on the case, has not said how the initial error in identifying White’s gender was made. Maplewood police Capt. Paul Conlon said that all information about the shooting would come through the Prosecutor’s Office.

A transsexual’s name and sex were erased in New Jersey. Ultimately. we all know why. But what we don’t know is who did it.

That needs to change.

As Stephanie commented at PHB:

By misgendering Victoria from the very beginning, the prosecutor’s office may have comprised their case by signaling to the defense that a trans panic defense may be acceptable.

And how convenient would that be?

Perhaps it compromises the case so much that, well, there won’t really need to be a case at all, eh?

Right now, I’m off to find a bookie who will offer odds on the “initial error” and the murder having more than a coincidental connection, such as – maybe – a tranny-chaser cop and/or a self-loathing prosecutor with more than a little incentive to murder the case by de-legitimizing the murder victim?

But before I place my bet, I have one more task.

Its 2010, so the Internet is preferable to the Bat Signal (which I’m not sure Rachel would respond to anyway; I’m not sure she’s the ‘cape’ type), and I’m sending the signal this way: Rachel, please look into this. I know its election season, and I know there’s plenty of insanity related to Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Sharron Angle, Sally Kern, Christine O’Donnell, Rand Paul and Jim DeMint to fill the entire MSNBC primetime schedule even without this – but please consider looking into this. The way in which Victoria White was specifically misgendered as her birth name/sex smells worse than whatever the hell O’Donnell may have burned on that satanic altar that she talked about on Politically Incorrect ages ago. It smells worse than a Tom DeLay-signature rabid skunk.

You have a forum, Rachel.

Please use a bit of it on this.

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