Letter to Sun Times Media Wire

From: Erica Chu (ericachu@msn.com)
Sent: Tue 6/29/10 9:16 PM
To: wire@suntimes.com

To the Editor of Sun-Times Media Wire:

The story I'll be referring to in this letter is entitled "Man found slain near South Side church" dated June 21, 2010, and the web address is http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2414716,south-side-church-death-062110.article?plckCurrentPage=2&sid=sitelife.suntimes.com

Your recent story addresses the murder of Credale Woulard and identifies this person as a man dressed in women's clothing. Though the article eliminates some potential motives for the murder, I am shocked and completely taken aback by the fact that there is no mention of this person being transgendered or being potentially targeted because of his/her variant gender identity.

The matter of transgender discrimination and particularly violence against transgendered persons is a major concern in the LGBTQAI community, and one that has motivated hate crime legislation such as the Matthew Shepard Act, which passed in Congress last year.

Though I am grateful that I heard of this story from a larger news outlet, I (and many others in the LGBTQAI community) are very disappointed with the insensitive way this story has been presented. It only further reveals how dangerous it is for transgendered people in this country. If the Sun Times sees Credale Woulard, often known as Sandy, and commits epistemological violence by calling her/him "a man dressed in women's clothing", imagine the kind of physical violence that can occur when a homophobic and transphobic person on the street feels their male heterosexual identity being threatened by attraction to Sandy.

Reporting like this only creates a more dangerous situation for trans people. Reporting like this renders invisible transgender identities and silently justifies the violence committed against trans people.

Perhaps you might view transgendered identities as fringe and therefore unimportant--especially when the victim of violence may very well have been a sex worker. Society may view prostitutes as unimportant, but it should not be so. If Sandy had been a cisgendered woman (what most people typically call a biological female), had she/he been white, had she/he come from some "respectable" or upper middle-class family, even if she/he'd been a sex worker, the media would treat this event much differently.

I challenge you to write a follow up story. I challenge you to bring some visibility to the problem of violence against transgendered people. Sandy's visitation and funeral is Saturday, July 3, 2010, 2:30 -7:00 PM at Midwest Memorial Chapel at 5040 S Western Ave in Chicago. For more information, you can contact the funeral home at 773-737-6959. Sandy has a sister, and she has a mother.

I also strongly recommend you read up on transgender and genderqueer identities and issues. The Center on Halsted may also be a good resource as might the Broadway Youth Center.

I did not know her/him, but I've done some internet searching to find this information. I write for the Gay Chicago Magazine and plan on addressing Sandy's murder in my latest column and may also address this story by the Sun Times Media Wire.

I would certainly like to hear from you regarding your plans to cover this story or your reaction to my accusation that you have written about this story insensitively and perhaps even ignorantly (whether unwittingly or not).

Again, I definitely appreciate that you have provided some information about this crime, but I think that the work you've done is grossly insufficient.

Thank you for your attention, and below I've copied some links to a couple stories I've seen in the LGBTQAI Chicago blogs. I also am pasting below some information about violence against transgendered people.

Sincerely,
Erica Chu

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http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/new-gender/2010/06/transgender-person-murdered-on-the-south-side-sun-times-publishes-offensive-report.html

http://www.gayliberation.net/gaypride/2010/0624prideupdate.html

Information from the Human Rights Campaign:

Hate violence. Transgender people are often targeted for hate violence based on their non-conformity with gender norms and/or their perceived sexual orientation. Hate crimes against transgender people tend to be particularly violent. Our best estimates indicate that one out of every 1,000 homicides in the U.S. is an anti-transgender hate crime. This estimation is based on data collected by the national organizers of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Organizers of the Transgender Day of Remembrance track the number of transgender people killed each year in hate-based attacks using media articles, community reports and other publically available data. By this count, they estimate that at least 15 transgender people are killed each year in hate-based attacks, although we believe the number to be higher based on transgender people’s common fear of going to the police and widespread misreporting. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates approximately 14,000 homicides in the country each year. Based on these figures, we can estimate that approximately one out of every 1000 homicides in the U.S. is an anti-transgender hate-based crime.
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Update as of 07.06.2010: Still no response. I thought of calling, but there seems little chance that would accomplish anything. There are three good articles worth reading that have responded to the issues raised in the letter:

http://www.edgechicago.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=&sc3=&id=107516

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=27113

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/new-gender/2010/07/writing-about-gender-variance--a-few-simple-ideas-for-the-cisgender-writer.html