Hundreds of Transgenders and straight & gay allies marched in memory og slain teen Gwen last night in Hollywood; speakers scorned press coverage of the murder, and the memorial.
Hundreds of transgenders and their straight, lesbian and gay allies marched against hate crimes along Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood last night, then gave a moving memorial "Our Choices, Our Lives Vigil for Gwen." to murdered trans teen Gwen Arujo last night at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Besides moving tributes, the speakers, including Memorial organizers Maria Roman of Bienestar, Shirley Bushnell of The Transgender Menace Southern California and Mason Davis of the Female to Male Alliance of Southern California, scorned the mainstream media for their insensitive coverage of the teen's October 3 murder in the Bay Area.
The speakers critiqued the corporate media's consistent referral to Gwen as "a boy who wore women's clothes" and using the pronouns "he" and "his", rathar than caling her a Transgendered Woman.
"Susan Forrest" sforrest@bhs-inc.org> also criticized ABC Channel 7's coverage of the Memorial:
"The 11pm coverage of the vigil on channel 7 was disgusting. They were there - they must have been [there] because they had footage. I assume they must have listened to the speakers, however they still spoke of "Eddie" who was murdered when "he" was revealed as a "man". I am writing [the following] letter [to Channel 7:
'I along with others who helped organize the Vigil for Gwen are angry and upset about the coverage of Channel 7 KABC. It does feel like a "deliberate"
attempt to silence the voices of our transgender community. No one from Channel 7 spoke with any member of the Transgender Community.
They apparently thought that our voices and our lives were not "worthy" to be listened to. I am appalled and angry about this HATE that KABC showed regarding our community. "
To write KABC Go to the following Website for information on how
to write a letter or contact KABC. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/aboutus/stationinfo.html
Some members have already contacted Bushnell regarding KABC's hateful coverage of the memorial.
Please contact Shirley Bushnell -
shirley @earthlink.net -
If you are
interest ed in staging a protest in
front of KABC's Studio.
Original: LA Transgenders Mourn Gwen, Scorn Corporate Media Coverage