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Realizing, Fulfilling 'Who They Are'  by Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2003; Page B01

A rallying point for this group, and the larger community, was the Aug. 16 shooting death of Bella Evangelista, a Guatemalan immigrant who sometimes performed at Club Chaos, a gay nightclub near Dupont Circle. The other transgender homicide victims - Stephanie Thomas, Ukea Davis, Kim Mimi Young, and Emonie Spaulding - were killed between August 2002 and August 2003.

"This violence is not new. This violence has been going on for years," said Sgt. Brett Parson, the commander of the D.C. police gay and lesbian liaison unit who works closely with the transgender community. But what we have now is a recognition of the violence... If we were talking about five police officers killed in the District or five judges or five politicians, that would be unbelievable. Since it's the transgender community, somehow we [as a society] shrug it off and want to dismiss it.

Many see the 1995 death of Tyra Hunter, born Tyrone Michael Hunter, as the spark that ignited the local transgender movement. It was a case that outraged the public and led to sensitivity training for local authorities.

Hunter, a 24-year-old hairdresser, was involved in a car accident that left her seriously injured. As she lay unconscious, an attending D.C. emergency medical services worker discovered that she had male genitalia, and halted treatment for several minutes, laughing and making derisive remarks. Hunter died that night at D.C. General Hospital. Her mother subsequently won a lawsuit awarding more than $2.8 million.

Last year, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization, conducted a poll in which a majority of respondents said they believed it was "all right" for a person to be transgender and that there should be more laws to protect them. Thirty-seven percent said they believed it was wrong.

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