Just two weeks after trans woman Lashai Mclean was shot and killed in northeast Washington, D.C., another trans-related shooting happened Sunday, July 31 near the same location, according to this report in the Metro Weekly.
Lashai Mclean
Tonya Harrell, also a trans woman, was shot at by a “black male, 17-19 years old,” but was uninjured.
The suspect approached Harrell on the street at approximately 2:45 a.m. Sunday and demanded change, according to police reports. Police reports say that without waiting for her to reply, the man shot at her with a semi-automatic handgun. Fortunately, the suspect missed and Harrell was not injured.
”Both cases involved transgender victims,” according to the MPD press release referenced by the Metro Weekly report, referring to the murder of Mclean and the attack on McLean. “Due to the similarities of the victims’ sexual self-identification, M.O., locations, and lookout for suspects, the cases are being investigated as a potential emerging pattern.”
The MPD press release adds that the Sixth District is working with the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, as well as Transgender Health Empowerment (THE) and the Prince George’s County Police Department to ”enhance patrol efforts in the area” where the near-identical shootings happened.
The suspects in Mclean’s murder were described as “two black males,” who remain at large. Could this be a pattern of hate crimes or just an unfortunate coincidence?
MPD Deputy Chief Diane Groomes said that while she can’t confirm the shooting is related to the July 20 killing of Mclean, the circumstances are ”identical.”
I hate to pick journalistic nits, but I believe “transwoman”, as single word/noun, is a derogatory term. The proper usage would be “transgender woman”, or the shortened “trans woman”, where transgender is an adjective. Even better, how about just “Lashai Mclean, who is transgender”? If the circumstances indicate, transsexual is preferrable.
“Transwoman” (as a noun) implies a difference with “woman”, i.e., there are women and then there are transwomen. Hopefully you understand why this is wrong. In fact it’s representative of the root of trans bigotry in the LGB community, i.e., a transwoman isn’t really a woman, regardless of the lip service (or the lack thereof) one gives to respecting their gender “identity” (and vice versa for the trans guys).. Put another way, it’s like a news story referring to “gayman Neil Patrick Harris”, or “blackman Pres. Obama”, especially if the writer is straight or white.
My $0.02.
Rebecca: Thank you for that note. I will make corrections in the post and will keep your information in mind in the future. Drake, our staff intern, posted this blog, and he is trans. When you see his blogs on the process of his transition, or read other blogs or articles he writes for us, you will see him refer to himself as a young transgentleman. Since that is the way he chooses to identify, we will continue to use that term.Thanks again for your input