A public memorial will be held tonight for Myra Ical, a transgender Houston woman found murdered in the Montrose area last week.
According to a press release from the Transgender Foundation of America, the vigil will include two moments of silence, one for Ical and one for the six murders of transgender people in Houston since 1999 that remain unsolved. There will also be a moment of noise-making “to recognize that it is silence that allows the perpetrators of crime to go unpunished.”
The TFA and others have taken issue with the Police Department and The Houston Chronicle for referring to Ical as a man and for saying that her body was found in a “well-known spot where homeless people camp and is frequented by prostitutes and drug users.”
According to the above update from KHOU.com, Ical’s murder remains a mystery. Her body was covered in bruises and showed signs of a struggle. Police aren’t treating the case as a hate crime but haven’t ruled it out.
Tonight’s memorial will be held at the site where Ical’s body was found, in a vacant lot at Garrott Street and Richmond Avenue. The Facebook event page has more than 100 confirmed guests.
