St. Francis County Sheriff Bobby May has said that while his department is waiting on lab reports to determine actual cause of death, trans woman Marcal Camero Tye — found dead early Tuesday near a rural highway outside of Forrest City, Ark. — appeared to have been shot in the head and then dragged by a car, according to WREG tv station out of Memphis.
WREG said Tye was 25, while other news outlets have said she was 24.
May also said he had reports that people nearby the scene had heard two gunshots in the area. Investigators have made plaster impressions of tire tracks at the scene that they hope will help them identify suspects in the murder.
Jennifer Bohannon, identified by WREG as a friend of Tye’s, said she had seen the victim just hours the shooting at her cousin’s house, and that Tye left there saying she was going home. Bohannon said Tye did not try to hide the fact that she was transgender, and Bohannon suggested Tye had been picked up by someone high on drugs and looking for sex, “And when they brought him down here they probably figured out, you know, noticed that he was a “dude” and probably took it from there and shot him and killed him.”
The first reports by WREG identified Tye as “a man wearing women’s clothes,” and used male pronouns to refer to her. However, after complaints by commenters online who suggested the station contact the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for guidelines on reporting on transgender people, the station’s latest reports identify Tye as transgender, saying she was “born male, but lived as a woman.”
Even though WREG changed its language, other news outlets in Arkansas have not. The Daily World out of Helena, Ark., which identified Tye as a former Helena-West Helena resident, reposted WREG’s original story including the “man in a dress” language. KTHV in Little Rock identified Tye as a “transgender man” and used male pronouns in its online story. And The Republic in Columbus, Ind., posted a story online calling Tye “a man dressed in women’s clothing.”
As tragic as this story is, the news media handling of it is equally tragic. You’d think reporters and editors would be able to handle the transgender issue. Sometimes stereotypes are confirmed, and in the case of prejudice in Arkansas that is sadly the case.
KTHV in Little Rock does not say “transgender man”. Perhaps someone at the Dallas Voice should do something they have a habit of not doing, and engage is something called “fact checking”…
https://www.todaysthv.com/life/community/persona.aspx?U=1730a7ec3d22420fb81702c785f2e93b&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=1730a7ec3d22420fb81702c785f2e93b&plckPostId=Blog%3a1730a7ec3d22420fb81702c785f2e93bPost%3ac462250a-1eb0-454d-98a1-9b7fdb058188&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
@Hardy: did you even CHECK the link??
@Jack
You are kidding right? Have you even read the KTHV story?
The original story by Ashley Blackstone lead off with Transgendered man and the masculine pronoun.
Get it here: https://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=147457&catid=2
While you are at it, email Ashley Blackstone at ablackstone@todaysthv.com and tell her that Marcal is a transgendered WOMAN.
Follow the Transexual Menace on Twitter at TSMENACE for breaking news
Jack:
This is from KTHV’s website:
https://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=147457
First sentence:
“FORREST CITY, Ark. (KTHV) — St. Francis County sheriff deputies are investigating the murder of a transgender man.”
Facts checked.
I agree, the media really need to thoroughly reseach any story before they publish it. Marcal was my cousin and yes he was gay but he was not transgender! HE was not a SHE! He has family and it’s not right for us to have to read degrading stories that the media have written about HIM. No one but God should judge this young man, if he choose to live his life differently that’s between him and God. It’s a shame for the media to slander his name with false information.
@Jack: Perhaps you should do some fact-checking. Go to the link you attached to your comment. It may be on the KTHV site, but it is a blog post written by a gay Vietnam veteran using the name JadeFalcon, and all it is is a reprint of WREG’s coverage. If you go to the report posted by KTHV itself, which is linked in the original post, you will see — as noted several times here — that the KTHV report clearly identifies Tye as a transgender man. Thanks
i see only “transgendered person” . Perhaps KTHV changed it under pressure.
@Tammy Nash: your comment was the most helpful, thank you. The link on here originally went to blog post it seems. Perhaps when embedding links in its stories, the Voice would do well to make sure it goes to the place it’s supposed to go.