Laverne Cox
Actress, producer and transgender advocate; co-creator and star, 'TRANSform Me'

Lorena Escalera: A Life That Mattered
Posted: 05/15/2012 5:37 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laverne-cox/lorena-escalera-a-life-th_b_1515295.html

Several years into my transtion about a decade ago, I thought seriously about killing myself. Life was really hard. I wasn't passing as my true female self very well. I often was called a man as I walked down the street. I didn't think I would ever be accepted as the woman I always knew I was, and I wanted to end it. In the note I was going to write to accompany my death, I was going to have explicit instructions about the pronouns that should be used to refer to me in death. I was going to write that I shouldn't be referred to by the name on my birth certificate but by the name that reflects my female identity -- that is, my legal name, the name I took after I dropped my old first name. ("Laverne" was my middle name, and "Cox" was my last name at birth.) I basically didn't want to be disrespected and misgendered in my death, as all too often happens to transgender folks in news reports on our deaths.

I was reminded of that this weekend when I read the unfortunate New York Times article about the death of Lorena Escalera, a woman who died in a Brooklyn fire. The reporters were careful to use the correct pronouns when referring to Escalera but were sure to quote someone who did not use the correct pronoun to refer to her: "''For a man, he was gorgeous,' Mr. Hernandez said, noting Ms. Escalera's flowing hair and 'hourglass figure.'" This is just one of many passages in the article that sexualize and objectify her. Autumn Sandeen calls attention to this in her piece on Pam's House Blend.