Bad Reporting or Transphobia?
Transphobia in the media and/or the New Brunswick Police Department? A tale of two reporters?
Eyricka Morgan
Were local cops too lazy or inept when they apparently misgendered a transwoman as a man? We don’t know as yet but the bottom line is a tragic murder of Eyricka Morgan, a 26-year-old black transwoman, a student, in New Brunswick New Jersey, that has been compounded by the apparent disrespect and denial of her true gender identity by the police and “mainstream” press.
I first became aware of this tragedy late Wednesday evening, September 25 as I was checking my newsfeed on Facebook and saw a posting from a friend and fellow New Jersey activist, Gary Paul Wright who is the founder and Executive Director of AAOGC, African American Office of Gay Concerns, an organization that has over the years developed effective educational and support programs for transpeople in Newark, NJ and surrounding areas.
He was obviously extremely upset by her murder, she being a friend, a mentee, one who had participated in programs at the non-profit AAOGC and who had helped educate others, and he also posted a link to the story from the local Internet media that, one would assume based on the police report, labeled her as a man.
I had a chance to call Gary Paul on Thursday afternoon and talking with him I realized that I had actually met Eyricka at one or more of the trans events sponsored by AAOGC. Moved, perhaps a bit shaken, I called Jennifer Bradshaw, the reporter at the Patch, who first broke the story and left a message about the mis-gendering in her story. I was pleasantly surprised when she called back within 15 minutes. I tried to explain the situation and then offered to give her Gary Paul’s info to get some personal and humanizing information about Eyricka in the hope that a corrected story would be published. Jennifer did contact Gary Paul and submitted an updated story.
Meanwhile, the Star-Ledger, NJ’s biggest daily filed a similar story and has refused to update or correct it.
The “journalist,” Sue Epstein gives no phone number and I was unable to get a response from the link. Meanwhile, she and the Star-Ledger have refused to correct the original story. They have even refused to respond to GLAAD as reported in The Advocate.
Neither Ms. Epstein nor their Editorial page editor have responded to my subsequent emails. Imagine a newspaper headquartered in Newark refusing to follow up on a brutal murder of a woman who was from Newark! Sounds like a great story!
Given this behavior, it is ironic that the Star Ledger gained a reputation for having bone chilling headlines when it reported about Leslie Ann Nelson as a “transsexual killer,” yet their editorial board has stood up against transgender workplace discrimination.
The story still remains, as does the question as to why the New Brunswick Police apparently mis-gendered Eyricka in their police report. Was this a bias crime? Did the local police notify the Middlesex County Bias Crimes Officer of the killing? There are so many unanswered questions about the murder and the conduct of the New Brunswick police department and the entire matter which is under investigation, but it is a shame that the that the focus is now on the Star Ledger and Sue Epstein.
In my years of advocacy I have seen and experienced many examples of transphobia. Very often it is exhibited by people who might be described as being “insecure” about their own gender identity. Might the reporter be herself gender variant? I do not want to lead the reader to any particular conclusion, but suggest that you have a second look at the Star ledger story and look at the reporter’s photo and you judge for yourself.
There is much more news to come, but the gender identity of a brutally murdered young woman should not be “butchered” by the mainstream media! Shame!
Category: Transgender Body & Soul, Transgender Community News
About the Author (Author Profile)
Babs at 76 passed away in 2019. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee, Deputy Vice Chair of the NJ Democratic State Committee and Political Director of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of NJ. She served on the Executive Committee of Trans United 4 Obama. She has served as Vice Chair of the DNC Eastern Caucus, was President of NJ Stonewall Democrats, Co-Chair of National Stonewall Democrats Federal PAC Board, Vice-Chair of Garden State Equality, Executive Board member of National Stonewall Democrats as Chair of the DNC Relations Committee and a member of the NJ Civil Unions Review Commission.Subscribe
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Thank you! They did after much pressure from local folks and organizations and GLAAD publish an update, but never took down the original story, nor did they make any attempt to apologize. We are keeping the pressure on them and the New Brunswick Police.
Babs,
It is important that crimes such as this are properly reported.
Thank you for our good work and please continue to advocate for proper treatment and holding the feet of the media to the fire.
I do think that the Star Ledger (not a favorite paper of mine) eventually did a proper update on the victim and I wonder if they would have done so without your pressure.
Pat