Queer Kid of Color

I was shocked when I heard of this news story. This occurred early February and I didn’t know about it until I was forwarded the link by a classmate this week. I’m mostly shocked at the failed reporting by the journalists who wrote the story. The use of the terminology, their insensitivity, and their non-empathic state just further builds on the fact that news organizations need to hold sensitivity trainings to build a more progressive news department.

Below is the email to the reporting journalists as well as the article that appeared in the New York Daily News:

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Cops: Ex-con slays Bronx transsexual ‘hooker’

BY ELIZABETH HAYS { ehays@nydailynews.com } and JONATHAN LEMIRE { jlemire@nydailynews.com }

A transgendered prostitute was stabbed to death in the Bronx Saturday by a customer who was apparently surprised by the hooker’s true sex, police sources said Saturday.

The victim - a 25-year-old man who dressed like a woman - was identified by sources as Talib Stewart, who often went by the feminine nicknames of Nesha or Sanesha.

Stewart was stabbed multiple times inside a Belmont apartment building about 6 a.m. Saturday, police said.

A 37-year-old man was later arrested inside the second-floor apartment, police said.

Though the suspect’s identity was not immediately released, the sources said he was the prostitute’s john who became enraged when he learned his partner was not a woman.

Stewart, more than 6 feet tall, was known to wear stylish, provocative outfits with towering high heels, neighbors said.

Stewart also apparently had undergone surgery to give him larger breasts and other female characteristics, neighbors said.

“She looked like a girl but when she turned around, you knew it was a man,” a 17-year-old neighbor said. “She had a big jaw and an Adam’s apple.”

Neighbors said Stewart was a friendly and flirty presence on the block and was rarely hassled for his appearance.

“She’s always been Nesha to me,” said a friend who just gave her first name, Janelle. “She’s funny and outgoing.”

“It’s a shock - nobody should do something like that,” said another neighbor who asked not to be identified. “She never had any problems here.”

Stewart’s relatives visited the crime scene Saturday afternoon and angrily declined comment. Neighbors said they didn’t know if Stewart was turning tricks but they had noticed frequent male visitors to her home.

The suspect remained in police custody last night as the Bronx district attorney was determining which charges to file, officials said.