About 2 years ago I shared my own scary experience about sharing the ladies toilet with a man in the process of transforming into a complete woman; this happened in the shopping mall in Stratford London. I suggest the UK government should look into this before the situation gets out of hand. If you missed my shared experience at the time, please click here - Blogger K
Neulisa Luciano Ruiz was
killed early on Monday morning in Toa Baja on the northern coast of Puerto
Rico.
The transgender woman was shot in Puerto Rico hours after someone called the police to
inform them she had been using the women’s toilet at McDonald’s.
Police are investigating if
footage uploaded on social media, where at least two men can be heard
ridiculing and threatening a person thought to be the victim ahead of gunfire,
is the actual killing.
One individual can be heard
appearing to misgender her, saying: “You bet I am going to go and shoot him.”
People lamented the death
of Ms Ruiz, who was known by the name of Alexa, and the hashtags
“#SeLlamabaAlexa” and “Her name was Alexa” have gained traction on Twitter.
Pedro Julio Serrano, an
LGBT+ activist based in the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan, called for authorities
to investigate the killing as a hate crime and hit out at the press for
misgendering Ms Ruiz.
Mr Serrano, in a statement
on his website, said Alexa was “stalked and hunted” ahead of her killing,
adding that the video demonstrates the crime was “a hate crime motivated by
intolerance.”
He criticised conservative
groups and argued they have fostered hysteria centred around transgender people
using bathrooms.
“We must denounce the hate
speech of the fundamentalist groups that have promoted a climate where they
prosecute and persecute a trans person for the mere fact of using a bathroom,”
Mr Serrano continued.
Carmen Yulin Cruz, San
Juan’s mayor who had a public spat with Donald Trump after the deadly Hurricane
Maria in 2017, drew attention to the death of Ms Ruiz.
Ms Yulin Cruz, a candidate
for governor of Puerto Rico, tweeted: “You can feel the pain of Pedro Julio and
of all those who understand that the lives of our trans people are worth the
same as any other compatriot”.
Tori Cooper, director of
community engagement for the transgender justice initiative for the Human
Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT+ advocacy group in the US, condemned her
death.
She said: “This is a
horrifying crime that must be investigated with the utmost thoroughness and
care. This victim, who has now been identified as Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, was a
human being, a member of a community, a friend and family member.
“She had dreams, hopes,
hobbies and did not deserve to have her life taken from her. Human Rights
Campaign has heard that Ruiz was experiencing homelessness, further
highlighting the ways a toxic mix of transphobia and misogyny conspire to put
the transgender community at risk of extreme violence.”
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