4/30/12

Asking WREG News 3 for Clearification about Memphis Transgender Victim's Gender



The WREG broadcaster in her opening statement identifies the victim of the Saturday attack as a male who transitioned to female. This has resulted in a uproar by our community because the video later identifies the victim with male pronouns.



Is this a case of simple ignorance that could be remedied by a correction being published? But if the victim was female, it could be a sign of something much worst. Many in our community including myself were quick to think the worst, since Memphis and Tennessee in general has earned such a bad reputation regarding transgender people.

So I put in a call to WREG. The first person I spoke to would not offer a statement so I left a voicemail and this email with Channel 3 News asking director Bruce Moore for clarification.
I called WREG this morning about the story about the transgender person who was attacked Saturday. The broadcaster originally identified the victim as female and then for the rest of the story identified the victim as male.
This has caused quite a uproar in our community. Was it a simple mistake or was it intentional misgendering a sign of systemic transphobia so prevalent throughout Tennessee?
I spoke with Richard who would not offer a statement and was directed to Bruce Moore's voicemail.

I will be at work most of today and unable to answer phone calls but if WREG would email a clarification I would appreciate that every much.

Thank you,

Kelli Busey
planetransgender


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