Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 07:45:25 +0000 From: Clare Howell Subject: IYF19 MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Editor: Clare Howell, clare@gpac.org . MEDIA WATCH: - NY PAPERS COVER TRANS-MURDER IN GREENWICH VILLAGE - 'FOCUS ON THE FAMILY' TRASHES TRANSGENDER PARENT NY PAPERS COVER TRANS-MURDER IN GREENWICH VILLAGE ========================================= [New York, NY: 22 Aug 98] FITZROY GREEN, 36, was found murdered in his Greenwich Village apartment last Tuesday morning having been stabbed numerous times. A suspect, Eric Carolina, 21, was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder in the slaying. Friends say that Green, a Jamaica native, was a cross-dresser who engaged in sex work. Police say the killing resulted when Mr. Carolina accompanied the victim to Green's apartment for sex and became enraged upon discovering Green's male genitals. Police have not classified the murder as a gay-bias crime. This account of the murder comes from the New York Times. It's straightforward, factual reporting. The New York Post presented the crime in garish fashion. It described the victim as a "'Sadomasochism master' and cross- dressing prostitute" who had "turned his tiny Greenwich Village studio into a sleaze emporium." The Daily News' story was headlined, "Victim Led Two Lives." It recounts the "seamy details of a double life," and labeled Green a "prostitute specializing in sadomasochism." The subtext of the tabloids', especially the Post's, coverage of crimes involving members of a sexual minority is that the victims are responsible for the violence done to them. It is still permissible in the mainstream media to portray transgender people and sexual minorities (i.e., S/M enthusiasts) with open disdain, ridiculing them in cartoons and dismissing their experience using demeaning stereotypes. "Once you could do this to blacks and other minorities, and women, and people with disabilities; but, the standards of public discourse have evolved past that," said Riki Wilchins, Executive Director of GenderPAC. "Now they're left with us to ridicule with impunity. Gender has become the new socially acceptable form of prejudice." ### 'FOCUS ON THE FAMILY' TRASHES TRANSGENDER PARENT ========================================= [New York, NY: 23 Aug 98] IN THE THE AUGUST issue of 'Focus on the Family' magazine, an article titled 'Defending the Family in the Public Square' begins, "The Christian mother of two young boys divorces her husband after he undergoes a sex-change operation and moves in with another surgically altered man. The former husband demands visitatioin rights with his sons; the woman goes to court to stop him. She wins custody, but a judge says the father, who has renamed himself Susan, can have lengthy, unsupervised, face-to-face visits. "Sound outrageous?" The article then details how the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) fought and won in court to have the deviant, Susan, kept away from her children. The ADF was founded by "Christian" ministries to contest homosexual adoption and custody cases. They offer intensive training in custody and family law to attorneys who volunteer to defend "religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, parental rights and the traditional family." The article closes with a plea to "God's people" for donations and lawyers to help defend the traditional family. ### Subscriptions. Please send: subscribe iyf-online or: unsubscribe iyf-online to: MajorDomo@apocalypse.org For prior releases, check the GenderPAC website at: http://www.gpac.org (c) 1998 InYourFace Our online news-only service for gender activism.