#lorena escalera

[yourdailyqueer]

Lorena Escalera (Lorena Xtravaganza) (deceased)

Gender: Transgender woman

Sexuality: N/A

DOB: 14 October 1986  

RIP: 12 May 2012

Ethnicity: Puerto Rican

Occupation: Model, performer, make up artist

[gwydionmisha]

[transfeminism]

Janet Mock speaks out about the New York Times' trans-misogynist coverage of Lorena Escalera's death.

[glaad]

On Saturday night at the 23rd GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco, Janet Mock, noted author, trans advocate and editor of People.com, joined GLAAD in calling for a meeting with staff members of The New York Times to discuss transgender issues. Read more... 

[transfeminism]

A wildly insensitive New York Times article on the life and death of trans artist and drag performer Lorena Escalera flared tensions between the [trans and] gender-variant community and the paper when it was published as part of the Sunday edition on May 14. The article, called "Woman Dies in a Brooklyn Fire That Is Deemed Suspicious," served as a painful exemplar of the media's salacious, oversexualized understanding of trans women of color, said Carmen Carrera, Escalera's friend and fellow trans-identified drag performer. Carrera is most widely known for her performance on the third season of Logo reality series RuPaul's Drag Race.

"You know what it is? I knew Lorena from shows we did in the New York City scene," said Carrera in an interview with me. "She was much more than what they were trying to portray her as. She was always happy, always having a good time. And she was definitely a big inspiration to me."

Left to right: Raven, Lorena Escalera, Carmen Carrera

Escalera, whose success as a drag performer likely inspired many, was a direct influence on Ms. Carrera, who recently came out as transgender herself.

"When I read that article, I was like, 'Wow, are you serious?'" she said. "They put her gender above everything else. My first thought was, 'When I die, is that how it'll be? Nothing's going to matter besides my gender? Nothing I do for others, nothing else? What's the point, then?'"

Carrera described her disgust with The New York Times' depiction of Escalera as "curvaceous" and the fact that the writers of the article (Al Baker and Nate Schweber) depicted Escalera as a 25-year-old woman who "often drew admiring glances in the gritty Brooklyn neighborhood where she was known to invite men for visits to her apartment."

"If she was a non-trans female that was killed, they wouldn't have described her like that," she said. "The article makes it OK to portray trans people like, 'Oh, she was an escort. Oh, she was promiscuous.'  It's just disrespectful and shows so much ignorance."

Carrera, who recently made an appearance on the television show What Would You Do? as herself, said she lives as openly trans in order to combat such ignorance. In the episode of What Would You Do? Carrera plays a waitress confronting an angry longtime customer. The actor opposite Carrera is supposedly disgusted to find out that Carmen was once "Christopher" and used to identify as "he." The show was meant to raise awareness of trans issues.

"Sometimes I feel so discouraged," said Carrera. "Why do I feel like I can't have any pride in myself? The only thing that really keeps me focused is just doing what I do, doing my shows, being a positive role model. That's it."

Carrera says she chooses to live with "utmost fabulosity," regardless of offensive comments and questions thrown in her direction.

"No matter what they tell you, being trans is definitely nothing to be ashamed of. It's the coolest thing around," she said. "Believe that."

With a similar "utmost fabulosity," Janet Mock, an editor at People.com, recently began a Twitter campaign called "#girlslikeus" for trans women and girls of color whose identities are so often negatively portrayed in the media and elsewhere.

"Where do we begin?" said Mock in an interview with me regarding the Times article. "It's kind of like a double-edged sword. When [the media] finds out that someone is a trans person of color, they seem to either ignore the story or blow gross stereotypes of transgender women way out of proportion."

Lorena Escalera

Mock made reference to the lack of coverage for CeCe McDonald and Paige Clay, two trans women of color whose stories of injustice received virtually no mainstream media attention. She said that following the NYT article, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) contacted her for a statement after seeing her outrage over Escalara's story on Twitter. She gave them a statement, and GLAAD responded by amplifying the #girlslikeus campaign.

"I just felt bad for Lorena and the people who love her. It was a tough life to live, and she lived it gracefully and wonderfully," said Mock. "We lost someone who was very loved. And in that article, they stripped away her dignity in such a way that it was extremely disheartening. So it tells me: You can go to the pinnacle of what our community says is success, be a role model like her, and still be beat down. It was extremely upsetting."

Following a statement released by GLAAD, New York Times Metro Editor Carolyn Ryan issued a comment on behalf of the paper.

"We typically try to capture the personal stories of those whose lives are lost in a fire, and we sought to do so in this case," wrote Ryan. "We certainly did not mean any disrespect to the victim or those who knew her. But, in retrospect, we should have shown more care in our choice of words."

Janet Mock

"That's where it scares me," said Mock in response to the statement. She was frustrated not only with the Times' use of words such as "curvaceous" but with parts of the article that objectified Escalera as a person only emulating a woman, someone who tricked men into sleeping with her. At one point, the Times quotes Oscar Hernandez, a mechanic familiar with Escalera.

"For a man, he was gorgeous," Mr. Hernandez said in the article, which also quotes him as taking note of "Ms. Escalera's flowing hair and 'hourglass figure.'"

Is that type of reportage simply a misstep of word choice?

"It was just sloppy and arrogant," she said. "The Times won't even step up and say they were really wrong. It's beyond a choice of words. To me, this incident shows that [we as a community] are not organized enough yet to fight back at something like The New York Times. We need to organize. We need to make sure our voices matter."

In an attempt to provide this type of organized, vocal support for trans people in the press, a new grassroots group called the Trans/Gender Identity Media Advocacy (TIMA) organization is being formed on behalf of gender-variant people in the U.S. (full disclosure: I am an active member of the organization). TIMA aims to address egregious media portrayals such as Escalera's and supports accurate representations of gender-variant people in the media within larger conversations on race, ableism, class, and other intersecting identities. The group is offering free media consultations for trans/gender-nonconforming people involved in potential press projects, people who are currently having difficulty with the press, and media members covering trans-related topics. To contact TIMA, visit their website here.

"We need more support. And we need more sensitivity from the media. See, the thing is this, I love myself," said Carrera at the close of our interview. "I just wish people would accept me for how I accept myself. Accepting myself is hard enough. I can't please everyone; I just wish people would have respect, especially for someone like Lorena."

(Emerson Whitney, Huffington Post)

[transfeminism]

Lorena Escalera died in a fire at her apartment building in Brooklyn

Hundreds of people have signed a petition to the New York Times saying it ‘sexualised’ the death of a transgender woman in a report this weekend.

The petition, hosted on the Care2 petition website, said the report “sensationalised” the death of Lorena Escalera.

Ms Escalera, who was 25, was declared dead at the scene after an apartment building fire in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

The New York Times ran a piece on her death which said in its opening sentence she was “curvaceous, and she often drew admiring glances in the gritty Brooklyn neighborhood where she was known to invite men for visits to her apartment”.

Ms Escalera’s body was discovered after a fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday morning last week.

The report said that in the area, “many recalled a young and friendly woman”. While the artcile itself used female pronouns throughout, one neighbour said “For a man, he was gorgeous” and recalled her “hourglass” figure.

The petition reads: “On May 12 the New York Times ran a piece about a suspicious fire in Brooklyn where trans woman of color Lorena Escalera sadly died. Far from focusing on the facts of the case, the report included sensationalistic and sexualizing descriptions of her as “curvacious” and noted her “hourglass figure.”

“GLAAD has brought this matter to the NYT’s attention already, whereby you called it a “poor choice of words” as though that ended the matter. At a time when anti-trans sentiment is high and sexualization of trans people still means they are denied basic civil rights, this is not good enough.

“We the undersigned ask that the NYT print an apology acknowledging why the story was so deeply offensive, and that it highlight the prejudice and discrimination trans people face in all spheres of life.”

Carolyn Ryan, the New York Times Metro Editor had said: “We typically try to capture the personal stories of those whose lives are lost in a fire, and we sought to do so in this case. We certainly did not mean any disrespect to the victim or those who knew her. But, in retrospect, we should have shown more care in our choice of words.”

GLAAD criticised the article this week: “The decision by writers Al Baker and Nate Schweber to call her “curvaceous” in the first sentence was not a poor choice of words. It was a poor choice of focus. [...] Saying that Lorena was “called” Lorena, even though that is exactly how police identified her, was not a poor choice of words. It was a disrespectful jab at her identity as a trans woman, by implying that she wasn’t really Lorena.”

It added that it was clear that the kind of personal information mentioned in the article “was included in order to “spice up” the story by exploiting Lorena’s status as a transgender woman – not to actually inform readers about her life”.

Currently, [almost 1,000] people have signed the petition.

[transfeminism]

Target: Carolyn Ryan, New York Times Metro Editor

Sponsored by: Steve Williams, Care2 Causes Blogger

On May 12 the New York Times ran a piece about a suspicious fire in Brooklyn where trans woman of color Lorena Escalera sadly died. Far from focusing on the facts of the case, the report included sensationalistic and sexualizing descriptions of her as "curvacious" and noted her "hourglass figure." GLAAD has brought this matter to the NYT's attention already, whereby an editor called it a "poor choice of words" as though this ended the matter. At a time when anti-trans sentiment is high and sexualization of trans people still means they are denied basic civil rights, this is not good enough. We the undersigned ask the NYT to print an apology acknowledging why the story was so deeply offensive, and to highlight the prejudice and discrimination trans people face in all spheres of life.

[transfeminism]

In response to criticism from the LGBT community and allies over its coverage of a fire that killed a transgender woman this weekend, the New York Times released a statement that reveals a lack of understanding of how serious this problem is.

New York Times Metro Editor Carolyn Ryan stated: "We typically try to capture the personal stories of those whose lives are lost in a fire, and we sought to do so in this case. We certainly did not mean any disrespect to the victim or those who knew her. But, in retrospect, we should have shown more care in our choice of words."

Unfortunately, the problem with the Times’ article on the death of Lorena Escalera, a transgender woman of color, is bigger than their “choice of words” or with their attempt to “capture” her story. It’s their failure to recognize trans women as women.  

The decision by writers Al Baker and Nate Schweber to call her “curvaceous” in the first sentence was not a poor choice of words. It was a poor choice of focus. The way this entire article is framed comes directly from an idea that transgender women are curiosities. That they’re other. That they should be treated differently than other people.  Saying that Lorena was “called” Lorena, even though that is exactly how police identified her, was not a poor choice of words. It was a disrespectful jab at her identity as a trans woman, by implying that she wasn’t really Lorena.

Lorena was a daughter. She was a friend. She was a beloved member of a community. But the only elements of her story that writers Al Baker and Nate Schweber seemed concerned with were; what she looked like, what her neighbors thought she looked like, and whether any items that would typically belong to a woman were in her apartment when it burned. Very little of this is relevant to the actual personal story of Lorena Escalera’s life. It seems very clear that this personal information was included in order to “spice up” the story by exploiting Lorena’s status as a transgender woman – not to actually inform readers about her life.

“As my city's and our nation's paper of record, I would expect the New York Times to treat any subject, regardless of their path in life, with dignity,” said trans advocate and journalist Janet Mock. “In Lorena Escalera's life she was so much more than the demeaning, sexist portrait they painted of girls like us. It goes beyond a ‘choice of words.’ According to the Times' limiting, harmful portrait of Lorena, she was nothing more than a ‘curvaceous’ bombshell for men to gawk at. That is not the ‘personal’ story of any woman, and until we treat trans women like human beings - in life and death - with dignity, families and struggles, our society will never see us beyond pariahs in our communities.

Unfortunately, many Americans, including members of the media, do view transgender people – and trans women of color in particular – as curiosities at best, or not deserving of basic human dignity at worst. And very few Americans know any trans people in their day-to-day lives, so this viewpoint is never dispelled.  This is why extra care must be taken when reporting on a story that involves a transgender person, especially if that person is no longer able to speak for themselves, as is the case here. Writers and editors alike must be made aware of how common this underlying bias is, and make a conscious effort to remove it when they see it.

This is where the Times’ statement truly fails. Not only does it not show an understanding of what the problem with the original article was, it also makes no assurances to the community that it will educate its writers and editors about how to report on transgender people in the future. There’s nothing forward-looking in the Times statement.

GLAAD did ask the Times to detail what steps will be taken in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We were told that this statement “will be all there is from us on this.”

But this statement is not good enough.  The New York Times has highlighted the personal and inspiring stories of transgender people in the recent past, including an article on Harmony Santana, Laverne Cox and other transgender actresses, a piece on triathlete Chris Mosier and one on classical pianist Sara Davis Buechner. We can be almost certain that the New York Times does understand the problems with its piece on Lorena, and is embarrassed that it ran. Now it’s time for them to say so publicly, and to tell its readers that steps are being taken to ensure that an article like this won’t be printed again.  We thank members of the LGBT community, including trans leaders like Janet Mock, Autumn Sandeen, Laverne Cox, and Jennifer Finney Boylan, trans author and New York Times contributing writer, as well as Colorlines and Feministing, for bringing attention to this story. We hope to continue putting pressure on the Times until they offer assurances that changes will be made.