Stephanie Montez was found shot to death on a road in the suburbs of Corpus Christi.
By Trudy Ring
This article was published on November 1, 2017.
A transgender woman has been found shot to death in south
Texas, in the 23rd known homicide of a transgender person in the U.S.
this year.
Stephanie Montez, 47, was found along a county road near Robstown, a suburb of Corpus Christi, October 21, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports. She had been shot in the chest, abdomen, and shoulder. She was misgendered in initial police and media reports and was not identified as transgender until last Friday.
“She was one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet,” Montez’s longtime friend Brittany Ramirez told the Caller-Times, adding,
“She just had a great outlook on life. She was very supportive of
everyone. … I don’t know why anybody would do this.” Montez loved to
dance and often performed in drag shows, Ramirez said.
The Nueces County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to
investigate Montez’s death. Corpus Christi LGBT activists have scheduled
a Trans Rights Rally to be held Saturday at 2 p.m. outside the federal
courthouse in Corpus Christi.
The rally is being held “to bring awareness to fact that
we’re not covered under hate-crime laws or anti-discrimination laws,”
PFLAG Corpus Christi president Kathy Huff told the Caller-Times.
“I’m so overwhelmed with getting this stuff done for Stephanie to make
sure that she gets the dignity she deserves.” Texas’s hate-crimes law
covers crimes based on the victim’s sexual orientation but not gender
identity, and the state’s anti-discrimination law does not cover either
characteristic.
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Source: The Advocate
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