Plaque dedicated at transgender memorial

By ARIN MIKAILIAN, The Los Angles Independent

A plaque honoring victims who were murdered for being transgender was unveiled Nov. 20 at the Matthew Shepard Triangle in conjunction with the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

More than a 100 members of the transgender community and their supporters gathered at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Crescent Heights Boulevard carrying white roses and candles to witness the unveiling and remember departed friends.

“From a place of wonder and magic we were born, to a place of misunderstanding and hatred we have been taken,” an excerpt from the plaque reads.

Shirley Bushnell, a member of the West Hollywood Transgender Task Force, addressed those in attendance and thanked everyone who helped bring the plaque to fruition over a course of three years.

“This memorial will be a safe place to come and honor our community,” she said.
About 200 transgenders were murdered worldwide between Jan. 2008 and June 2009, according to a July report by the international group Transgender Europe.

Chaz Bono — who was born Chastity Bono to entertainers Cher and Sonny Bono, but is currently in the process of becoming a man — is welcomed to the stage Nov. 20 at the unveiling of a plaque in West Hollywood dedicated to transgendered victims of hate violence. (Photo by Gary McCarthy)

Locally, the latest victim was 24-year-old Paulina Ibarra, a transgender woman who was stabbed to death in her Hollywood apartment on Aug. 28.

Bushnell mentioned Paulina’s name as she addressed mourners in attendance, and said that others like her continue to push the movement to end discrimination.

“Those who have died like Tyra Hunter, Brandon Teena and Paulina are all activists,” she said. “Why? Because they motivate us to challenge injustice.”

Emily Colio, a cousin of Ibarra, was on hand and talked about how difficult it is coping with grief.

She thanked everyone who has helped in the search of Ibarra’s killer, who is still at large.

“Her life was taken on Aug. 28, 2009 by someone, in my opinion, is the worst kind of person living among us,” Colio said.

Chaz Bono, who was born the daughter of entertainers Sonny and Cher and is now transitioning to being a man, was the keynote speaker for the event.

Now a West Hollywood resident, he thanked the city for welcoming him to the community as well as dedicating a plaque to transgender men and women.

“I’m so glad to be a part of this community that I fought so long and so hard with my own internal stuff to be a part of,” Bono said. “This is a great event, I’m so pleased that we have this monument. I don’t know of anything like this in any other city in the country.”

Bono has also been a recognizable activist for LGBT rights since coming out in the 1990s.

He said becoming a man was one of the most difficult things he has done in his life and that he will continue to fight for the transgender population.

“I’m new to this community, I know I still have a lot to learn and I don’t have a lot to say on a larger sense, other than how hard it is to come out, how hard I fought and struggled to be able to be comfortable enough to know that I can transition and do that publicly,” Bono said. “I’m so grateful to be here.”

After the plaque’s unveiling, attendees marched down Santa Monica Boulevard to Plummer Park for the culmination of local Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremonies.

During the march, Carmen Mystica Mecina, a local transgender woman, told The Independent that she had been attacked several times in the last decade.

She attributes the motive for doing so to gender phobia, but that doesn’t stop her and others from continuing to live the way they feel is right.

“Everyone says it’s so courageous,” Mecina said. “You have to be what you are. You can’t hide it.”