EdgeBoston.com – by Joseph Erbentraut – EDGE Great Lakes Regional Editor
Nearly a month has passed since the Aug. 26 murder of Ty’lia “NaNa Boo” Mack, a 21-year-old transgender woman, in Washington, D.C. But the violent crime remains on the top of the minds of transgender advocates nationwide.
In its wake, many are left wondering whether crimes like the one against Mack are given the sort of national media attention they should. While no one disputes the horror of a death like the one of Matthew Shepard the Wyoming college student left to die on a fence, some do question whether more societally “marginal” people–often transsexuals and the transgendered– received less scrutiny by the media or sympathy from the general public.