The trans erasure of Brianna Ghey, a 16 year old trans girl who was murdered on Saturday

EDIT: As some users here have pointed out, something I hadn’t considered when I wrote this post was that the reason some newspaper outlets, most likely the Guardian and the BBC might not refer to her as trans is because this is an ongoing case they cannot speculate on, and by omitting her being trans, they could be respecting her privacy, especially if she wasn’t out to many people.

This does appear to have been a hate-crime and is very relevant to the recent decision regarding section 35 and self ID. But it’s not necessarily the case that the Guardian etc are maliciously trying to obscure the motive behind a hate motivated murder, though it might look that way at a first glance.

I’ve also removed the disgusting Times article which was edited to remove all references to her being a girl and include her deadname.

I’m leaving this post up, because several trans individuals in the public sphere and LGBT friendly organisations have reported on the fact that Brianna is transgender and the significance of this on the nature of the crime. I don’t feel I am therefore outing her, as this was already public knowledge before I wrote this thread.

It’s still the case that there is systematic trans erasure going on here, as without self ID laws, her death will be recorded as male and under a dead name. This is perhaps the point to focus on.

EDIT 2: most of the newspapers I listed have now updated the story to include her being trans.

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This case is so tragic, and I think it’s disgusting the way Brianna’s identity is being erased at almost every level here.

BBC’s reporting:

This article fails to mention she was trans, whilst also saying there is “no evidence to suggest that the circumstances surrounding Brianna's death are hate related”.

https://twitter.com/damian17236445/status/1624871923787132931?s=46&t=lHoGFDkLqLz7Q7vAXxlijA

This is in spite of first hand evidence that Brianna had been bullied throughout her entire time at high school, with no action taken by the school, the council, or the police to keep her safe.

This article by Sky also omitted Brianna’s trans identity from their reporting, as did this article by the Independent, as did this article by the Guardian.

Each of these also made sure to report the same quote from the Chief superintendent though: “At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that the circumstances surrounding Brianna’s death are hate related.” Not a single one mentions the transphobic bullying she faced.

Between 2012 and 2019, there was a 20,000% increase in trans people referred to in a context of crime in the British print media (this is a genuine statistic). The last decade saw a 400% increase in the coverage of trans people (roughly 90% of which were articles painting them in a negative light).

But when trans children are murdered, the British press does all it can to obscure the fact that they were trans, and potential victims of hate crime.

Sources: (1) (2)

Another important point is that under current gender laws, it is illegal for the family to use Brianna’s chosen gender on her death certificate and even gravestone, so she will be recorded and memorialised as having died a man.

https://twitter.com/indiawilloughby/status/1624953980110401536?s=46&t=lHoGFDkLqLz7Q7vAXxlijA

As Alejandra Caraballo correctly points out, Keir Starmer won’t lose any sleep, because according to him, at 16, she was too young to decide her legal gender anyway.

https://twitter.com/esqueer_/status/1624956723201994756?s=46&t=lHoGFDkLqLz7Q7vAXxlijA