Miss Gay D.C. crowned Miss Gay America – Washington Blade
Nearly 100 people turned out on Jan. 16 to honor the life of D.C. transgender woman Jasmine Star Parker at a vigil held on the 2000 block of Gallaudet St., N.E. where D.C. police say she was found stabbed to death at 3 a.m. on Jan. 7.
Among those participating in the vigil were Parker’s mother, brother, and sister, who have expressed their love and admiration for their deceased loved one.
Earline Budd, executive director of the D.C. group Empowering the Transgender Community (ETC), which organized the vigil along with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, told the gathering she knew Parker for many years and observed first-hand how Parker did her best to overcome discrimination and bias as a trans woman of color.
“We’re here today to remember a life taken away from us on Jan. 7, the life of Star Jasmine Parker,” Budd said. “Star was 36 years old. And Star deserved to live. So, today I want to take an opportunity to first of all let there be blessings in this place.”
Budd pointed out that the table where she and others who spoke at the vigil was set up on the sidewalk in front of a tall chain link fence were Parker’s body was found, with her blood still visible on the pavement.
D.C. police said that as of this time, they have no suspects and no known motive for the Jan. 7 homicide. A police spokesperson said the case was not listed as a suspected hate crime, but that could change if new information is obtained. Police are urging anyone with information about the case to call police at 202-727-9099.
A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder.
Police initially identified Parker as Jasmine Star Mack. But family members and Earline Budd have since said that the beloved trans woman was known to the family as Jasmine Star Parker and preferred to be called Star. Parker was her birth surname.
Budd said Parker’s family informed her that a viewing and funeral service for Parker would be held Friday, Jan. 20, at Meridian Baptist Church at 5354 Sheriff Road in Capitol Heights, Md., beginning at 10 a.m. for the viewing and 11 a.m. for the service.
Among those attending the vigil were members of the D.C. police LGBT Liaison Unit, including Lt. Livio Rodriguez, director of the police Special Liaison Division, which oversees the LGBT Liaison Unit. Budd praised the LGBT Liaison members, saying they have been longtime supporters of the transgender community.
Parker’s mother, Arlene Witherspoon and her brother, Andre Tinsley, told those attending the vigil that Parker was raised in a religious family and she embraced God during many of her times facing hardship.
Parker’s sister, Pamela Witherspoon, was scheduled to speak at the vigil but told Budd she was too emotionally distraught to speak. In earlier interviews with WUSA 9 and the Washington Post, Pamela Witherspoon told how her sister faced hardship from discrimination in spite of her upbeat personality as someone who was “always singing and dancing — just trying to make you laugh,” she told WUSA 9.
“She wasn’t the type of person that did things to people,” WUSA 9 quoted Witherspoon as saying. “I don’t understand why. What did she do to deserve this? I’ll never understand that.”
Members of the community who spoke at the vigil during an open mic session, including longtime D.C. transgender activist Taylor Chandler and Center for Black Equity Deputy Director Kenya Hutton, said the city was not doing enough to address the problems of discrimination and threats of violence faced by members of the trans community, especially trans women of color.
“We have the ability to do more,” Chandler said. “There is no reason why we should be having this vigil for Star. We need to be giving more money to organizations that value Black trans lives.”
Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said he agreed that the city should be doing more to address problems faced by the transgender community.
“Circumstances have put Star and many members of the community of D.C. in the danger that they’re in,” Bowles told the gathering. “And that is a failure from where I’m at, my job,” he said. “And it’s something that we are working on with the community.”
Added Bowles, “And this is D.C., the nation’s capital, where we have done more. And we have a record of doing more. And we need to do more,” he continued. “So, I promise we will do more.”
Sebrena Rhodes, the D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner representing the area where Parker was killed in the Ivy City neighborhood, said although the area is faced with crime, this was the first known homicide to take place in the neighborhood in a long time.
“I’m sure everyone loved her for who she is,” Roads said of Parker in her remarks at the vigil. “I’m deeply sorry. I live here in Ivy City. We all have to work together.”
Budd told the Washington Blade that the area is known as a place where some transgender sex workers congregate for what Budd and others who spoke at the vigil called survival sex work made necessary when discrimination and transphobia prevent trans women from finding other means of employment.
“Well, we talk about survival sex,” Budd said. “It’s not a secret. And you know, when people ask, what was she doing here, I say what does it matter? What does it matter? The fact that her life was taken, that’s what matters, whether she was here doing survival sex work or whatever.”
Rev. D. Amina B. Butts, pastor at D.C.’s LGBTQ-friendly New Hope Baptist United Church of Christ, appeared to sum up the sentiment of most of those attending the vigil by calling for an end to the hostility and violence faced by transgender people in D.C. and across the nation.
“It’s hard to find words of comfort,” she said. “There are no words to describe what has happened. It is a travesty of injustice. It needs to stop,” she continued. “Right now, in the name of the Divine, it needs to stop. We command that it stops.”
