Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Jacob Nash of the Cleveland Transgender Community Outreach Committee  has graciously kept our blog in the loop on the community’s response to Cemia Acoff’s death.  Ce Ce’s funeral will be at Temple Baptist Church 1862 Noble Rd., East Cleveland, Ohio with calling hours at 10 with the funeral to follow at 10:30am. This all happens Monday, May 6.

In addition, the Beyond Identities Community Center is holding a memorial service in remembrance of Cemia Dove’s life on Monday, May 6, 2013 from 5-6pm. BICC is at 4700 Prospect Park in Cleveland.

Jacob shared his thoughts on the unfolding tragedy and the loss of a 20 year old member of our community.

“It saddens me that many of the news outlets are still misgendering Ce Ce as well as not recognizing the hurtful nature of doing so and the affect it has on the transgender community. This could be a great learning opportunity for reporters if they would only reach out to us so we could work together to rectify the situation. This is not just a victim of a horrendous crime but someone’s child who is being dragged through the mud and the family is already hurting as it is. This needs to be stopped and people need to be educated.”

I’m going to withhold further personal comment on the media situation and remain focused on the funeral arrangements – a concrete way Cemia’s family – her LGBTQ family – can help ease some of the pain and support the folks in Cleveland who are in the trenches on this one.

Again, you can help with a modest donation to pay for the funeral expenses – TransOhio is collecting funds via PayPal.