Trans teens mourned at funeral service

Trans teens mourned at funeral service
Friends in life placed in coffins next to each other

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Reporter for The Washington Blade

Washington DC, August 23, 2002 ---- The godsister of one of two transgender teenagers shot to death on a Southeast D.C. street corner last week delivered an impassioned eulogy Monday, Aug. 19, after hundreds of mourners filed past the open coffins of Deon "Ukea" Davis and Wilbur "Stephanie" Thomas.

"It is not our duty to judge," said Latrina Hopkins, who said she and Davis were raised in the household of their godmother as brother and sister. "Our only duty is to love and to love passionately and unconditionally," she told more than 300 people at the Holy Christian Missionary Baptist Church for All People on Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, N.E.

Davis, 18, and Thomas, 19, were found shot to death about 3:25 a.m. Monday, Aug. 12, inside Thomas' Toyota Camry, which had come to a stop at the intersection of 50th and C Streets, S.E., according to a statement issued by D.C. police. The two shared an apartment less than a block from the site of the shooting and were believed to have been on their way home.

Friends and relatives said Davis and Thomas had lived their lives as women since the two were in their early teens. They were well known and liked "for who they were" in their neighborhood, where Thomas's mother and many of his aunts, uncles and cousins lived, said Calvin Richardson, one of the Thomas cousins.

Police said they have no suspects and no known motive for the murders. They said that while they have no evidence to classify the incident as a hate crime, they could not rule out anti-gay or anti-transgender hatred as a motive.

At the funeral, hundreds of friends, relatives and family members filed past Davis and Thomas' open coffins, which were placed end to end at the front of the church. The coffins were surrounded by dozens of displays of flowers and cards. Also filing past the coffins were more than two dozen transgendered friends and activists, some of whom helped to organize one of two candlelight vigils last week for Davis and Thomas at the site of the shooting.

Pastor puts pressure on police

Rev. Stephen Young, pastor of Holy Christian Missionary Church, said he feared that police would "write this off like a broken record" and would devote insufficient resources to the investigation.

"My prayer is that we would raise enough cane that they treat this case like they treat the white girl up there in Rock Creek Park," Young said, drawing loud cheers and applause from the people attending the service.

Young was referring the case of missing Capitol Hill intern Chandra Levy, whose decomposed remains were found in Rock Creek Park months after she was reported missing from her Dupont Circle apartment.

"I want you to stir this city up so that what happened at 50th and C Street was a remake of what happened in Rock Creek Park," Young said.

Friends and relatives of Davis and Thomas spoke of how the two were loved and accepted, even though some family members would have preferred that they live their lives as men instead of women.

Hopkins said she was among Davis' closest family members, and read three poems that Davis wrote shortly before his death.

"My soul is yearning to be loved," Hopkins quoted from one of Davis's poems. "That's why I call to the man above. Tired on my feet, but I shall not be beat -- beat out of my sexuality, mentality, and last but not least, my confidentiality."

"I am human, entitled to my own right, so I'm going to continue to fight, and therefore I will remain with strength," Hopkins read.

Sgt. Brett Parson, director of the D.C. Police Department's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, said homicide detectives continued to work long hours this week investigating the Davis and Thomas murders. Parson said the success of the investigation would depend on whether people from the 50th and C Streets neighborhood come forward with information to help police identify those responsible for the killings.

A police statement said one or more attackers fired into Thomas' Camry while most likely inside another vehicle, believed to be a large sedan, possibly a Mercury. Police sources said Davis and Thomas were each struck at least 10 times by bullets in the head and upper body.

Police have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment of any suspects in the case as part of the department's Crime Solvers program. Anyone with information should contact homicide detectives at 202-645-6363.

News reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.