Jordan
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It is my sad duty to report that last week, a 17 month old baby named Roy Jones was murdered by their mother's boyfriend because they were acting effeminate:
My thoughts and condolences are with Roy's mother, and the fact that this happened on a reservation is very disheartening to me, considering I am a Lenape two-spirit.According to New York State Police, their agency received a 911 call on Sunday at around 8:25 p.m. reporting a child in cardiac arrest at a home on Old Point Road East on the Shinnecock Reservation. The toddler was transported to Southampton Hospital by ambulance and was pronounced dead by 9:11 p.m.
It is unknown at this time who placed the 911 call, but police revealed that the infant was being babysat by Jones at the time of the incident. Jones, 20, had started a relationship with the mother in April and was living in Southampton, though he had previously been living in Huntington Station. Though Jones and the mother, Vanessa Jones, shared a last name officials maintain he wasn’t related to the mother or the child.
According to Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota’s spokesman Robert Clifford, court documents state that Jones caused the death of the infant “by striking him several times throughout his body with his closed fists and grabbing him by the neck.” During an initial police investigation, Jones reportedly told investigators, “I was trying to make him act like a boy instead of a little girl.” Clifford was careful to note that the case remains open and an exact cause of death has yet to be determined.
Roy Jones may be the youngest hate crimes victim to be targeted for their (perceived) gender identity. And some of the statements from the "father" make me shudder.
That one time mistake...cost a child their life, and I can't believe that he is complaining about having to do 20 years; calling him a "brat" would be an understatement. And this quote says it all:"I never struck that kid that hard before. A one-time mistake, and I am going to do 20 years."
Well, if you truly loved "your baby", you wouldn't have tried to masculinize them and force them in what is your view of gender roles. That's not love, its sadism!!!!"That's my baby. I loved him to death."
I honestly believe that we live in a poisonous culture, where, as the "All In The Family" theme song says, "girls were girls and men were men". It is this myopic view that leads to these situations. It is what made me into a raging closeted phobe in my teen years, and I'm just so lucky I am able to be out now.
The question here is, while Pedro is better off in prison, how do we harness the sorrow from this tragedy to create a better world for gender variant people.
-Jordan Gwendolyn
