The Murder of Venus Xtravaganza

Venus on one of her last interviews

It's been 29 years, as of July the 2nd of 2017 since Venus Xtravaganza (1) was assassinated and a little bit over 33 years since Jennie Livingston socioeconomic documentary Paris is Burning (2) interviews happened.

It was 26 years ago that for the first time on contemporary media, the phrase "transgender murder" happened within the mouth of the late drag mother Angie Xtravaganza (3), the importance of Venus and Angie comes that on that moment on  August 16th of 1991 where a documentary on the AIDS pandemic bring the life of young LGBT individuals who were shunned by their families and thousands of them dying and being unreported because of their families didn't wanted them.

More importantly, Paris is Burning shows the different aspects of transgender youth who after being rejected by their families, and being left to their own lucks (4) and ultimately finding ways to survive such as resorting into prostitution (5) in which is one of the ways that many meet their untimely death, because there aren't protections on a federal level for transgender women and transgender men that will guarantee a dignified life in which there shouldn't be fear to live on your authentic self.

29 years later after the murder of Venus, there is not enough protections and treatments to give the opportunity to someone to transition and be happy, but also that work related they could have an enviroment in which they shouldn't fear of getting fired for any reason, which could involve harassment or termination without notice

Venus and Willie Ninja

As many transgender women who were murdered, her killer was never apprehended; other killers go with the gay/ trans panic defense (6) which is still used by the perpetrators to avoid jail time and is insane that courts still rule in favor of that. We have reach a point where we should change the word equality to equity in order to represent that we are all equal, because we still as a society give preference.

We can take a look at what happened to Texas (7) in which the Texas Supreme Court reversed the spousal benefits for same sex couples, there is no equality when people in power are playing with the dignity and basic rights of human beings. The importance of Venus goes as she is an icon beyond the NYC ball scene, she is one of the many who represent that 30 years later, there is still inequality.

If someone who reads this entry, has a clue such as the hotel or motel she was murdered, or where to find the police records, please comment below. Thank you.

References:

1. http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/17921/1/the-legacy-of-venus-xtravaganza
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Is_Burning_(film)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angie_Xtravaganza
4. http://www.newsweek.com/transgender-murders-protect-trans-women-568558
5. http://www.refinery29.com/2017/04/151401/transgender-women-murder-rate-us-2017
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20080205180344/http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/mckinney/gay_panic_ruling_ctv.html
7. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/lgbt/2017/06/30/texas-supreme-court-rules-gay-couples-notguaranteedspousal-benefits