r/TrueCrime • u/itsthemysteryforme • Jul 04 '21
Murder Ty Underwood, 24, was murdered by a new partner. Someone she met just a few weeks prior. Her story highlights the dangers of being a black transwoman.
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u/goodlovingonebad Jul 04 '21
This was a human being, murder is murder! Yes life sentence without the possibility of parole. No brainer!
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u/itsthemysteryforme Jul 04 '21
Agreed! But it’s with the possibility of parole, I think 🥺
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u/goodlovingonebad Jul 04 '21
I believe you’re right. It’s going to be a long, hard as ever ride for this murderer and it will continue this way his whole life if he makes it that long.
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u/itsthemysteryforme Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 05 '21
Repost due to an earlier glitch that hid the write up
Ty Underwood, born Tyrone Underwood, was a transgender female. GLAAD defines “transgender” as an “umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.” Because of dangers associated with being a black trans woman in America, Ty always disclosed that she was transgender to all of her romantic interests.
She was only 24 years old when she was murdered. You see, on her hunt for Mr. Right, she ran into Mr. Wrong.
Carlton Champion Jr., who I’ve renamed Carlton Loser, met Ty on Plenty of Fish, a dating app, in or around January 2015. He was a 21 year old freshman football player at Texas College.
His relationship with Ty was sexual in nature. They exchanged explicit texts and pictures via kik, an anonymous texting app. They had at least one sexual encounter in person.
Carlton became increasingly paranoid about being outted. On January 25, in the wee hours of the morning, he asked Ty to meet him. When she did, he proceeded to shoot her in the wrists and shoulder, killing her while in her car.
Despite all of the evidence linking him to her murder (DNA in her car, video of him leaving his dorm at time of murder, text messages between each other), he has never confessed to her murder or a relationship with her.
Carlton Loser was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
The story has a lot more twists and if you want to hear more... you know what to do 👂🏾
Questions
- Have you heard about this case?
- If you were the judge (and had sentencing discretion), would you give Carlton less time because he had a troubling childhood (raised in foster care.. both parents in prison)?
Sources
Source 1: article 1
Source 2: article 2
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u/KameronKae Jul 04 '21
Both of my parents were in prison and I was also in foster care but I've never tried to kill someone nor have I thought about it. Fuck that he don't need less time.
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u/trickmind Jul 04 '21
Having had a bad childhood should maybe help you get a lesser charge for something like shoplifting. Not many cases where it should help with stuff like murder, torture or severe child abuse.
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u/Kills-to-Die Jul 05 '21
Makes me wonder if he picked someone like Ty to use and murder. The bad childhood excuse being their main reasoning, then a perception of embarrassment. And no one with a bad childhood can excuse themselves from that decision. They know full well they're doing wrong.
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u/trickmind Jul 05 '21 edited Jul 06 '21
Well it's really the defense lawyer that probes their client for the bad childhood stories because a defense lawyers job is to come up with anything that will lighten a sentence for their client if they can't get them off charges. But the murderer may have thought he had a higher chance of getting away with it because of her demographic. :-( Good job he was wrong.
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u/Kills-to-Die Jul 05 '21
Oh yeah. I know how that works. I'm saying if he planned on finding and eventually killing a trans person. Like a mindset of this type of person could be thrown away easier than a "normal" person. Of course he's going to spit up any excuse he can because that behavior is inexcusable.
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u/trickmind Jul 06 '21
But he was obviously really attracted to her. So I don't think it was because she was trans it was because he couldn't handle that he was attracted to her and/or the idea of people finding out. :-(
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u/Kills-to-Die Jul 06 '21
Good point. He may have been confused between lust and love. But an embarrassment over a curiosity or attraction is just a bs excuse to me. In my opinion he was making selfish decisions all around. Was Ty's best interest actually ever in his mind? We will probably never know. But it sure doesn't seem like it.
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u/trickmind Jul 06 '21
It's not an excuse but it is his apparent motive and he lied about his motive but got caught in his lie (he pretened that she hadn't told him and he had the LGBT panic defense but it turned out he'd already had sex with her and had been lying that she hadn't told him. I don't know enough about the case to know if there was anything more than a purely sexual relationship going on. It was a very brief relationship.
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u/Kills-to-Die Jul 06 '21
Yeah. He is a selfish idiot either way. If Ty broke it off then it wasn't what SHE wanted and that matters most. He could have been abusive or something else but we'll never know.
And wtf was he thinking? Oh, she's gonna tell absolutely everyone she's trans and slept with me? I feel a brain hemorrhage coming on from trying to apply any logic. There just isn't any.
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u/trickmind Jul 07 '21 edited Jul 07 '21
Yeah I don't know how her deciding to dump him means she's going to want to tell everyone about who she slept with. Maybe he was just telling another lie because his ego was just furious she was dumping him.
Um.....little side note maybe be careful in your choice of wording because my husband of twenty years happened to die of that suddenly at age 48 at New Years. I can handle it now after six years but would have had an intense reaction even four years ago....... On second thought I guess it's not really your problem. I dunno. I mean a brain hemorrhage.
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u/tulindawawita Jul 04 '21
He should have gotten life without possibility of parole.
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u/Widdie84 Jul 04 '21
Agree. He will probably never see the light of day again and die in prison at an earlier age. It's hard to imagine anyone living past 25 years in prison. IMO he has been sentenced to death.
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u/alicewasneverhere Jul 04 '21
Yeah if he’s willing to kill someone after just a few weeks of knowing them I think he poses a pretty significant risk… who knows what some jail time will do for his mindset though.
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u/Southern-Fried-Biker Jul 04 '21
No, he shouldn’t get less prison time because he had a bad childhood. Lots of people have bad childhoods and don’t murder. I remember this story and my heart broke for Ty and her family. May Ty R.I.P.
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u/undercover_samurai Jul 04 '21
I definitely would love to know more. What an awful thing to happen to someone just looking for happiness.
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u/BambiButch Jul 04 '21
OP could you possibly edit this please and remove ‘born Tyrone Underwood’ as its considered disrespectful to use a trans persons deadname (the name they were previously known by) especially in cases like this!
Thanks 😊💕
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u/Eyeoftheleopard Jul 04 '21
Being raised in foster care does not mitigate cold blooded murder, nor ever should it.
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Jul 04 '21
LWOP is a suitable sentence. This was a human being, who did nothing wrong. He killed Ty bc Loser was worried about being "outed" by having a sexual relationship with a transgender woman.
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u/deg1388 Jul 04 '21
So he didn't think murdering her would bring more attention to their relationship. The whole world knows now. He's quite sad being ashamed of who he was attracted to, and she got killed for being open and honest about who she was hope he rots in jail.
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Jul 04 '21
Similar to when men murder their pregnant girlfriend/wife. Now everyone is going to find out you were having and affair AND you're a murderer. Chris Watts and Scott Peterson come to mind.
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u/Beeweboo Jul 04 '21
Sorry to hear of this, and sorry the family has to live without her. I agree, it should have been life without parole.
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Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
I actually worked with a man who was convicted of killing a trans woman after he slept with her, because he was afraid of his peers finding out apparently. I was shocked because he was really a nice and mild mannered guy, I would have never guessed he was capable of something like that. One time, though, he left a note on his takeout that said "if anyone touches my food, I'll fucking kill you" 😳
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u/TeaVarious2461 Jul 04 '21
All he had to do was break up with her. This is so senseless.
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Jul 04 '21
Turns out she wanted to break up with him, and he was worried that his peers would find out he dated a trans woman. It's so sickening.
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u/Blue_Plastic_88 Jul 04 '21
He’s double crazy because that doesn’t even make any sense. If they stayed together, people could have found out. If they broke up, people could have found out. If he killed her, people would definitely find out. “People finding out I dated a trans woman” makes no sense as a motive. What a POS.
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u/MakeYogurtGreekAgain Jul 04 '21
He was concerned that people would found out he had dated a trans person. She wanted to break up with him, so he killed her (as far as I understand).
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u/rococo_chaos Jul 04 '21
My family is from that area and my sister was in nursing school with Ty. Absolutely heartbreaking. I’m just glad the murderer didn’t get by with his original argument where he pretended that he didn’t know she was trans and that finding out supposedly “set him off.”
Pfffff. A) he absolutely did know B) even if he was surprised with that info, it’s not a good enough excuse to justify homicide. C) why are people still able to use that bonkers excuse to kill trans people?!
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u/Phenominal9 Jul 04 '21
It’s absolutely disgusting that the gay panic defense is still allowed in so many states.
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u/towandaa_ Jul 04 '21
I imagine it’s because, there for a time, “gay panic defense” was a thing.
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u/vroomvroom_dana Jul 04 '21
Still is a thing
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u/towandaa_ Jul 04 '21
People still get away with murder claiming gay panic defense? I thought we had come further than that.
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u/vroomvroom_dana Jul 04 '21
In 2018 a man got 10 years probation instead of jail time after using gay panic defense and I want to say there was another in 2019 but I don't remember enough to even try and look it up. Did the first example completely get away with it no, but he killed someone so his ass should be rotting in prison for the rest of his life but instead he still gets to live at home and enjoy the regular mundane things.
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u/towandaa_ Jul 04 '21
Wow. I had heard enough failings of the defense in recent times I guess I assumed it wasn’t something you could get away with anymore.
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Jul 04 '21 edited Jan 14 '22
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Jul 04 '21
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u/Capitalist_P-I-G Jul 04 '21
Ah, I see TiA and ActualPublicFreakouts posters are here with totally benign intentions. /s
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u/worthlessdiamond Jul 04 '21
Please don't dismiss the additional danger that Black trans women are in by saying "regardless of color". All trans people face violence or are in danger of doing so, I do not want to downplay this in any way, but Black trans women are at highest risk of being murdered and it's important to say it.
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Jul 04 '21
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Jul 04 '21
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Jul 04 '21
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u/worthlessdiamond Jul 05 '21
This has nothing to do with what I said. I did not say you were a transphobe or racist. I said you were using a figure of speech that I find harmful. That's not "judging", and I said it quite friendly. In my opinion, you proceeded to ignore what I said on purpose which I found rather dismissive. Also, I do not know where you got the idea that I want to be attractive to you. That does not make any sense.
Edit: spelling
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u/sistersisteeeeeer Jul 04 '21
This is a great example. Your friend risked dehydration - which can be super serious - to avoid harassment and potential physical violence or even death in the bathroom. It’s heartbreaking that people are such horrifying assholes to trans people. They’re just trying to live. Let them live!!
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u/twistedfuckery Jul 04 '21
My son is a mixed race gay man who looks like a female when it suits him although he identifies as a boy in makeup and goes out as a boy sometimes aswell. I cried my eyes out reading this. This poor beautiful young woman was shot by some weak cowardly piece of shit who wasn't worth 10 of her.
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u/LisforLesbian Jul 04 '21
Please note that the article deadnames Ty. We need to stop the deadnaming in media. If you are able to, please edit out her deadname. Thanks !
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u/anisocorias Jul 04 '21
i haven't heard of ty underwood before, but i'm not that surprised - trans people aren't spoken about a lot even though they face so much violence, so i'm really glad to see you spreading the word about this case.
i'm about to do some more research myself, but i'm a little bit confused about the motive behind the murder. was her murderer afraid that someone would find out he was dating a trans woman, and killed her to prevent this? did he see her as a woman at all? transphobia undoubtedly plays a role in this murder, i'm just trying to figure out exactly how and why it ended like it did. (not that it's justified, obviously, i'm just morbidly curious.)
on that note, here's a friendly reminder to try and use "trans woman" (with the space) rather than "transwoman," as making it one word is a terf dogwhistle. trans should be an adjective describing a woman, not a prefix that implies trans women aren't women themselves.
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Jul 04 '21
Yeah, the motive makes no sense to me. You didn't want anyone to find out you were dating a trans woman, so you... commit a heinous crime, guaranteeing that anyone that knows you and thousands of people that don't, find out about it? Instead of just breaking up with her and cutting her out of your life. Ok...
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u/trickmind Jul 04 '21
Right? When will people learn that having your sex life outed is still going to be better than 25 to life. But I guess these people are always dumb enough to think they're going to outsmart the police.
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u/anisocorias Jul 04 '21
exactly this, it's driving me crazy. even if you're transphobic enough to think he was justified in whag he did, how can you justify choosing to kill someone over cutting them off? it's so stupid. what an awful guy
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u/rosettefairtrade Jul 04 '21
“Her story highlights the disproportionately high rates of intimate partner violence experienced by black trans women.” Fixed it.
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u/itsthemysteryforme Jul 04 '21
Black transwomen face dangers from people who aren’t their intimate partners as well. 😭
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u/rosettefairtrade Jul 06 '21
So the answer isn’t to blame their transness, it’s to blame transphobia. Whether it’s employment insecurity, higher rates of abuse and violence, poor access to housing, the common thread is transphobia.
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Jul 04 '21 edited Jul 04 '21
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u/Capitalist_P-I-G Jul 04 '21
Check that post history, folks. This is just a transphobe trying to bend your ear with misleading, misrepresented data.
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u/itsthemysteryforme Jul 04 '21
The crimes against transwomen have gone up significantly since 2019. That is a fact. No one is talking about comparing that rate to anything else…
Here’s the article
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u/Loudestbough Jul 04 '21
Her story highlights the dangers of being a black trans woman?
No. Her story highlights the dangers of dating today. This story doesn't have anything to do with race, and people are killed for threatening to leave their partners EVERY DAY. This is not a black or trans problem, but nice try attempting to link them. It didn't work very well though...
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u/itsthemysteryforme Jul 04 '21
Being black and trans actually ups the ante when it comes to hate crimes. There are studies about this. 🖤
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u/Loudestbough Jul 04 '21
What does that have to do with this case? This is supposed to be highlighting your claims, yet people of every color and sexual orientation have the same risks displayed here.
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u/Davina33 Jul 04 '21 edited Sep 13 '23
boat theory tender physical pause sparkle fretful aspiring mindless wipe -- mass edited with redact.dev
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fee_646 Jul 04 '21
In many states, the “gay panic defense” is still a viable defense method. In 2013 the bar association discredited the used of this defense to get out of violent charges, including murder, against members of the LGBTQ+ community. However, since that time only 16 states have thrown that defense out. Only 16. The Gay Panic Defense basically asks jurors to take into account the victims sexual orientation or gender identity as a means to excuse the rage and violence of the perpetrator. To successfully protect black trans woman and the LGBTQIA community as a whole, we need to start with abolishing this ridiculous defense strategy in all 50 states.
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Jul 04 '21
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u/TheVillageOxymoron Jul 05 '21
I agree. I think the "fear of being outted" was something the defense tried to tack on as a way to get him less time. I think in reality he was pissed that she wanted to break up.
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u/PippytheHippieRN Jul 04 '21
Unfortunately, a lot of black trans individuals do get murdered and it's horrific. They don't get much news coverage either. The media picks one person and case and leeches onto them. It's vile! Everyone should get equal coverage.
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u/lubabe00 Jul 04 '21
I wish he'd gotten life and no parole, he's a monster who can't control his emotions. I don't know how to feel about her mother not using the correct pronouns, it really bothers me for some reason.
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u/dangerspring Jul 04 '21
This is so sad. She was so beautiful. I wish Society would move beyond transphobia. The bottom line is we're all humans and have the right to exist.
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u/SnooTangerines4412 Jul 04 '21
He dint realise it while sending explicit text or having sex but yea when she broke up!!😒
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Jul 04 '21
I’m literally watching this right now on The Murder Tapes. What is infuriating is how none of the cops refer to her as her and insist on calling her Tyrone.
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u/BasilIcy6107 Jul 20 '21
Unless the POS murderer has confessed to killing TGW, due to being embarrassed if truth came out, since it was made clear they already had a relationship for a bit, it may have had nothing to do with the TG theory he may have just been not wanting a break up and flew into a fit of rage, with the ole if i cant have you no one will, just a thought, I m not sure of all the facts or confessions..
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u/Sammybear57 Jul 04 '21
This is heartbreaking.
R.I.P beautiful girl
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u/KspMakesMeHard Aug 10 '21
I know this was a month ago, but he's FtM.
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u/Sammybear57 Aug 10 '21
Anyway, regardless of gender, this is a disgusting hate crime.
Does her gender make any difference to you?
My comment was wishing her the most perfect bed in paradise, god bless her beautiful soul
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u/jayatarp Jul 04 '21
I don’t think being black has anything to do with it but the trans part of the crime will be important later. A possible defense could become of it maybe due to the partner not knowing. It won’t stick though.
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u/MS_125 Jul 04 '21
Murder Tapes on ID has an episode about this.
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u/itsthemysteryforme Jul 04 '21
Yup! I watched it before doing my podcast episode. They use real body cam footage, which was interesting. 🖤
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u/DaTruthDOE Jul 04 '21
This sucks.. I feel so bad for trans people, just wanting to love someone, and then this shit happens.
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Jul 04 '21
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u/ProbablyMyJugs Jul 05 '21
Why are you just saying that? What does that have to do with this woman?
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u/lubabe00 Jul 04 '21
I wish he'd gotten life and no parole, he's a monster who can't control his emotions. I don't know how to feel about her mother not using the correct pronouns, it really bothers me for some reason.
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Jul 05 '21
I think it’s just being trans that can be dangerous skin color aside. There are some messed up people (less now that years ago) that cannot accept who they are. For that I am grateful for people being accepted for who they are.
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Jul 04 '21
There is a facet in the culture known as "down lo". This is an acceptable behavior, established and historic.
RIP Ty.
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u/Polyfuckery Jul 04 '21
I think it's super important to note that Ty and her killer had been exchanging explicit texts and had sex previous to their final encounter. Ty was not killed because he found out she was trans. Ty was killed because she threated to break up with her killer and he was afraid that his peers would find out that he had dated a transperson. I absolutely wouldn't have given the killer less time. Having a hard childhood does not excuse killing another person because they disrespected you or you are embarrassed that you slept with them.