Tyra Hunter ( – August 7, 1995) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

hairdresser and

transgender woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

who died after being injured as a passenger in a

car accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...

. Hunter transitioned at 14 and lived her adult life as a woman. The

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

was found responsible for her death, due to not delivering medical care, and for violations of the DC Human Rights Act during her treatment.

Accident and death

Hunter and her friend Tedessa Rankin were driving to work when they were hit by another car on the corner of 50th St SE & C St SE, a block away from where she lived, in the neighborhood of Marshall Heights. The other car was going twice the speed limit and had run a traffic light. The driver of the car, which was stolen, fled. Gerald Jay Johnson, the 21 year old driving the car that hit her, was charged with

negligent homicide Negligent homicide is a criminal charge brought against a person who, through criminal negligence, allows another person to die. Other times, an intentional killing may be negotiated down to this lesser charge as a compromised resolution of a mur ...

. According to witnesses, a male firefighter helping Hunter stopped and backed away laughing upon discovering that she had a penis, and saying "this bitch ain't no girl...it's a

nigger In the English language, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...

, he's got a dick". Two other witnesses corroborated the comment, but the description of the technician varied. He continued derogatory comments and joking with other firefighters while leaving her untreated. Bystanders requested them to resume treatment, but they did not do so until a supervisor arrived three to seven minutes later. Fire department officials disputed these, saying that medics never stopped treating her and, while a derogatory comment was made, she couldn't have been saved. Otis J. Latin Sr., the D.C. fire chief, said that they couldn't determine who made the comment, and nobody was disciplined. ER staff at

DC General Hospital The District of Columbia General Hospital was a hospital located in the Hill East neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was operational from 1806 to its controversial closing by mayor Anthony A. Williams in 2001 as the city was trying to cut costs ...

subsequently "failed to diagnose Hunter's injuries and follow nationally accepted standards of care." Hunter died about an hour after arriving, and two hours after the crash. The D.C. fire department opened two cases to investigate her treatment. The second one was opened in December after fire department officials acknowledged that the first investigation was inadequate, but blamed "pressure to produce results from the gay community" for the speed of the first one. A

candlelight vigil A candlelight vigil or candlelit vigil or candlelight service is an assembly of people carrying candles, held after sunset in order to pray, show support for a specific cause, or remember the dead, in which case, the event is often called a cand ...

was held in front of a D.C. fire department on September 20, with over 200 demonstrators. Over 2,000 people attended her funeral, in which she was buried as a woman. Almost all of them were African American. Some attendants wore shirts with an image of her and text reading "God's Gift". A second vigil was held on October 4 in front of

Marion Barry Marion Shepilov Barry (born Marion Barry Jr.; March 6, 1936 – November 23, 2014) was an American politician who served as mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Barr ...

's office, the mayor of D.C at the time.

Early life

Tyra Hunter was born in

Culpeper, Virginia Culpeper (formerly Culpeper Courthouse, earlier Fairfax) is an incorporated town in Culpeper County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat and part of the Washington–Baltimore–Arlington, DC–MD–VA–WV–PA Combined Statistical ...

and raised by her mother, Margie Hunter, and her sister, Linette. Her father left when she was 7. She grew up in the Southeast neighborhood of D.C. and at 15, she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to her mom that she was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

and

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Sociology * Trans, a sociological term which may refer to: ** Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that di ...

. Her family supported her transition and began viewing her as a girl, though they continued to use masculine pronouns and her

dead name Deadnaming is the act of calling a transgender or non-binary person by their birth name after they have chosen a new name. Many transgender people change names as part of gender transition, and wish for their former name (''deadname'') to be ke ...

. She received

gender-affirming care Transgender health care includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions which affect transgender individuals.Gorton N, Grubb HM (2014). General, Sexual, and Reproductive health. In L. Erickson-Schroth. ...

and began saving for

gender-affirming surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

. She worked as a

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...

at several places.

Lawsuit

Margie Hunter filed a $10 million lawsuit in February 1996, alleging that the EMTs and Dr. Joseph Bastien failed to do their jobs to save Tyra Hunter's life. The case against the District of Columbia was tried by Richard F. Silber. Dana Priesing, a transgender activist observing the trial, wrote that the evidence supported "the inference that a stereotype (namely that Hunter was an anonymous, drug-using,

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

street person) affected the treatment Tyra received," and that the "ER staff, as evidenced by their actions, did not consider her life worth saving." Adrian Williams, one of the EMTs who had neglected to treat Hunter, testified that he assumed she was a man on sight, "failing to notice that she had breasts, make-up, women's clothing, a woman's hairstyle, and white nail polish." One DC General employee, after being

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

ed, left for Africa and did not return until late December 1998. In the end, none of the EMTs involved were ever disciplined. On December 11, 1998, a jury awarded Margie Hunter almost $2.3 million after finding the District of Columbia, through its employees in the DC Fire Department and doctors at DC General, liable under the DC Human Rights Act and for

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

and

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The negligen ...

for causing Hunter's death. $600,000 was awarded for damages attributable to violations of the DC Human Rights Act associated with the withdrawal of medical care at the accident scene and openly denigrating Hunter with epithets, a further $1.5 million was awarded to her mother for Hunter's conscious

pain and suffering Pain and suffering is the legal term for the physical and emotional stress caused from an injury (see also pain and suffering). Some damages that might come under this category would be: aches, temporary and permanent limitations on activity, ...

and for

economic loss Economic loss is a technical terminology, term of art which refers to financial loss and damage suffered by a person which is seen only on a balance sheet and not as physical injury to person or property. There is a fundamental distinction between ...

from the

wrongful death Wrongful death is a type of legal claim or cause of action against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as authorized by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are ...

medical malpractice claim. Doctors at DC General failed to diagnose and treat Hunter who died of

internal bleeding Internal bleeding (also called internal haemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body, and is not usually visible from the outside. It can be a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity depends on b ...

in the hospital

emergency room An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...

. Evidence at the trial demonstrated that had Hunter been provided with a

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's Circulatory system, circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used ...

and referred to a surgeon, she would have had an 86% chance of surviving. In subsequent negotiations the case was settled for $1.75m.

Legacy

Genny Beemyn writes that Hunter's death "significantly changed attitudes towards trans people and became a defining moment" for LGBT rights organizations in the United States, especially in Washington, D.C. Coverage of her death in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' "persistently mischaracterized Hunter's gender identity", and resulted in a small demonstration in September 1995 outside the paper's headquarters. Transgender Youth Resources and Advocacy (TYRA) was a program of the former Illinois Gender Advocates, and

Howard Brown Health Center Howard Brown Health is a nonprofit LGBTQ healthcare and social services provider that was founded in 1974. It is based in Chicago and was named after Howard Junior Brown. Mission Howard Brown Health is an organization that focuses on providing ...

was a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

area transgender youth initiative named in the memory of Tyra Hunter.

References

External links