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-Investigation Demanded |
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Compiled by GayToday National Transgender Advocacy Coalition
"Terrianne unified this community," said Cindy Watson, executive director of the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network (JASMYN). "I've never seen anyone with her energy or her drive. In fact, I'd never even met anyone who was trangendered before … after meeting Terrianne, I knew all about transgenders." Ms. Summers, a 22-year Navy veteran, was the driving force behind the local Winn-Dixie protest at their corporate headquarters in Jacksonville. Her organizing in the local community against the regional supermarket chain was perhaps the crucial element in making the ongoing suit against Winn-Dixie effective. "She really got JASMYN heavily involved in the Winn-Dixie protest," added Cindy Watson during the memorial. The suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against Winn-Dixie pits the corporate supermarket giant against crossdresser Peter Oiler. Oiler was fired January 5, 2000 after he told a supervisor that he crossdressed occasionally. As a result, the ACLU and TBLG activists from around the nation organized a protest at the company's Jacksonville headquarters. Ms. Summers worked closely with the local ACLU, giving a thorough education on transgender issues. "A co-worker once told me to be kind to everyone you meet. We all have our personal battles to fight," said Kevin Hurley, president of the Jacksonville ACLU. "Terrianne truly had her battles to fight. And Terrianne was unfailingly kind." "Terrianne was an activist's activist," opined Vanessa Edwards Foster of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC). "She didn't get a lot of national notice. But the true measure of an activist is not how much press you get, it's how effective you are. Terrianne was effective." "Terrianne truly saved my life," stated Summers' roommate Marie. "She showed me I wasn't such a bad person for being a transsexual … she taught me self-worth."
In a more somber tone, Joel remembered "the trials for Matthew Shepard's killers, and the pain on the faces of Shepard's parents. I never thought that a couple years later, I'd be speaking before a roomful of people at [Terrianne's] memorial service; and looking across the room and seeing that same look of pain on my father's face." The local community, as well as the state and national transgender community, is concerned now with the motive for the slaying. Initial police reports tagged it as a robbery attempt; however, nothing was taken or disturbed during the incident. Information from the authorities is also sketchy and slow in coming, frustrating many in the local community. At the memorial service, Jessica Archer of Equality Florida, JASMYN's Ms. Watson, and Ms. Foster from NTAC all called for a thorough investigation of her death. "If this incident would have happened to anyone else, Terrianne would have called for this to be fully and vigorously investigated," stated NTAC Vice Chair and Media Director, Vanessa Edwards Foster. NTAC, as well as Equality Florida, JASMYN and other activist organizations around the nation, are urging a "full and vigorous investigation into the circumstances surrounding Terrianne's murder." "She would want justice to be served." 
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Terrianne Summers