Charlotte Loh was 22. A transgender Auckland woman has been misgendered in her death notice, where her family says she was “also known as Charlotte”. Charlotte Amelia Loh, 22, died suddenly on Sunday. The death notice Loh’s family has placed in the New Zealand Herald today uses a male birth name, refers to her as a ‘son’ and ‘brother’, and says she was “also known as Charlotte”. It's understood Loh had specifically asked not to be referred to by the wrong name or pronoun. The obituary is being met with angry reactions from Loh's online friends, and trans rights supporters around the world. Loh began coming out as trans at the age of 15, and started her medical transition when she was 18. She had a difficult relationship with her parents, particularly her mother who is a Jehovah’s Witness. There have been other cases of transgender people being misgendered after their deaths in New Zealand. In 2012, when pilot Julianne “JK” Kramer died in a crash in Cardrona Valley. Her family asked police to refer to her as male in media releases, which they subsequently did – and mainstream media followed suit, using her former male name. Despite being a transgender woman, she was described with male pronouns throughout her funeral at a City Impact Church. A number of similar cases to Loh's have also been highlighted overseas recently, particularly in the US. “These deaths are made all the sadder by their frequency in the trans community,” says Kelly Ellis from New Zealand group TransAdvocates. “Social isolation and the withdrawal of support by families is all too common and the results are all too predictable. When all churches and families are prepared to respect basic human rights, deaths like this will become uncommon,” Ellis says. “Instead they're utterly predictable because for trans people, it's often a war out there.” Funeral details for Charlotte Loh are yet to be announced. There is ALWAYS help out there, if you need someone to talk to. OUTLine is a confidential phone service for people in the lgbti community which can be reached on 0800 OUTLINE (6885463). After hours, the 24/7 Depression Helpline and its trained counsellors can be reached on 0800 111 757.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 21st January 2015 - 12:41pm