For transgender victims, respect starts with using name they chose

For transgender victims, respect starts with using name they chose

For more than 24 hours — ever since officials identified Feral Pines as one of the victims of the Ghost Ship fire — Eliza Wicks-Frank fielded calls from friends.

Wicks-Frank had seen news reports about the fire victims reference a birth name Pines hadn’t used for more than a decade and a pronoun that didn’t reflect Pines’ gender identity.

“The impact that this lack of dignity and awareness has on the community of trans people who are alive right now is it tells them that their fight is irrelevant, that they’re going to be disrespected regardless of how they fight to live their lives,” Wicks-Frank said.

Officials and the media frequently face challenges in trying to identify victims in situations like these.

In the case of the Oakland warehouse fire, given the number of trans and queer individuals affected, the challenge is particularly acute.

Pines is one of three trans women confirmed dead in the fire, along with Cash Askew and Em B, also known as Em Bohlka.

Pines was listed using a legal birth name she hasn’t had a connection to in years.

[...] a flurry of media reports had picked up the information and repeated her birth name and pronoun.

Some trans people may have families who aren’t aware of or aren’t supportive of their gender identity.

Woods says she reached out to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department as soon as she realized trans and queer people were killed in the blaze.

Chronicle staff writer Hamed Aleaziz contributed to this report.