Bri/an Golec
Age 2213 Feb 2015
Akron, Ohio (USA)
Stabbed
TDoR list ref: tgeu/13-Feb-2015/Bri/an Golec
Bri was stabbed in the neck by their father, allegedly in a fight over the father's drug addiction and the fact that he was stealing to feed his habit.
Kevin Golec, 52, was arrested on murder and felony domestic violence charges.
Kevin Golec, 52, has been charged with murder and felony domestic violence. Police detained him shortly after 10 p.m. Friday after responding to several calls to 9-1-1 he made alleging that several members of a "cult" had broken into his house to commit robbery and had atacked both him and Bri Golec. With no evidence of a robbery, however, police determined that Golec was lying and that it was he who had had an altercation with and fatally stabbed his child.
Several advocates believe that Kevin Golec's statement about a non-existent cult may be a reference to a trans support group Bri Golec had allegedly begun attending again, notes the Correspondents.
Reports have conflicted on whether Bri Golec identified as trans, but the Correspondents, the first site to report Golec's death as the murder of a trans woman, noted that Golec had "recently ... began to more assertively explore her gender identity." Local trans activist Jacob Nash confirmed to the news site that Golec was involved in the local trans community and local group Trans Ohio has sent out a message stating that Golec was a trans woman.
Alternately, others who claim to have known the victim have stated on social media that Golec did not identify as trans, notes Gay Star News. Local media, including Cleveland.com, has meanwhile identified Golec as male, as has Golec's public obituary, which advocates have decried as misgendering.
The killing sent shockwaves through the local LGBT community. Brian Golec, a drummer in a punk rock band, once identified as a woman and went by the name Bri before changing back to a male identity in the last year, according to the Plain Dealer.
"There was a time he identified as 'Bri' and as a woman, but for the last year or so, he identified as Brian," the victim's friend, Geoff Ackerman, told the Plain Dealer. "But Brian hated labels."
The Human Rights Campaign issued the following statement:
"Regardless of whether Golec was transgender, genderqueer, or otherwise gender nonconforming, (Golec joins) a staggeringly long list of LGBTQ individuals who have been murdered in 2015, including transgender women Lamia Beard, Ty Underwood, Yazmin Vash Payne, Taja Gabrielle DeJesus and Penny Proud."
TvT project: The Advocate 16.02.2015 & The Daily Mail 17.02.2015
https://www.cleveland.com/akron/2015/08/friend_calls_akron_dad_who_kil_1.html
https://www.pghlesbian.com/2015/02/22-year-old-ohio-trans-woman-stabbed-to-death-by-father/
https://jezebel.com/father-stabs-his-trans-child-to-death-tells-police-it-1686224234
https://www.cleveland.com/akron/2015/02/akron_father-son_fought_about.html
