As NewsOne reported Wednesday, Kelly Stough, a 36 year-old transgender woman, was reportedly killed by Albert Weathers, a Detroit pastor, last Friday. Weathers was charged with open murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. There weren’t many details about the motive but NBC News reported Stough’s “gender identity was a motivating factor in her murder.”
Jessica Williams-Stough, Kelly’s mother, is now speaking out.
See Also: Ben Carson Believes The Transgender Community Will Attack Women In Bathrooms
Williams-Stough always knew her daughter was different and that she was incessantly “bullied all through school” and often felt “she didn’t need to be here,” she said Wednesday on “The Clay Cane Show” on SiriusXM Urban View.
“Of course, as a mother and her family, we encouraged and inspired, ‘Nothing is wrong with you. You’re fine. It’s everybody else’s issue,’” Williams-Stough said. “But she struggled with it all through high school and even in college.”
Williams-Stough revealed Kelly went to school in Mitchell, South Dakota, on a football scholarship for two years, but left and returned home to Detroit to pursue an education in fashion and beauty. She eventually attended the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago, which was where she began to step into her gender identity.
Williams-Stough said she didn’t want to talk about that fateful day her daughter was killed.
“I don’t want to give this gentleman or this situation any energy. I want to focus all the energy on my child and just the violence. I think that would honor her because things are going to go how they are going to go. I just want to honor her.”
She also pleaded for people to see transgender people as human.
“[R]espect people, one another,” she said, “because you are LGBTQ does not mean that these individuals are throwaways or that no one cares about them. They are people who are loved. They have mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers – they are not these people that nobody wants and they shouldn’t be treated as such. Just leave the fear alone, there’s nothing wrong with them… Just respect them, they are people, reach out, talk, have a conversation, have a dialogue. Get an understanding first before you to start to judge and be mean. It’s not necessary.”
Listen to the clip below:
https://soundcloud.com/siriusxm/jessica-williams-stough-mother-of-transgender-woman-murdered
According to the ACLU, “One in four transgender people have been assaulted because they are trans. The majority of deadly attacks against transgender people are against women of color.”
Weathers’ bond has been set at $1 million. We hope justice is served.
Rest in peace, Kelly Stough.
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