According to “Bay Area Reporter“, a San Francisco California based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media, Paulett Gonzalez, a transgender woman who won the Nayarit 2015 Gay Beauty Queen Pageant, was found burned to death in Celaya, in the state of Guanajuato, on July 22.
The Puerto Vallarta native had been missing since early June, as reported by the Vallarta Daily. Gonzalez was traveling to visit a friend in Irapuato, Guanajuato.
Her body was found in Celaya, identified by DNA tests and her family on Friday July 22.
photo: ebar.com
Gonzalez’s parents identified the 24-year-old, who was born Luis Jean Gonzalez Virgen.
Friends expressing condolences on Gonzalez’s Facebook page described her as a “charismatic” and “friendly” person.
Whether or not she was the target of a hate crime is yet to be determined.
Authorities aren’t ruling out that Gonzalez’s murder was a hate crime, Mara Rojo Sanchez, president of the Civil Association to be Free, told the media.
Violence against transgender Mexican women continues to be a problem that was highlighted in the “ Report on Human Rights Conditions of Transgender Women in Mexico,” published by the Cornell Law School LGBT Clinic and the Transgender Law Center earlier this spring.
Gay Star News reports that Jorge Luis Zamora Cabrera, state secretary of sexual diversity said, “It’s a crime with the aggravating circumstance of being a transsexual”.
According to the report there have been at least 120 transphobic murders since 2010. That same year registered same-sex marriages in Mexico City were legally recognized throughout the country.
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