Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara blasted three of her colleagues for spreading “unsubstantiated” information about the death of a transgender person at a South Boston apartment, saying their comments may incite hate crimes.
In a sharply worded letter, Lara said remarks made by three members of the City Council, Michael Flaherty, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy, “lacked empathy and respect for the facts and stoked the kind of homophobic and transgender rhetoric that puts our most vulnerable residents at risk.”
“Our colleagues have actively misgendered the trans women involved, calling them ‘men in wigs,’” Lara wrote.
“In direct contradiction with the statements of the Boston Police, they’ve miscategorized the conditions of a constituent’s home and spread stories about ‘sex toys and drugs’ that are unsubstantiated to date, furthering the false right-wing narrative that our trans siblings are sexual deviants who our children need protecting from.”
Lara went on to say that while her three colleagues voted favorably for a resolution celebrating Pride Month, “they have shown no respect for this community,” and have instead opted for “scandalizing a tragedy to garner press attention and political points with the extreme right in our city under the guise of public safety.”
City Councilors Gabriela Coletta, Ruthzee Louijeune and Julia Mejia raised similar concerns at a Wednesday City Council meeting, where Murphy, Flaherty and Flynn introduced a request for a hearing order, to discuss “public safety and quality of life issues for our residents in public housing.”
The request concludes by seeking a hearing to assess the Boston Housing Authority’s Department of Police and Public Safety “response procedures and protocols relating to public safety in BHA units, particularly the safety of children in BHA housing.”
Flaherty said tenants feel like conditions have deteriorated in these public housing developments, and that the concerns they’ve raised regularly with BHA have “fallen on deaf ears.”
Murphy responded to Lara’s criticism while introducing a separate hearing order for a 32-year-old woman who is facing charges for enrolling as a student in the Boston Public Schools.
“It’s been a heavy week,” Murphy said. “I’m a mother. I’m a teacher. I’m now a city councilor. And I will continue, always, to speak up for our children even if others are silent, because our children deserve it.”
Flynn, the council president, did not directly address Lara’s remarks during Wednesday’s meeting, but did defend the fire department, saying firefighters “responded first and with integrity.”
He also described the issue as “controversial,” and urged all city councilors to attend the hearing on the matter.
The Boston Police and Fire Departments have offered conflicting reports on what occurred on June 17 at the Mary Ellen McCormack housing complex in South Boston, where a 26-year-old “male to female transgender” person died near four children.
Mayor Michelle Wu also made remarks to reporters, describing some of the details reported by the media as “conspiracy theories” and “rumors,” seemingly referring to statements made by Flynn, Flaherty and Murphy that sex toys, drugs and alcohol were present in the apartment where the death occurred.
The Police Department issued a statement days after the incident that said a parent for each of the four children was present in the apartment when officers arrived, and that all of the adults were cooperative.
Further, the statement said, “Information that drugs and other concerning materials were strewn about the home is not supported by what officers encountered or by the information received on scene.”
The fire union president, Sam Dillon, has maintained that the fire department’s report is “100% accurate.” He said the person died from an apparent drug overdose and there was drug paraphernalia in the apartment.
Firefighters were first to arrive, and therefore encountered a different scene than what was reported by the police in their statement, Dillon told the Herald.
The fire department reported “approximately six adults, who appeared to be males, were seen in the apartment.” The adults were uncooperative and hiding the four children, ages 5 to 10, from first responders in a back room, the report stated.
Both the police and fire departments filed a 51A child abuse or neglect form. Firefighters had reported finding the apartment in “extreme unsanitary conditions.”
The four children were taken into custody by the Department of Children and Families, a DCF spokesperson said.
