US: Dead trans woman ‘dressed as a man’ for open casket funeral
Friends of a transgender woman who died suddenly have reacted with shock – after discovering she was dressed as a man for her open casket funeral.
26-year-old Idaho woman Jennifer Gable, who worked for Wells Fargo as a customer service coordinator, died suddenly of an aneurysm last month.
However, friends who attended her open-casket funeral were disgusted to find that she had been prepared like a man – dressed in a suit, with her long hair cut off.
Meghan Stabler of the Human Rights Campaign – who had previously helped Ms Gable – told the Miami Herald: “No mention of the woman she knew she was and had lived as for several years. Just erosion of her identity and an old photograph of how the father perceived her to be.
“I only knew her online. She reached out to me a couple of years ago when she was in transition.
“The usual: ‘What do I need to worry about at work? Am I going to be OK? Is life going to be better? Can you assure me everything is going to be OK?’
“She had done what she needed to do legally to be seen as her authentic self. Her father erased her identity either though ignorance or arrogance.”
Activists say the incident shows the importance of having a will which explicitly states provisions.
Friend Stacy Dee Hudson added: “I am disgusted.
“A great and dear friend’s mom went to the funeral today. It was not closed casket. They cut her hair, suit on.
“How can they bury her as geoff when she legally changed her name. So very sad.
“Jen you will be missed and people who know you know that you are at peace.”
Her obituary also makes no mention of the fact she had been living as a woman for several years, saying: “Geoffrey Charles Gable, 32, Boise, passed away suddenly on October 9, 2014 while at his job at Wells Fargo Bank.
“He was born in Twin Falls on January 27, 1982 to Anthony Clark Gable and Lori Ann Walton.
“Geoff and his brother, Steven, were raised from toddlers by their maternal grandparents, George and Joan Walton.
“He attended Morningside Elementary School, O’Leary Junior High and graduated from Twin Falls High School in the year 2000.
“He was married to Ann Arthurs in 2005 in Hawaii. They were later divorced.
“Geoff grew up as a member of the Twin Falls First Christian Church, where he was baptized in 1996.”
