Monica Roberts had no predecessor. Before her groundbreaking blog, there were few news sites for Black transgender women like her.
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Monica Roberts, a transgender journalist who chronicled the triumphs and tragedies of Black trans women in the US, died this week.
And before Monica Roberts, no journalist had painstakingly recorded and reported on the murders of transgender women of color. She took on both projects alone.
“The power of a blog, I’ve learned, to shape events is mighty,” she said while accepting the Special Recognition Award at a GLAAD ceremony in 2016. “It’s even more potent when you walk the walk and back your words up with deeds.”
Through her work with the award-winning blog TransGriot, Roberts provided a blueprint for the national media on how to report about trans people with sensitivity and empathy. She championed Black trans women and men in their triumphs