Rebecca Juro, Trans Advocate & Journalist, Dies at 59
New York native, Philly resident fought back against silence for more than two decades
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
LGBTQ media voices and
other community leaders
reacted with shock and
dismay to the news that
Rebecca Juro, an uncompromising
transgender advocate, print
journalist, and internet radio host,
died on December 17.
Juro, who was 59, succumbed
to lung cancer, following a recurrence
of the disease. Born in New
York City, she spent her youth living
alternately with her mother in
New Jersey and her father in Manhattan,
and lived in both places as
an adult. Since 2016, she lived in
Philadelphia.
Juro came out as a trans woman
in 1997 at the age of 35, and
in the decades since became one of
the most recognizable voices in the
LGBTQ media. Print outlets where
she contributed included Gay City
News, The Advocate, MSNBC.com,
The Huffi ngton Post, South Florida
Gay News, Windy City Times, The
Bilerico Project, and LGBTQ Nation.
In 2006, Juro launched “The
Rebecca Juro Show,” an internet
radio program that was an early
example of how the web and later
podcasting would allow for the diversifi
cation of voices compared to
mainstream broadcast outlets.
Reacting to news of Juro’s death,
Bil Browning, her editor at Bilerico
and LGBTQ Nation, wrote on Facebook,
“The world lost a warrior today.
I fi nd myself with no words big
enough to say about the woman
who refused to shut up.”
Browning continued by echoing
a phrase Juro used over and over
again to characterize her work:
“While your voice may not be heard
anymore, Rebecca Juro, thanks in
part to your inspiration and determination,
the T is not silent.”
Juro’s death was announced
on Facebook by her brother Steve
Juro, who wrote, “Sad news… my
sister Rebecca Juro passed away
last night. She lived a tough, multifaceted
life that took her down a
number of different paths. She
was a writer, a strong advocate for
Rebecca Juro died at age 59 on December 17.
Trans issues, a companion for my
mother, a punk rocker (Joan Jett
groupie, see picture), and many
other things…. She would always
fi ght for what she believed. She
was battling lung cancer, thought
she was beating it, but then it took
her. We will miss her and she will
always be remembered.”
Dawn Ennis, a transgender
journalist who was Juro’s peer and
friend, wrote simply, “Heartbroken…
No words.”
Diego Miguel Sanchez, a trans
man who directs advocacy, policy
& partnerships at PFLAG and was
formerly senior policy advisor to
Congressmember Barney Frank,
wrote on Facebook, “Becky, rest
in power and thank you for being
a great sister, leader, friend,
and fi erce fi ghter in every way that
counts. You’re missed and your
legacy lives.”
Cathy Renna, the communications
director at the National
LGBTQ Task Force, told Gay City
News, “She was an excellent journalist
and as an out trans journalist
she was a pioneer. Rebecca was
never afraid or anyone or anything
and asked the hard questions to
hold us all accountable. I was on
the receiving end of her questions
several times but if anything respected
her more after an interview.
She also schooled so many of
FACEBOOK/REBECCA JURO
us about the trans community in
an unapologetic way that was not
nearly as common as it is today. It’s
a loss for our community and LGBTQ
media.”
In an article on LGBTQ Nation
in January of this year, Juro, noting
that this is the fi rst time Democrats
controlled the presidency
and both houses of Congress since
2010, wrote of the urgency of protecting
the rights of trans Americans
and turning back the wave of
attacks, both physical and political,
on their safety and dignity.
“At the age of 58, I’ve reached the
time in my life when trans friends
and allies I’ve fought with and
worked with are beginning to die,”
she wrote. “Each time it happens,
I’m reminded of the truth that I
have less time ahead of me than I
do behind me. If it’s all the same
to our government leaders, I’d like
to be able to enjoy the same civil
rights and equal treatment under
the law in my country as cisgender
Americans do before I die, no matter
how many years I have left.”
There is no guarantee, Juro reminded
her readers, that Democrats
have more than two years
prior to the 2022 midterms to bring
about change on the federal level.
In a 2016 interview with
Dese’Rae L. Stage for livethroughthis.
org, Juro recalled the attraction
REMEMBRANCE
she found in punk music and
drugs while a teenager living with
her father on Manhattan’s Upper
East Side. At 18, she moved out of
her father’s apartment and into an
SRO where she paid $90 a week
rent.
During that period, she said, she
did not feel safe uttering the words
“‘I’m a girl.’ There was nothing else,
no social acceptance, no Internet,
none of that stuff.”
She continued, “I felt like the way
to deal with it was to fi x myself, to
masculinize myself.”
As a young adult, Juro said, “I
discovered Joan Jett. Joan Jett
was a big deal for me, because I
was still dealing with the transgender
thing. Although, of course,
I didn’t know to call it transgender
at that point.”
In late 2014, Juro, writing
shortly after the death of Leslie
Feinberg, explained in The Advocate
how Feinberg’s 1996 book
“Transgender Warriors” “saved my
life.”
Just months after Feinberg’s
book came out, Juro, who “had no
idea of how to begin living the life
I wanted,” tried to take her life by
driving into the side of a bridge.
Realizing she didn’t really want to
die, Juro saved herself at the last
minute and was at a Barnes &
Noble hours later, where she came
upon “Transgender Warriors.”
Reading that book led to an
email correspondence with Feinberg,
who encouraged Juro to
reach out to the transgender community
and also to keep writing.
Within months, “Becky’s List,” a
regular email blast featuring Juro’s
writing on transgender life and
politics, was born.
“When I tell people today that
reading ‘Transgender Warriors’
saved my life, many seem to believe
that I’m speaking metaphorically,
but I’m not,” Juro wrote in
The Advocate. “Had I not discovered
that book when I did, I’m not
sure how much longer I could have
continued on without hope, without
understanding that who and
what I am matters and deserves to
be honored and respected.”
GayCityNews.com | December 30, 2021 - January 12, 2022 9
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