Woman Buried as Man
As a sad reminder of how far humanity still has to go in recognizing LGBT equality and rights, this story out of Idaho is sure to leave you feeling disgusted.
Jennifer Gable, a 32-year-old Wells Fargo employee working in Boise, died 
suddenly on October 9, from a brain aneurysm suffered while at work.
What makes this story even more tragic – downright heartbreaking even, is that Gable’s family buried the woman as Geoffrey Charles Gable – a man. When friends and co-workers came to pay their respects to the woman they had come to know and love, they were surprised to see that Gable’s family had desecrated the body by cutting her hair short and displaying her in a suit designed for a man at the open casket funeral service.
According to Jennifer Gable’s Twitter account, she was born intersex and lived roughly the last decade of her life as a woman.
For anyone who gives a shit- I’m intersex and was raised a boy- transitioned to female bcuz that’s what I am. There’s nothing wrong with me
— Jennifer Gable (@JenniferGable) August 18, 2014
I’m 100% female aside from that little hiccup but, for some reason, that little hiccup continues to trip me up with friendships, relation-
— Jennifer Gable (@JenniferGable) August 18, 2014
ships, my family, and life in general. I’d like to just find ONE beautiful girl who can accept me as I am, and love me as such also….
— Jennifer Gable (@JenniferGable) August 18, 2014
Jennifer had been raised by her maternal grandparents since being a toddler, according to her obituary which made no mention of her being a woman. She had her name legally changed in 2007 to reflect the gender she lived life as. Sadly, her obituary and entire funeral sought to erase the past decade, during which Jennifer lived the way she felt, rather than how others tried to make her live. In fact, when creating the online obituary the family chose to use a childhood picture of Gable, from when she was living as male.
A representative for Magic Valley Funeral Home and Crematory in Twin Falls, Mike Parke, clarified that Gable’s death certificate listed her as male:
“The death certificate says Geoffrey AKA Jennifer Gable. The last few years she lived as Jennifer. They buried him as Geoff. A tormented situation for all those involved.”
This unfortunately serves as a reminder of the importance of writing a will that explicitly states your wishes in death. Jillian Page wrote a great article for the Montreal Gazette on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of registering your final wishes, specifically geared towards transgender individuals.
Please note that we have decided against showing pictures of Jennifer as a male, as that was not how she would want to be remembered.
This is outrageous on all levels. her family it seems by this had absolutely no respect for her or her wishes which is just very very sad. The fact that you have chosen to show her as the woman she chose to be speaks volumes to you and your web site. It appalls me in this year of 2014 we still have this back lash of ignorance and social denial of what people are and will be and struggle to be. But this to can serve as a point of order in making people see that there is more to people that what we see…………R. I. P Jennifer