Missouri Governor Mike Parson executes the first openly transgender woman. Mike Parson begs for mercy because she claims that she is mentally ill.

Amber McLaughlin (now 48) was convicted of raping and then murdering her ex-girlfriend. The inmate was “transitioned” to prison.

McLaughlin says that it’s a “sad thing” to do because of mental illness.

“I disagree with it,” the inmate said. “People need to know that I am mentally ill.”

McLaughlin’s courage is why the anti-death penalty advocates want “her” to live.

Larry Komp, the federal public defender, stated that executions of anyone, regardless of circumstance, are wrong. However, he hopes that this is not the first such event. Amber has shown great courage in accepting her identity as a transgender woman, despite possible hatred. This display of courage is admirable.

Associated Press:

Kelli Jones of Parson said that the Governor’s Office was looking into her request to have mercy.

Jones said in an email, “These are not decisions that the Governor takes lightly.”

Karen Pojmann spokeswoman for Corrections Department. She stated, “It is rare for women in capital crimes such as brutal murder to be committed and even rarer for them to rape or kill another woman as was the case with McLaughlin.”

Yes, it’s unusual for a woman to rape another woman. But McLaughlin is a man and had no apparent problem raping and murdering his victim. This is what happens when gender identity trumps logic, reason, and common sense to the extent that a state official can’t even come to admit that a perpetrator is actually a man.

It sounds like McLaughlin had a rough childhood.

New York Post:

McLaughlin’s attorneys cited McLaughlin’s traumatizing childhood, as well as mental health issues, in their 27-page clemency request. This was due in part to brain damage and fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The jury didn’t hear this during the trial.

Parson’s letter states that Parson was rubbed on her skin by a foster parent when she was a toddler. As a child, her adoptive father was a cop who beat and tased the girl with a nightstick.

“Amber McLaughlin never had a chance,” the clemency petition read. “She was failed by the institutions, individuals, and interventions that should have protected her, and her abusers obstructed the care she so desperately needed.”

Granted all of that, other people have had equally rough childhoods and don’t end up being murdering rapists. Also, who’s to say that McLaughlin didn’t transition to being a woman just to curry sympathy with the court and the governor? His odds of living probably went up considerably.

I object to the death penalty because people with money rarely, if ever, are sentenced to death. Fewer rich people are actually executed. It’s unequally applied — not based on black or white, but on green. And that’s not fair.

But McLaughlin was tried and convicted of heinous crimes and sentenced legally to death. The law needs to be enforced regardless of McLaughlin’s brutal childhood or gender confusion.