LOS ANGELES _ Angela Martinez died young, her death a tragedy to the many who knew and loved her. Her death became a rallying cry. A controversy. And, ultimately, a tale about identity and being oneself.
Her story begins in San Bartolome Quialana, a small Zapotec town in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. She came into this world two months prematurely, a tiny newborn who wouldn't cry or open her eyes. Her parents, who had already lost five young children _ some from measles, another from a lump in his throat _ feared they would lose her too.
"They prayed to Dios Sol (sun god) to give them a child," said her brother, Plutarco Martinez.
Her story ends in Los Angeles, where she died last month at age 41. She had worked at a Burger King in Santa Monica, where she was known for her joy and generosity.
"She would always show up with a smile on her face," said Yolanda Garcia, a co-worker from Tlacolula, Oaxaca. "She was strong and would always offer to help me when I carried the heavy potato boxes."
But over the last year, Martinez's health had begun slipping. She had kidney problems and trouble breathing, said Julio Hernandez, her roommate of 23 years. In early July, as the novel coronavirus ravaged Los Angeles, Martinez's symptoms worsened.
She continued to work, but Garcia and other co-workers began to worry that Martinez had the virus.
One night, Martinez started feeling pain all over her body. Her head throbbed. Hernandez offered to call an ambulance. Martinez refused. She feared catching COVID-19 in the hospital.
"Estas pendejo. �Quieres que me maten ahi?" Martinez told Hernandez. "You're dumb. Do you want them to kill me there?"
Martinez died at home on July 6 in Hernandez's arms.
Hernandez suspected she died of a heart attack. Her co-workers thought it was COVID-19, a fact eventually confirmed by the coroner in August. But initially her manager at Burger King blamed it on a "hormone overdose."
The Burger King manager's assertion, set against the backdrop of a pandemic disproportionately infecting and killing Latino workers in essential jobs, set off a furor, with activists calling it transphobic and bigoted. Martinez's co-workers prepared to go on strike and called on Burger King to better protect its workers. A social media blitz was unleashed.
Burger King said the restaurant was investigating the manager's "transphobic" comments, calling them "inaccurate and unacceptable."
On the Friday afternoon of the strike, protesters in cars and co-workers on foot jammed the drive-thru of the Burger King, holding up white roses in her honor and clamoring for people to "say her name." Dozens of media outlets _ Telemundo, Insider, the Sun and ABC News _ descended upon the eatery.
A video of the protest _ showing demonstrators with posters of Martinez's face against the transgender pride flag _ was posted on Twitter with the hashtag #TransLivesMatter. It quickly went viral.
And that's when a second controversy unexpectedly began.
Her loved ones accused activists behind Fight for $15, an advocacy group for fast-food workers, of misgendering Martinez on social media and making her the face of a movement of which she never asked to be a part.
Martinez's friends said she had been meticulous about not referring to herself as transgender. Though Martinez went by "she," she was neither man, nor woman. She was "muxe."
