Lee was outspoken as a trans activist and filmmaker in his lifetime, but it was his tragic death that may have had the greatest impact.
The co-founder of San Francisco’s Transgender Film Festival and director of the autobiographical Christopher’s Chronicles, Lee committed suicide in 2012 at age 48.
Because Lee had not received an updated birth certificate, the coroner listed his gender as “female” on his death certificate. “It felt like spitting on his grave,” friend Chino Scott-Chung said. “When they put RIP on people’s tombstones it’s rest in peace. And I just felt like Christopher’s spirit will not rest in peace with a death certificate that says female.”
As a result, Scott-Chung went to California Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, who introduced the Respect After Death Act. The bill, which would establish directives to help file out death certificates for transgender people, is currently working its way through the Legislature.
“A person should rest in peace after death as the same person they were during life,” Atkins said in a statement. “This bill is designed to ensure that the wishes of a transgender person regarding their gender identity are respected after they have passed on.”
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