The Washington Post reports that “Amber McLaughlin is the first openly transgender woman to be executed in the U.S. for killing an ex-girlfriend in 2003. Her gender identity is not central to the case but still marks the first time a transgender convict has been put to death in the U.S.”

With that level of specificity, I am sure there are a lot of firsts on death row. Bob Smith is the first Jets fan to be executed in the U.S. for killing his boss in 1995. In any case, given that the reporter concedes that “gender identity is not central to the case,” why mention it in the text promoting the article?

McLaughlin is a male who unambiguously presented as such when his crime was committed. (Unsurprising since it is generally men, and not women, who stalk and rape their ex-girlfriends.) It is preposterous to try to make his death a milestone for transgender awareness. Doing so also obscures the more interesting discussion about whether the death penalty should be used in present-day America.