NBC News: Trans man’s parents refuse to claim body so friends raise money for funeral

After 22-year-old Daine Grey’s body was not claimed by his estranged parents, his friends have stepped in to provide him with “final dignity.”

The transgender student at the City College of San Francisco took his life on July 2, 2018, reported NBC News.

Grey’s friends and fellow members of the school’s LGBTQ community came forward after his body remained unclaimed. They created a GoFundMe page to raise money for the funeral costs.

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Lady Katerina, manager of the school’s Queer Resource Center, wrote, ‘Our Queer Community lost one of their bright stars. We need help in providing Final Dignity Rites for Daine.’

As of July 23, more than $25,000 had been raised, surpassing the goal of $17,000.

According to those who knew Grey, the last few months had been very rough for him. The resource center, where he spent much of his time during the school year, was closed for the summer.

Though he had a job on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay, he was feeling down.

On September 12, 2017, Grey had come out publicly as transgender. He had taken to Facebook to talk about his change and to express his worry that he would not be accepted.

He wrote, ‘I’m transgender… This means I identify as a gender different from the sex I was assigned at birth. Hope this doesn’t lose me too many friends and family.’

According to Lady Katerina, Grey had told his friends at CCSF that his family had disowned him after his public confession.

Aware of the troubled relationship he had with his family, Lady Katerina decided to call the coroner’s office on July 16, a couple of weeks after he had died.

She learned that Grey’s family had not collected his remains. She then decided to turn to people for their help.

The GoFundMe account was set up on the tenth day of his ‘parents not responding to SF Coroner.’ Lady Katerina revealed that CCSF’s LGBTQ community can claim the body to give him a proper funeral.

NBC News contacted Grey’s parents, Stephanie and Peter Haught, who are separated from each other. Stephanie said that she had not talked to her son for about six years and had found out that he was transgender through social media.

She added that her former husband had told her that he would claim their son’s body. However, Peter did not provide a comment.

The publication revealed that the Grey’s father later contacted Lady Katerina and the two are planning a funeral service for the young man at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, California.