Reverend BobbieJean Baker, 49, of City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco and Oakland had officiated at a New Year's Eve Watch Night worship service in Oakland, along with Bishop Yvette Flunder from the same church.
Baker moved to the Bay Area in 1992 from Memphis, TN. She served as west Coast Regional TransSaints Minister of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and Lay Minister at Transcending Transgender Ministries at City of Refuge. She was also lead singer of the all transgender member Transcendence Gospel Choir. She also worked at San Francisco's Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center as a substance abuse and transgender health counsellor.
My purpose is to help you break whatever it is that had you bound so that you can move to better yourself. I'm willing to hold hands and walk you through every phase, but I am not willing to be your babysitter. There comes a time when you need to really step up and do the work for you.
--BobbieJean Baker, to her clients
At the service Bishop Flunder says Baker seemed to know she didn't have much time left.
She gave best wishes to everyone, wonderful, kind words. She went way out of her way speaking to everyone and wishing them the best for the coming year. It was incredible the space that she was in.
--Bishop Flunder
After the service Reverend Baker went to the home of gay deacon Bobby Wiseman where there was to be a traditional meal of corn bread and black-eyed peas.
[It was almost as if she knew] that something was coming, because she was so unusually specific in many of the ways she was going around talking to different people and encouraging them through their own struggles.
--Bishop Yvette Flunder
Wiseman says that at about 2:30 am he was driving his Ford Expedition west on I-580 in Oakland to take Baker home, "remembering the good times and the friends that we've lost over the years" when a silver and black car bumped his SUV on the left before swerving away. Wiseman's vehicle fishtailed and then rolled two or three times before landing upside down at the Park Boulevard exit. Wiseman managed to crawl out of the vehicle through the window, but he and a bystander were unable to free Baker. Both of them had been wearing seat belts.
Baker died at the scene.
There was a memorial two days ago.
It’s a big community loss. She was huge in the African-American transgender community and the community at large. She was grooming the younger generation and mentoring them. Part of the work we are all doing is mentoring and teaching and training as much as we can.
--Tiffany Woods, Tri-City Health Center in Fremont, Calif
A spokesman for the highway patrol said that there were no witnesses who saw the other vehicle nor any damage which substantiated Wiseman's account. Wiseman "was not determined to be under the influence" of any substances.
At a talk about her life at the API Wellness Center, Baker talked about "running the streets of the Tenderloin, doing sex work, smoking crack and on speed." She said she was living her life as "a fugitive from justice." She was detained and extradited back to Memphis to serve a four-year prison sentence, which she did prior to returning to San Francisco.
She became Western Region Coordinator for TransSaints, a national network of faith-based transgender and gender-variant people.
She worked for several Bay Area non profits as a peer advocate, case manager, supportive housing manager, with certification as an HIV Risk Assessment Counselor and Domestic Violence Specialist
--TransGriot
She believed her ministry was to help transgender people reconcile their spirituality but also to help provide practical assistance.
--Flunder
Bobbie Jean was a Memphis-born blues singer for real.
--Flunder
The Transcendence Gospel Choir performing at the BelMar Lab for CCPH, Fall 2008 from Bruce Bouck on Vimeo.
BobbieJean always spoke up around issues affecting transgender women of color and she reminded me and everyone on staff daily that we were here to serve the community.
--Lance Toma, API Wellness Center
HRC shared the content of her last Facebook message.
What a year 2013 has been in the last hours of this year. I've been reflecting and talking to those close and dear to me around ministry,...One thing I know is that through everything, the good and the bad in even the real ugly [things] that transpired in my life and on my journey in 2013 I never lost my Praise...I can't comprehend it but I didn't...it's my hope and prayer that 2014 is my year of blessings in super natural movement for the advancement of the Divine. No more delay. No more distractions. No more descent. No more diversions. No more doubt. No More. To my families, of blood, extended and chosen, Tribe Members, church associations, Trans community connections, I those of you connected to me through my journey, if in 2013 I offended you or hurt your spirit - know that I'm sorry and that I'm striving to be a better vessel on this walk we call life.
--BobbieJean Baker via Human Rights Campaign
[W]e lost our sister in this earth realm; a fierce transgender rights activist, someone whose life was committed to liberation theology through her ministry and daily praxis. We lost a beloved praise and worship leader, and one of the founding members of the Transgender Choir, who perform nationally.
BobbyJean passions ran deep, willingly sharing the many challenges she endured. She remained undaunted by her challenges, and instead used them as fodder for ministry to encourage others speaking courageously and authentically from her life experience. Hers was a heart that beat for those marginalized: people affected by homelessness, survival sex workers, the incarcerated and, most importantly, anyone needing to be restored to faith, having been wounded by toxic and damnatory theologies, ministers and ministries.
…
On behalf of the Human Rights Campaign, we recognize, value and honor the work of Minister BobbyJean Baker whose work touched thousands. In each and every community there are those unsung heroes whose work brings about transformation. BobbyJean transformed the lives of many for the better.
--Reverend MacArthur H. Flournoy, Director of Faith Partnerships, and Mobilization, Human Rights Campaign
There was a "homegoing service" for Baker this afternoon at the First Congregational Church in Oakland.
Sources: The Advocate: Bobbie Jean Baker, Trans Activist and Minister, Dead at Age 49
The Bay Area Reporter: Trans minister mourned
Elixher: Community Mourns Loss of Transgender Oakland Minister Bobbie Jean Baker
TransGriot: Minister Bobbie Jean Baker Passes Away
Human Rights Campaign: HRC Honors the Life and Legacy of Minister BobbyJean Baker
SFGate: Singing the gospel of Transcendence / Nation's first all-transgender gospel choir raises its voices to praise God and lift their own feelings of self-love and dignity