“You keep fighting, keep pushing and live your life,” she said. “Don’t let the world dictate how you should live.”

Kelly was born a boy and endured a lot during that time, his mother said.

“He was always a happy kid but bullied because of his tendencies,” Stough said.

In college, Kelly took a college football scholarship to South Dakota, but later changed course.

“He came back and we talked about it,” she said. “And he really liked fashion and wanted to be a buyer and designer.”

It was then, mom says, that her child embraced life as a transgender person.

On Dec. 7 police say Stough’s path crossed with Albert Weathers. Stough was found shot to death on E. McNichols and Brush Street during the early morning hours. Weathers, a Detroit pastor, was arrested for the murder.

Evidence about how Stough’s transgender status had a role will be presented in court, according to the Wayne County prosecutor’s office said. Spokeswoman Maria Miller declined to offer further comment.

The Associated Press left a message with Weathers’ lawyer seeking comment.

A GoFundMe campaign was created in memory of victim Kelly Stough, 36.  (GoFundMe)

Dana Nessel, Michigan’s next attorney general, said the case reflects the “excessive brutality” faced by a member of Detroit’s transgender community.

Nessel is also president of Fair Michigan, a group committed to equal protection for gay, lesbian and transgender residents.

“You keep fighting, keep pushing and live your life. … Don’t let the world dictate how you should live,” Jessica Williams Stough, the victim’s mother, told FOX 2 Detroit. “He was always a happy kid but bullied because of his tendencies.”

A GoFundMe page has been created, in Kelly’s memory, to assist with funeral expenses. The campaign has raised more than $5,000 of its $4,000 goal.

Weathers was being held on $1 million bond for first-degree murder, FOX 2 reported.

Stough was an aspiring fashion designer and well-known in Detroit’s ballroom dance scene. She was also an outspoken advocate for her community, speaking out against the violence facing trans people, and especially trans women of color. “The police are unaware with our struggle so they have no sympathy for us,” she told the Guardian in 2015 after the murder of 20-year-old trans woman Amber Monroe in Palmer Park — the same neighborhood where Stough was killed three years later.

There were 29 recorded murders of trans people in 2017, making it the deadliest year on record for trans people in the U.S., and 2018’s numbers show that the threat is not letting up. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) tracks homicides of LGBTQ people, and put out a report last year showing that trans women of color are at greater risk of being killed in hate crimes than any other group, and that the rates of these murders have been steadily rising for the last several years.

“Abuses based on sexual orientation and gender identity cannot be tolerated,” says Laura Palumbo, communications director for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, which partners with the NCAVP. “In 2019 we need more efforts to promote the visibility of transgender individuals in our communities and to strengthen efforts to combat anti-trans violence in order to protect everyone’s dignity and safety.”

“Police need to build trust with the transgender community by effectively investigating hate crimes and by treating transgender individuals with dignity and respect,” she says. “Responsible media coverage can bring visibility to the staggering rates of violence, discrimination and inequity faced by the transgender community.”

A special prosecutor has been assigned to Weathers’ case, from the Fair Michigan Justice Project, which is collaboration between the Prosecutor’s Office and Fair Michigan Foundation, an LGBTQ advocacy organization. Fair Michigan President Dana Nessel said in a press release about Stough’s murder, “This case reflects the excessive brutality that members of Detroit’s transgender community constantly face. We thank the Detroit Police Department for their efforts to investigate the facts of this tragic crime.”

The attorney for Weathers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

No one answered the door at the pastor’s home in Sterling Heights when FOX 2 was there Tuesday evening, and no calls were returned from a former church in Warren where he was listed as a pastor from 1997 to 1999. While we wait for answers as to why this 36-year-old was killed, the victim’s mother says now is the time for support.

“Be there for them, that’s the most important part.” she said. “If it’s okay at home it’s easier for them to cope outside of home.”

A GoFundMe page has been created to help pay for the funeral expenses. CLICK HERE to donate.

Pastor Weathers is in a Detroit jail locked up on a $1 million bond for first-degree murder. He is expected back in court later this month.