Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Murdered Trans-teen Gwen Araujo Vindicated by CA Appeal Court Ruling

gwen araujo B&WNewark, CA, May 13, 2009 – A California state court of appeal upheld the second degree murder convictions of two young East Bay men for their part in the strangling, beating, and murder of 17 year old male-to-female transgender Latina Gwen Amber Rose Araujo in 2002.  Jose Merel and Michael Magidson had appealed their convictions on the grounds that the Alameda County trial judge had not defined the crimes properly to the jury at the time of the original trial in 2005, and that there had not been sufficient evidence for second degree murder convictions.  The appeal court ruled 3-0 against the petition of the defendants, who will continue to serve out their 15-year sentences for the grisly murder. 

 The 2002 Araujo case drew national attention to the plight of transgender people in the United States, especially transgender people of color.  Araujo, born biologically male and originally known as Eddie, had transitioned to being female by the time of the assault.  After she died, her mother legally changed her name to Gwen as a sign of love and respect.  Her killers, who knew her as “Lida” had known her for months, and Gwen believed they were fast friends.  Both Merel and Magidson had sex with Araujo orally and anally.  According to their defense, she had not revealed her biological identity to them.  When her biological maleness was discovered, the defense went on to contend, the men attacked Araujo “in the heat of the moment,” and therefore deserved convictions for a lesser charge of manslaughter instead of murder.  The prosecution successfully argued against this version of the “trans-panic defense,” and secured the  murder convictions against them.  Two other defendants in the case, Jaron Nabors and Jason Cazares pled guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 11 and 6 years respectively.  They have not sought to challenge their convictions.

The Araujo case sharpened the national debate on the trans-panic defense.  The outcome of the 2002 trial went a long way toward refuting the once widely held notion that trans people somehow brought on attacks against themselves.  As Masen Davis, executive director of the Transgender Law Center noted to reporters,the ruling of the court of appeal definitively rejected the claim that the murder of a young woman like Gwen should be reduced to a lesser charge just because she was transgender.  “We are thankful that the Court of Appeal saw through this blatant prejudice, and upheld the convictions of Gwen’s killers,” she said.

May 19, 2009 Posted by | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Media Issues, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Racism, Strangulation, trans-panic defense, transphobia | , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Welcome Message

Stephen V. Sprinkle

Welcome to the Unfinished Lives Project, a place to remember and honor LGBT hate crime victims.

Our mission is to reveal the reality of unseen violence perpetrated against people whose only “offense” is their sexual orientation; to make anti-LGBT hate crime statistics available to our communities; to educate about the nature of hate crimes and how it affects LGBT and other communities; and to eliminate hate crime through social justice and awareness activities. On our website, we’ve dedicated pages and posts to achieve our mission:

A near brush with anti-gay hate crime in the late 1990’s in Fort Worth, Texas, shocked me awake to the reality of violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people across America. As a graduate school professor, my pursuits are usually quiet ones, preparing for class, and doing my research. But my quest to understand the effects and causes of hatred against people because of their difference has made me stare into the face of radical evil: the sort that kills.

Because of my work and research, I have learned how much all of us need each other–especially all of us who are members of racial/ethnic, religious, differently-abled, female, and LGBT communities. I have learned how vital the work of advocacy is. I have learned how precious life itself is, and how fragile. For this project, I have interviewed relatives, bereaved lovers, co-workers, neighbors and friends, journalists, and law enforcement officers who had direct knowledge about the women and men who died so brutally because of ignorance, prejudice and fear. It has been the journey of a lifetime, and in a strange way, though I am a teacher, these deceased LGBT people have become my teachers.

I want to convey to anyone who will listen that it is possible by hope to bring something beautiful and meaningful out of the ugliest realities of American life. Every time I meet a mother or lover, a friend or an advocate of one of these murdered LGBT people and share their stories, the intentions of the killers and the haters are frustrated, and the hope for a better, more just society somehow springs to life from the ashes.

I dedicate this website to the victims and to all those working for a better world. Thank you for visiting with us, and for joining us in our pursuit for a world free of violence and fear.

I hope you will visit us often.

Sincerely,

Stephen V. Sprinkle
Director
The Unfinished Lives Project

June 28, 2008 Posted by | A Welcome Message, anti-LGBT hate crime murder, gay men, gun violence, harassment, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Popular Culture, Protests and Demonstrations, religious intolerance, transgender persons, Uncategorized, women | 23 Comments

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