Hate Crimes Against Transgendered People
Calling the slaying of 17-year-old Gwen Araujo a “classic case of crime of passion” -- manslaughter rather than murder -- attorney J. Tony Serra offered the events the night of the killing were unimaginable to the defendants.
“It was like a bolt of lightning that struck and singed their minds,” Serra said Thursday during an exhaustive closing argument in which he used metaphor, allegory and references to 19th-century literature to frame the high-profile case.
Serra’s client, 25-year-old Jason Cazares (pictured) of Newark, and two of Cazares’ childhood friends, Michael Magidson and Jose Merel, also both 25, are accused of beating and strangling Gwen at Merel’s Newark home.
The motive? The men became enraged after discovering Gwen, whom they called “Lida,” had male genitalia. That discovery ruined the clubhouse environment at the Merel house, where, Serra said, rites of masculinity -- including rampant drinking, drug use and sex -- were the norm.
The Merel house was “the most meaningful thing in their lives,” Serra told jurors, and the belief that they had been deceived into homosexual sex was the trigger for the killing.
While saying his client, Cazares, should be acquitted, Serra also insisted that at the very worst the three on trial should receive no greater punishment than a voluntary manslaughter conviction. It’s the sentence that Jaron Nabors, a fourth man involved and the state’s star witness, received for agreeing to testify against the three others. Defense attorneys have said Nabors is the killer. (source)
Other sources
Lamiero delivers closing argument
Retrial of 3 Men Nears End
“That discovery ruined the clubhouse environment at the Merel house, where, Serra said, rites of masculinity -- including rampant drinking, drug use and sex -- were the norm.” ... making the Merel house was “the most meaningful thing in their lives.”
How 1950’s.
So here we are all over again claiming a sort of gay panic defense because the sex-crazed boys who wanted to get off on drugs booze and sex found out that the one they wanted the sex with had a penis. So of course, they had to kill him. Makes sense. Show everyone what a man you are and kill the pervert.
Then, their attorneys will claim that they had no choice in the killing because it was a “crime of passion” and that the boys were so freaked out by the site of a penis on their hope-to-be sex mate that they lost all sense of reality and that these otherwise good boys (aside from the heavy drinking, drugs, and sex) just couldn’t help themselves.
When Matthew Shepard was murdered, it galvanized many people to finally start addressing hate crimes. We still have a long way to go, but it’s getting more difficult than ever to make the gay panic defense stick. Why? Because we are more visible now. More of us have come out of the closet to claim our lives and our destinys. With that, the comfort level of people has gone up.
Now, transgendered people have the same battle to face. Most of society still does not understand this and what they face. They are still viewed by the vast majority as freaks.
It’s time that we talked about their lives and what they face. I’ve seen that first hand, although I’m unable to talk about it because it is work related. I can tell you that the amount of courage it takes to deal with the harassment and hatred, let alone the isolation that many transgenered people face, is quite unbelievable.
A prosecutor asked jurors Wednesday to imagine the last, frightening moments of life for a transgender teenager who was allegedly murdered by three male companions after they learned she was biologically male.
Gwen Araujo, 17, was born a boy but grew up to believe her true identity was female. Prosecutors say she was beaten and strangled after the defendants discovered the pretty, flirtatious teen was actually a young man.
“Think about wrapping that rope around the neck of a living, breathing human being and squeezing it tighter and tighter and tighter,” prosecutor Chris Lamiero in closing arguments. “What do you think was going through the killer’s mind? ‘Got to keep holding it, got to keep holding it.’” (source)
8 Comments
Leave a comment
Very wise words, Fritz. There is a huge amount of misunderstanding about this issue. Transgendered people do not all decide to change their physical appearance, many of us retain our given body and live with the internal conflict. All a so-called 'sex change' does is try to resolve the conflict. There is no perfect way, as actually you can never change your given sex, only the appearance.
I'm lucky enough to have been offered free National Health Service treatment to change my physical appearance, (I am in England), but in the end after a lot of heart-searching I declined it on the basis that I was by then too old to make a 100 per cent transition. I just didn't pass well enough or all the time, and it's no good. I don't want to attract attention to myself, so pretending to be a man is marginally easier for me than pretending to be a woman. So I am invisible as a transgendered person, and I've heard gay and straight people make remarkably horrible comments about TGs in front of me, and felt unable to say anything.
So to people who say they have never met a transgendered person, I'd say "how do you know"? I bet you have. Hardly anyone I know is aware of my status, although many are aware that there is something a bit strange about me that they can't quite put their finger on - I know, because close friends tell me this and see how others react to me.
I feel quite badly about this case, I hope more information comes out to help us all understand it better. Personally I can't imagine that Jose Merel is guilty of anything more than manslaughter, and yet he has been found guilty of murder. He was sending $200 a month back home for his child, who was born blind, and now cant support the child at all. There is so many victims in this tragedy. Another of those invovled, Jason Cazares, whose position seemed more staightforward to the prosecutor, is out on the streets.
Murder is murder if they give it a glossed over name like "crime of passion" or not,i have never met a transgender person but i would imagine it would be a nightmare for them being trapped in the wrong body,this was a crime committed by adults in their 20's not children or teens,so where was the police when all of their drug use and sex partys where going on,i think this young man should have told the truth about his gender but killing him was not the answer,i have a 18 year old nephew who has friends like that,they sleep with anything that is breathing and if the girl becomes pregnant then they dump her and move on to the next girl,i think young men need to get jobs and they would have a lot less time to get in trouble.
I used to volunteer at my local GLBT center and for several months worked reception during the weekly transgender support group.
I got to know some of the group members very well. One evening, one of the ladies seemed unusually high-spirited. When I asked her why she was all smiles, she said, "I had my orchie last week!"
She was talking about an orchiectomy -- having her testicles removed. I still feel guilty for having an obvious visceral reaction to her statement -- well, actually it was a bit lower in my anatomy.
Some of the group members where well-educated professionals and had enough money to pay for their numerous surgeries. Others weren't as fortunate. One was reduced to living in his car. Many lost their jobs, families, and friends.
A few easily passed as women. Others looked like guys in dresses and it was obvious that would always be the case.
I admit that it took me several months to overcome my own personal prejudices. There were many people at the center who would snicker and make snide comments about the transgender folks.
Here in Monterey, our Gay Pride organization has stated publicly that "flamboyant" GLBT people aren't welcome at our local event -- they want only "family friendly" gays and lesbians who aren't a source of embarrassment and don't make anyone feel uncomfortable. I tried to get diversity center started here and was told by the locals that they don't want to be associated with anything "too gay." No obvious rainbow flags, public displays of affection, etc. I often feel like I've gone back in time to the 1950s!
This kind of attitude contributes to tragedies like Gwen's murder. How can we expect people in Central California to tolerate transgender people, drag queens, butch lesbians, and other "freaks" when the GLBT community here has rejected them, too? And, this is happening on the doorstep of San Francisco!
People don't expect this kind of thing here in California. But, in many ways I think it is more dangerous here than in Florida, South Dakota, New Mexico, Nebraska, and the many other more rural places we've seen recent hate crimes publicized.
Contrary to popular belief, most of California is just as backwater stupid as the rest of the country.
I forgot to add that my friend's name USED to be Jeff. :)
Fritz, you are right about the boys, although, violence is never really justified, except perhaps to save your life.
The problem is really what you and Jeff both hit upon -- that of deception. The boys were deceived. That is a fact. So, in that sense, I suppose I can understand their reaction. In another sense, Gwen is dead. It is a complicated issue, but in that light, it's very difficult for me to let them off the hook with a manslaughter charge. At some level, that's somewhat like justifying what they did (just my opinion). Some will say that's not letting them off the hook. Perhaps it's not, but Gwen is still dead.
And of course, you are right about Gwen needing help to deal with a very complicated issue for her. I view myself as a very understanding and compassionate person, but I honestly can't understand what she went through. I can have sympathy for her situation, but I can't fully understand it. If I were able to talk to her, I would tell her, as Jeff told his friend, that what she was doing was very dangerous. You know, even if she had told them her situation, she would still be in a great deal of danger. Who's to say that they wouldn't just play along at that point to get her alone so they could beat her or kill her.
As for the boys, well, they will need some help as well. They killed a person. I don't know their situation, but I can tell you that in Connecticut, we had a gay man killed years ago, and the boys involved at the time were cocky and arrogant during the time of their trial.
I later wrote to one of them and found a very different person. It seems that prison has a way of hollowing a person out. All that is left is regret and the thought of a ruined life. I wish I could talk more about this because there is so much I could talk about, but I'm unable too. It's complicated. I'll have to leave it at that.
I worked with a transgender person in the early 1980’s. She made a rather convincing looking woman, but retained her male anatomy. I became friends with her, and I found her to be a fascinating conversationalist. (She was a slight thing, and the first time I heard her speak my back was to her. She asked if it was all right to have lunch in the room where I worked. She had a booming, male voice, and when I turned around to respond to her question I was puzzled that this small woman was the only other person in the room with me. I wondered where the big burly man who asked me the question had gone!)
She gained enough confidence in our friendship to tell me of her other life as a prostitute. I asked if she did it as a boy or a girl, and she said that she did it as a girl. I asked her how that was possible, since once she was naked the guy would see she wasn’t, well, a she. She said she was creative, and was able to hide that fact by choosing dark rooms, and otherwise concealing herself.
I knew her for about five years, and she continued her charade for as long as I knew her, but from the moment she told me about her life as a prostitute I feared for her. I told her I worried about her, but she said that she was good at what she did, and that she wasn’t worried that she would get hurt. As far as I know, she never was discovered.
Coincidentally enough, her last name was Fear.
BWT - Last night I saw a documentary on the transexual eunuchs in India. There may be as many as one million of them.
They are mostly gay and bisexual males who have had their genitals crudely hacked off in order to appear more like women. Then, they are forced to work as prostitutes and beggars.
The men who use the eunuchs as prostitutes view themselves as straight because they perform a male role in the sex act. But, they also don't see it as cheating on their wives because the eunuchs aren't real women. This one of the major reasons why AIDS is spreading through India so rapidly.
This was one of the most horrific things I've seen in a long time.
This is very sad and complicated case. I live in a nearby community, so I have been reading about it for quite some time.
The truth is that two of the young men involved in the murder actually did have sex with the victim -- so she was much more than a "hope-to-be sex mate."
Of course, this doesn't justify her murder. But, there was a dangerous act of deception on the part of the victim. This is why the first jury that heard the case couldn't reach a verdict.
From the photos I've seen of Gwen Araujo, it would have been very difficult to tell that she was really a boy. And, it is likely that these young men had very strong feelings for her -- especially after they had been so intimate. Just imagine what that would do to a young man's psyche.
I'm horrified by the violence. I wish someone had been able to counsel Gwen Araujo on transgender issues. But, those type of services are few and far between.
If Gwen Araujo had entered a real transgender program, she would have been able to go through the vocational, legal, social and emotional changes needed to support her gender identity-role. One of the first things she would have been taught is the importance of being honest with others about being a transgender person. It is likely that the people who killed her would have rejected her -- but who really knows. Maybe they would have accepted her as a friend. These young people aren't hardened criminals -- they had an unreasonably violent reaction to a very unusual situation. Maybe that means it is a crime of passion.
While I hope for justice for Gwen Araujo, I also hope that this case will make people realize that services are needed for transgender teenagers. Ohterwise, we'll see this kind of tragedy again.