Mistrial in transgender murder case sparks protest
By LeiLani Dowell
San Francisco
On June 22 an emergency rally was held in the
Castro District of San Francisco to protest the declaration of
a mistrial in the case of three men charged with murdering Gwen
Araujo.
Araujo was a 17-year-old transgender woman who lived with
her mother in the small town of Newark, Calif., 30 miles from
San Francisco. She came out to her family as transgender at the
age of 14, and chose the name "Gwen" in honor of one of her
favorite musical artists, Gwen Stefani of No Doubt. She dreamed
of moving to Hollywood and becoming a professional makeup
artist.
On Oct. 3, 2002, Araujo was brutally beaten and strangled to
death by three men she had previously had sexual relations
with, after they discovered at a party that she was a
transgender woman.
During the three-month-long trial, the prosecution presented
evidence that the three men--Jason Cazares, Michael Magidson
and Jose Merel--discussed scenarios of murder weeks before the
killing. Yet the defense used a bigotry-excusing "trans panic"
defense to call for a manslaughter charge.
The judge called a mistrial after jurors, while all agreeing
on a charge higher than manslaughter, became deadlocked on
whether to convict or acquit the men on first-degree
murder.
Because the jurors could not decide on first- or
second-degree murder, they were not allowed to consider added
hate-crime charges, which add four years to any prison
sentence. California is one of only five states that include
gender identity as a category for hate crimes.
Signs at the June 22 rally read, "We will not forget" and
"Justice for Gwen." Speakers recalled the trial of Dan White 25
years ago.
White was acquitted of murdering San Francisco's first
openly gay city supervisor, Harvey Milk, and Mayor George
Moscone, under the now-famous "Twinkie defense."
White's acquittal resulted in the "White Night Riots"--four
days of angry LGBT rebellion in the city during which the
community rose up, attacking City Hall, setting fire to police
cars and battling cops.
The June 22 protesters vowed to continue fighting violence
against the LGBT community. Murders of trans people,
particularly trans women of color, have been on a drastic rise
since 2002, with 39 murders documented in the year 2003.
This message of resistance was taken to the following Pride
weekend in San Francisco, which is being called one of the most
politically charged Pride celebrations in this city in years.
On June 25, San Francisco began its pride weekend with its
first annual Trans March. The next day, the annual Dyke March
was held under the banner of "Uprooting Racism." The June 27
LGBT Pride Parade was themed "Out 4 Justice." Originally
focused on the right of same-sex couples to marry, organizers
changed the focus to honor the life of Gwen Araujo and demand
justice for her murder.
Gwen Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guer rero, spoke from a cell
phone to the June 22 rally. She expressed her shock and
devastation at the ruling, saying: "I want to take up the
positive, the chance at a new trial, a new jury, and hopefully
the case will now be presented as a transgender murder and a
hate crime. We all know this was a hate crime, and had Gwen not
been transgender, she would be here with us today. ...
"I an very proud to be her mother, because she continues to
touch so many lives around the world."
Court will reconvene on July 30 to set a date for a new
trial, which is not expected to be until next year.
Reprinted from the July 8, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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