Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ran a video while people took seats showing facts and images about hate crimes:
- Brandon Teena, Matthew Shepard, J.R. Warren: all young people murdered as part of
a hate crime
- 41% of the victims in hate crimes are gay/lesbian/bi/trans
- GLBT youths are 2-3 times more likely to have substance abuse problems
- GLBT youths 3 times more likely to commit suicide and 850 times more likely to be
harassed because of their sexual orientation
- 7 states still have no laws about hate crimes
- Tolerance= respecting someone is different, even if you don’t agree
- It used to be true that African Americans were most likely to be the victim of a hate
crime, now its GLBT people
First speaker: President Burk; president of a community college in Idaho that was near the
compound/headquarters of the Aryan Nation (a white supremacy group)
- worked with the Southern Poverty Law Group and the parents of an Aryan Nation
hate crime victim to sue the AN and won 6.2 million dollars in damages
- a major victory for victims of hate crimes against a hate group like the AN
- the AN didn’t have the money, so the compound and the property it was on went to
the victim's parents
- They didn’t want it, so the community college bought it and tore down the compound,
turning the land into a peace park
- That part will one day have classrooms and buildings that are part of the community
college
Before the panel began, members of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Jose performed
songs: a spiritual song from Botswana and a song written by a member in memory of Gwen/
Eddie (victim of a hate crime)
Then, a clip from the movie directed by Shelley Provost (who couldn’t be there that night) called
"Trained in the Ways of Men" about the life and death of Trans youth Gwen/Eddie
- had interviews with her mother, who supported her transformation and said she
always knew Gwen was different, even as a young child
- showed many photos of Eddie becoming Gwen
- mother talked about the day Gwen came to her as Eddie and told her that he was
really a girl; they decided together that he would become Gwen with mom's help
- Details of Gwen's murder told by her mother: Gwen was at a party with "friends" who
were drinking and playing dominoes when the question of whether or not Gwen was
actually a boy came up
- A female witness named Nicole took Gwen to the bathroom and reached into her
pants, feeling the covered male genitalia, then ran out yelling "She's a boy!"
- The other males at the party, held Gwen down and one (Jose) pulled down her
pants/underwear and exposed the genitalia, then began to beat her
- Three young men: Jose Mercel, Jaron Nabors, and Michael (unsure if spelled
correctly) Magesen, beat Gwen repeatedly in the living room. Jose was particularly
vicious, going into the kitchen to grab a can of food and a frying pan to use to beat
her on the head. It was later surmised that he may have had a sexual relationship with
Gwen
- They then brought her into the garage and hung her with a rope, cause of death was
blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation
- Two of the boys (Jose and Michael) were found guilty of 1st degree murder, the third
bargained with the DA and testified against the other two, claiming he tried to pull
them off and stop them
- The female was not charged with anything, though the lawyer said she incited a panic
that started the beating
- "transphobia" like homophobia, not discussed in schools nearly enough
Panel Members introduced and told about their lives/ transformation process *panel mostly
female to male Trans, which is more rare*
3rd is Aejaie Sellers: male to female transgender and CEO/ Executive Director at the DeFrank
Center
-Came out at age five in a letter to Santa, asking if for Christmas he could make her into a
girl
-Had a difficult childhood, very feminine and picked on in school
-Principal convinced parents she was depressed and needed therapy, though she knew
that wasn’t what was wrong
-in high school did research on other cases and came to the conclusion that she was
transgender and wanted the surgeries
-came out to her parents, who supported her and after she graduated took her to a Gender
Clinic: a place where transgender people go for the psychiatric evaluations and treatments
needed to go through the process, as well as the surgery
-spent four months going back and forth to the clinic, then in 1982 completed the process
and went away to college
-she is now engaged and works full time running the DeFrank center
-All of the male to female panel members (except Sean who is having his in a month) had
the top surgery done, but not the bottom: that surgery is a personal choice and is very expensive
and dangerous. The female has had bottom surgery though.
-All the members have experienced some sort of verbal or physical violence against them
because of who they are
-the three older panel members said it was a totally different time for them while they
were transforming than it was for the younger two. There is a lot more information on it, and the
internet, plus more informed doctors and more support groups and others who have gone through
it, etc.
-they talked about their choice as far as when to reveal they are transgender to a lover or
date. They all had different preferences but still agreed that it is a personal choice and that it
depends on the situation and how they feel.
-One audience member accused the panel of dishonesty and misleading their dates/lovers
about their sex. The panel responded with the fact that none of them try to hide that they are
Trans, but they are the gender they are now, so how can that be a lie?
-they also discussed the way it felt to have the hormone treatments, then men talking
about how good it felt to see facial hair and muscles and have a deeper voice so quickly, (though
the Reverend said that going bald was a little less fun) and Aejaie talked about the softening of
her body, and that she has been on them so long that she physically cant put on muscle the way
she used to. They all agreed, though, that it felt great to see their outsides match their insides and
to feel like they finally looked the way they were meant to.
-they also mentioned the California law CA-AB547, designed to protect gay students in
CA and how gender and gender identity were added to it in 2000, but it is still not applied
equally and many schools, high school in particular, offer nothing as far as info or support for
GLBT students
The panel ended by thanking the audience, and the Community Church sang one last song about
tolerance. The members then stayed for quite a while to speak to people and take photos.