Sunday, October 7, 2007
Gwen Araujo
Gwen Araujo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gwen Amber Rose Araujo (February 24 , 1985 – October 4, 2002 , née Edward Araujo, Jr.) was a transgendered teenager who died during or shortly after being attacked by multiple individuals. The events leading up to Araujo's death were the subject of a pair of criminal trials in which it was alleged that the attackers were angered by the discovery that Araujo — who, at the time, was living as female — was biologically male. In the most recent trial, two of the defendants were convicted of second-degree murder, but the jury concluded that no hate crime was committed. The circumstances of the case have caused it to become a rallying point for the LGBT community, and a number of underreported and controversial aspects about the case and about Gwen's murder remain points of contention.
The Eureka Reporter - Article
| Cinematic launch for this year's Pride Fest |
| by Wendy Butler, 9/29/2007 |
| A documentary can allow people to experience an event they've never experienced, and that, Shelly Prevost said, was a challenge she dealt with for her film covering a 2002 murder. The Bay Area-based filmmaker will introduce Humboldt County audiences to "Trained in the Ways of Men," a film about the murder of Alameda County resident Gwen Araujo, a transgender 17-year-old. Araujo was a biological male who had been living as a female. Queer Humboldt is presenting the screening, which will be today at 10 a.m. at Arcata's Minor Theatre. Admission is $5 per person. A portion of the proceeds will go toward transgender education. Prevost and a panel of transgender men and women will lead a question-and-answer session following the film. This film is a preamble to Sunday's Humboldt Pride Parade and Festival, which will be held from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at The Arcata Plaza. |
They're Here, They're Queer
But serious topics will be touched on too. Trained in the Ways of Men is a documentary about Gwen Araujo, a transgender teen who was born male, but lived as a woman and was murdered in a town north of San Francisco in 2002. The Santa Fe-only screening is co-presented by The Human Rights Alliance and tracks Araujo's case to the end, when her murderers use the vacuous "gay panic" defense.
Inside Bay Area - Intolerance issue revisited 5 years after Araujo death
Five years ago this week, Gwen Araujo became a tragic symbol of intolerance in the heart of the supposedly tolerant Bay Area.
The killing of the Newark transgender teen is rarely front-page news anymore.
But the impact the crime had on the Tri-City area community, and the debate it aroused about anti-gay prejudice, has hardly faded for many residents who refused to let bigotry thrive in their own backyard.
"The violence occurs in a climate of discrimination and petty intolerance," said Paul Clifford, 53, of Newark, a member of the Fremont Alliance for a Hate Free Community and Not in Newark. "You can change that, you can change the climate."
The alliance is co-sponsoring a showing of "Not In Our Town Northern California: When Hate Happens Here" at 7 p.m. today in Cole Hall at First United Methodist Church of Fremont, 2950 Washington Blvd.
The documentary, shown on KQED, includes the Newark community's response to the Araujo slaying, along with reactions to intolerance elsewhere.
Afterward, a question-and-answer session is set with the film's producer and the drama teacher involved in staging "The Laramie Project," a play about a homophobic hate crime, at Newark Memorial High School shortly after the killing to address intolerance.
"I see in the newspapers that gay bashings are on the rise again," said retired teacher Barbara Williams, 67, of El Granada. "And that scares me."
The Journey Of Yuki.: Girls Like Us, Remembering Gwen Amber Rose Araujo.
We both like Gwen Stefani. We both like to party and have a love for the nightlife. We both have a zeal to live. We both are transsexual females. The difference? I am in my 30s and still surviving. Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, at the tender age of 17 was brutally murdered by four men who discovered she was a transsexual. If she was living today, she would be 22 and probably would have undergone her SRS. She was attractive and full of a youthful outlook in life. Yesterday marks the 5th year of her passing.
She does not deserve to die. I could be killed and tossed somewhere in the intolerant and narrow minded city of Kuala Lumpur, which revels in jurassic mentality, and no one would care, not even my parents. It would be common. But she hails from a tolerant culture full of diversity of San Fransisco Bay Area's friendly neighbourhood, where everyone cares for one another and she has strong emotional support from her family and some friends, in a country known for a strong democracy, giving that wee bit of breathing space for girls like us. It seems like a nightmare. It just cannot happen but it did. If there is one transsexual female that could have made it in life it is her. No, she does not deserve what happened to her.
That very night five years ago, was a girl. She was ready to rock the town. Eager to party. As any young girl would. We see the girl in Gwen, on fire and living with passion. She was never a boy. A car with a group of men stopped by and ask her if she wants a ride. She says she wants to party. It was a girl responding to a bunch of creeps wanting to take advantage. She already is in a some sexual relationship with some of them. They were all friends.
It takes one jealous girl to vent her frustrations of being less pretty than Gwen. The girl was believed to have forcefully checked on Gwen's genitals. The girl opened her big mouth in front of the four men about Gwen, and then it began; the horrific death sentence executed by these four men. For a good five hour plus, in a supreme moronic merciless act, Gwen Araujo was kicked, punched, hit by hard objects (frying pans, barbells, cans), beaten, knocked, kneed to the wall, strangled and stoned. She was literally tortured in those 5 hours. She died. After that, her body was tied up and was disrespectfully buried. It was then discovered a few weeks later.
The four dirty scumbags was then arrested. Everyone was in the state of shock. They just could not believe this kind of thing can happen in their neighbourhood. Interesting events then followed. The four men argued that Gwen deceived them, and their lawyer cited gay panic in defense. The ridiculous Reverend Fred Phelps led a group of 'Christians' to Gwen Araujo's family's house, mocking her and her family, claiming Gwen is going to hell and blaspheming all around Bay Area, annoying San Fransisco onlookers. Gwen's mother Sylvia Guerrero, had become an transgender activist, in order to make sure what happened to her dearest rose, never happens again. And Gwen was finally able to change her name from the male sounding Eddie, to the sweet Gwen.
What happened 5 years ago, brought up the good and bad in people. The sight of Sylvia Guerrero expressing her love for her daughter. The group Christians led by Fred Phelps claiming 'God's hatred is good.'. But at the most, transsexuals were affected. It was a wake up call to everyone, even to parents; such thing could happen to their own children. It is not funny anymore. No one would know what is in the minds of the four who killed her. But the common logic sense prevails, she does not deserve even the torture, let alone death. Nobody sane would wish this to happen.
There are also lessons for me to learn too. That no one knows what is going to happen tomorrow. However, we can be prepared for it. But we must be prepared to ensure that such intolerance be smoothen by correct information and education. The narrower the mind, the bigger the fear. People always are afraid of things they do not understand, and ignorance becomes the stance in them. Perhaps if people would just open up their eyes and see girls like us as who we are, then we would probably be given the room to contribute to life. In the end, we are girls. And Gwen will be Gwen.
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