LGBT Young People who lost their lives to hatred

LGBT Young People who lost their lives to hatred
Brandon Teena

Brandon Teena, whose birth name was Teena Brandon, was originally from Lincoln, Nebraska in the United States. In 1993 he moved to nearby Humboldt, to begin her new full-time life as a man in preparation for eventual sex-change surgery. Brandon passed easily as a man in Humboldt, but was discovered to be biologically and legally female by local police who arrested him on a misdemeanor check forgery charge two weeks prior to his slaying. Police then publicly released this information to the local newspaper, the Falls City Journal. One week later, on Christmas Day 1993, Brandon was raped and assaulted at a Christmas party by two men, whom he identified to local police as Nissen and Lotter, despite the fact that they had threatened to kill him if he reported the incident to the police.

Born on December 12th 1972, Brandon was murdered and died on New Year's Eve, 1993, at the age of 21. Nissen is now serving consecutive life sentences and Lotter is currently awaiting execution. Though it's only one of the thousands of cases of hatred driven violence against transgender people that occurs each year around the globe, Brandon's murder sent a general shiver down the spine of the general public, promoting trans issues from its usual spot at the bottom queer agenda. Unsuspectingly like many others Brandon quickly became a martyr to many, and a lesson for us all.

The story inspired the recent movie "Boys Don't Cry". An excellent resource that depicts the last days of Brandon's life.