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CALIF, 2002 - TRANSGENDERED TEEN BEATEN, STRANGLED, LEFT IN SHALLOW GRAVE

Murdered Transgendered teen
Monday, October 28, 2002

More than 750 people filled a church in Newark, Calif., Friday afternoon for the funeral of 17-year-old Gwen Araujo.

The transgender teen was beaten and then strangled at a house party in Newark, a small community in Silicon Valley, on Oct. 3. Her body was found more than a week later in a shallow grave halfway between Lake Tahoe and Sacramento.

Last week, family members said funeral services would be private, but Friday morning they changed their minds and decided to invite the public after a tremendous outpouring of shock and grief in the community.

"The killing has pulled us together as a community," Newark Police Lt. Tom Milner told 365Gay.com. "It's opened a lot of eyes."

Araujo was buried in a simple black blouse, her hands in fingerless black lace gloves. A tombstone has been ordered by her family. It will be engraved Gwen, the name she had chosen for herself at 14 in honor of singer Gwen Stefani of the band No Doubt. (Araujo was formerly known as "Eddie.")

A threatened protest by anti-gay Rev. Fred Phelps failed to materialize. Phelps, shortly after Araujo's murder, said she "got what he deserved."

Araujo had dreamed of one day getting sex reassignment surgery and becoming a famous makeup artist, relatives said. Araujo's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, said she was disgusted that the three men accused in the killing may argue "gay rage" as a defense.

One of the accused, Jason Chase Nabors, 19, pleaded not guilty in court Thursday. The other two, Jose Antonio Merel and Michael William Magidson, both 22, did not enter pleas and are seeking a lawyer.

All three face murder charges with a hate-crime enhancement that carries up to an additional four years in prison upon conviction.

"Sylvia is not inclined to accept any excuses for why her son's life was taken," said Gloria Allred, hired to represent Guerrero. "(She) is devastated by (the) death and she is sickened by what are reported to be the so-called reasons for the violent and brutal killing of her child."

Police said Araujo was murdered after one of the women at the party had emerged from a bathroom that Araujo had been using and announced to the partygoers that Araujo was a male.

"We can't let one of our sisters' lives go unnoticed," said Rachael Janelle Light of Transgender San Francisco.

The killing came as the community was focusing on a play dealing with the murder of Mathew Shepard. Students at Newark Memorial High School who are in the production say the murder has made the play all the more important.

Phelps and members of his congregation have also threatened to stage a protest on the opening night of the play, scheduled for Nov. 8.

- 365gay.com