Topic: Law

The long awaited and controversial verdicts in Gwen Araujo's second murder trial were issued on Monday September 12, 2005. Michael Magidson and Jose Merel were found guilty of Second Degree Murder for their role in seventeen year old Gwen Araujo's death in 2003. Charges against Jason Cazares resulted in a hung jury for the second time. A fourth defendant, Jaron Nabors, testified against the other three in exchange for a guilty plea to reduced charges of manslaughter. Some transgender activists were disappointed that the murder was not held to be a hate crime and by the hung jury on Cazares charges. Many in the community found hope and relief in the convictions.

"This trial has been a milestone in the struggle of transgender citizens for social justice." said Denise Leclair, Executive Director of the International Foundation for Gender Education. "For once, a transgender life was not discounted. For once, the death of a transgender person caused outrage. For once, the nation cried with us."

Prosecutors will announce whether they will seek a third trial for Cazares on November 18. There has been no announcement yet of a sentencing date.

January 12, 2005
The Illinois House of Representatives today passed a bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, voting 65 to 51. The bill addresses discrimination in employment, housing, lending and public accomodations and includes transgender people in its definition of sexual orientation. The Illinois Senate had already passed the legislation by a slim 30 - 27 margin on January 10.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #104, Winter 2004.

by Divinity

In the spring of 1930, Mahatma Gandhi began his civil disobedience campaign in India. Although close to 60,000 Indians were arrested and tens of thousands beaten and killed by the British during the protest, Gandhi remained a proponent of nonviolence. He claimed he was an average man, but his promotion of human rights and unwavering gentleness of spirit propelled him into the public spotlight, where he was acknowledged as the world?s greatest man of peace. This is still his legacy today, long after his assassination. A similar cry for human rights was seen in 1969 during the Stonewall ?Riots,? which were a reaction to continued police harassment of gays and drag kings and queens at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Stonewall led directly to the current movement for equal treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights in all areas of life in the United States. Although the instigators of the Stonewall incident were perhaps somewhat less ?civil? than Gandhi and his followers, the results were basically the same: although grudging, slow, resisted, and fraught with difficulty, gradual recognition by authorities and many in the general public shows that just maybe the protesters? complaints were legitimate.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #104, Winter 2004.

Text by Katharine Coleman, photographs by Mariette Pathy Allen. Last September, Mariette accepted an invitation to speak at the Fifth International Congress on Sex and Gender at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Oct. 24-27. We also attended the Gay Games in Sydney and journeyed to Melbourne. The latter was the subject of an article in Tapestry #103; we saved the Congress and Games for this issue.

The Fifth International Congress on Sex and Gender Perth is a city of about a million people, set on the Indian Ocean in the far west of Australia, about five hours by air from Sydney. Perth has a reputation as a redneck town, but to us it looked much like downtown San Diego: new, clean and stylish. It has a beautiful location and a balmy climate. If you want to see what Perth was like seventy years ago and what the surrounding countryside still looks like, then go see the film ?Rabbit Proof Fence,? which is showing at art cinemas around the U.S.

The Internal Revenue Service has allowed a transgender woman to deduct the cost of her SRS as a medically necessary treatment. Rhiannon O'Donnabhain appealed after her deduction for her medical treatments was denied by the initial tax examiner, who viewed it as cosmetic. The appeals officer later determined the expenses were for "an integral part of a professionally prescribed course of treatment for her diagnosed condition."