Angie Zapata, a transgender teen from Greeley, CO. Click for more images (credit: CNN)
For the first time in U.S. history, a murderer has been convicted of a bias-motivated crime against a transgender person. Allen Andrade was convicted yesterday of First Degree Murder and a “Bias-Motivated Crime” in the murder of Angie Zapata, a transgender teen from Greeley, Colorado. The methodical brutality of Andrade’s crime shocked both Coloradans and transgender people nationwide. I, for one, am ecstatic to see this sociopathic sadist behind bars.
During the trial, the prosecution referred to Angie as “Angie” and “she” and “her”, while the defense repeatedly referred to her as “him” and “he” and “Justin” (Angie’s birth name). The defense used the old, tired “transgender panic” defense.
Throughout the history of trials against perpetrators of anti-LGBT violence, one overriding truth has been evident – LGBT people are consistently valued as less than human. If you kill someone for their religion, race or nationality, you’ll likely be convicted of murder. If you kill someone because you discover that they are transgender, chances are that you will be convicted of manslaughter, or some lesser degree of murder. That is one of the reasons this trial is so important: not only was Allen Andrade convicted for a bias-motivated crime, but he was convicted of First Degree Murder. For once, the jury saw past the defense’s portrayal of Angie Zapata as a lesser being, a liar and a freak, and saw her simply for what she was: a human being.
