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Visible Man

Jamison Green offers a man's POV on life in the trans lane. Opinion, advice and information from an internationally respected leader of the FTM community. His new book, "Becoming a Visible Man," will be published by Vanderbilt University Press in May.

Seeking justice for Gwen Araujo

Attorney Michael Thorman made a pitch for a voluntary manslaughter charge for his client, Michael Magidson, appealing to one of the basest "instincts" known to man: homophobia. He said his client's reaction "was one of anger and rage and shock and revulsion" when he realized that Gwen (who called herself Lida at the time) had a male body. Magidson had previously had oral sex with Araujo. "Mike Magidson does not deny having responsibility for Eddie's death. It happened because of a discovery of what Eddie had done," Thorman said. "This is a case that tells a story about deception and betrayal." Thorman's consistent use of Gwen's male given name, Eddie, is calculated to convince the jury that they should perceive Gwen as male, and that they should view "his" flirtatious, feminine appearance as a ruse intended to lure Magidson into having homosexual sex.

Gloria Allred, attorney for Sylvia Guerrero, Gwen's mother, said Thorman was trying to blame the victim, and that Gwen had every right to be the person she wanted to be.

Deception and betrayal are heavy concepts, ones that are often used to weigh down or crush the spirits of transgendered people. Because our bodies don't conform to our gender presentation (or expression, or identity) we are frequently accused of trying to trick people into accepting us for who we know we are. It's a glib line of defense, well suited to appeal to the average person who is threatened or offended by homosexuality and confused or knocked off balance by gender variance. Our lack of conformance to gender-normative standards, to "appropriate" gender-role behavior, is easily viewed as a deliberate flaunting of convention, and those who perceive it that way seem to think we should know better than to tempt the hand of fate by breaking gender boundaries. They say we deserve what we get when we cross those lines that define what they think is the natural order.

I don't agree with that position. I believe that transgendered people are not trying to be something we are not, but instead we are trying to be more of who we are. It is not our fault that we often have genders that do not correspond with our bodies, or that we have bodies that are different from those of others in our gender (or sex) category. When Nicole Brown, the woman who touched Gwen's genitals, took it upon herself to announce to the others at the party that Araujo was "a man," she set in motion a cascade of horrifying events that never would have happened if people were not ignorant about transgendered people or about sexuality. If Brown and Magidson and the other defendants had been more aware, better educated and less homophobic, they might have reacted much differently. They might have been interested in Gwen's story. They might have thought, "So that's why I sensed so much feminine strength in her," or "So that's why she's so attractive."

I don't believe for a second that murder (or manslaughter) is a justifiable response to attraction, to shame about having been attracted or to the revelation of unexpected body parts. Let's get real here, and not just technical, rhetorical or semantic: Being transgendered is not wrong; killing is wrong. These young men ruined many lives with their inappropriate reaction to Gwen's existence. Her existence was not inappropriate. I feel sorry for these ignorant people, but ignorance is no excuse for murder, and if these three young men's attorneys are successful in their quests for reduced sentences or (in one case) acquittal of their clients, then I think the entire LGBT community should respond in firm, resolute, nonviolent protest that does not stop until real justice is done.

It is time for homophobic violence to stop. It is time for transgendered people to be accorded basic human dignity. And it is time for those who believe they are justified in indulging in a sense of superiority to give up their smug notions of self-righteousness against which they judge those who are different from themselves.