Deadly Prejudice

A man in Colorado was sentenced to life in prison for the murder/bias-motivated crime of a transgender teen he met online. During the trial the prosecution referred to the victim, who adopted the name Angie at the age of sixteen even though she was born Justin as “she” while defense referred to her as “he.” Allen Andrade, the defendant, met with Angie in person after getting to know her online. When he discovered that Angie was a biological male Andrade killed the victim and fled her house. He did not speak in his own defense and his became the first national conviction for a hate crime involving a transgender person.
Social bias and prejudice are seen in their most extreme form in Andrade’s trial. Extreme stereotyping due no doubt to a combination of factors, but in this case I believe mainly due to socialization, had deadly consequences in this case. Andrade knew and liked Angie well enough to spend three days with her in her apartment. The sole motivation for his crime was the discovery that she was actually a male. The defense claimed that this sudden discovery sent Andrade into a fit of passion that led him to lose control, using this as a reason to reduce the sentence to manslaughter. The intensity of Andrade’s prejudice is almost unfathomable- he was quoted after arrest saying on the phone that “gay things must die.” It is one thing to be raised in a family with traditional values in opposition to equal rights for the gay population-- however it is quite another to automatically kill someone you had spent three days with after getting to know them online just because they are transgender. Andrade took prejudice to a maniacal and tragic level. The courts indecisive use of a gender pronoun for the victim during the trial indicates that Andrade is not the only with misunderstandings about the transgender community. Deep rooted cultural intolerance and biases are being countered by current social movements, but its is the occurrence of hate crimes like the murder of Angie Zapata that make you wonder just how effectively socialization can instill individuals with lasting bigotry to the point of violence. Especially when even the court of law is unable to respect that Angie lived as a girl- as a “she,” and that’s all there is to it.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/22/transgender.slaying.trial/index.html