Last night, I watched the LIfetime movie, A Girl Like Me, which was about the life, and tragic death, of Gwen Araujo. After watching that movie, it reminded me just how unsafe we can be, and just how cruel both people and society can be towards the GLBT community. Unfortunately, transgendered people carry the biggest burden when simply trying to be themselves in life, and as expressed by Gwen’s story, that burden can end in tragedy. But the tragedy here, to me, is not only her horrible death, but it is that the men that beat her, strangled her to death, and then buried her received very small prison sentences and penalties for such a heinous and violent hate crime. The jury was not convinced that the people that killed Gwen killed her because she was trangendered. But what other reason did they beat her and strangle her to death? I ask seriously, what other reason? It just doesn’t make sense.
I believe that this is honestly the reason that I get so defensive when people try and call homosexuality and transgenderedness a choice; it is the biggest slap in the face for someone to deny how hard someone struggles just to be themselves and feel normal against all odds, by calling that struggle simply a choice. Gwen, and many like her, just tried to be herself, and people killed her for it. They killed her because they were too afraid of who she was, and that is just something that I can’t believe. I can’t believe it, because I would like to believe that people are better than that. I would like to believe that people possess compassion and understanding; more than judgement and hate. People must stop this madness of hating (and even killing) what is different; what they do not understand. People have got to learn acceptance, which to me, doesn’t seem that difficult of a concept to master. So why do things like this still happen?
If people want to live in a world where we maintain freedom, justice, love, and even Religious morality, then we have all got to stop being so fucking hateful. Movies like this are a chilling reminder that many of us are not safe, and beg us to wonder just why we can’t be. I hope that things can change. I hope that hate crime legislation and law can become stricter. I hope that people like the ones that killed Gwen are actually charged with the hate crimes they commit; because if they don’t, we all remain in danger because of who we are. I feel sorry for Gwen and her family, because no one should have to endure such torture and punishment; just because of who they are.
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