Gwen Araujo

Gwen Araujo was a transgendered teenager who was murdered in 2002 by a group of four men after they discovered that she possessed male genitalia.

Araujo had engaged in oral and anal sex with two of her murderers in the weeks leading up to the attack. At a party held on October 3, 2002, a forced inspection by one of the guests revealed Araujo to possess male genitalia. Over the course of the next five hours, Araujo was beaten to death with a frying pan and a barbell, and driven to a remote location in the Sierra Nevada foothills, where she was buried in a shallow grave.

One of the defendants, Jaron Nabors, provided information to the police on the killing in return for a manslaughter plea. A jury convicted Michael Magidson and Jose Merel of second degree murder, and Jason Cazares of voluntary manslaughter. However, the jury did not consider the killing to be a hate crime, but rather a reaction to a sudden and shocking revelation.

Araujo's case and the failure of the jury to convict the defendants of a hate crime sparked protests across the country. In 2006, the film A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story premiered on the Lifetime Network network. Actress J.D. Pardo played Gwen, and Mercedes Ruehl played Gwen's mother, Sylvia Guerrero.