Jared Polis: Greeley trial puts focus on hate crimes
By. U.S. Rep. Jared Polis
Posted: 04/16/2009 12:30:00 AM MDT
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_12150355Last July, 18-year-old Angie Zapata of Greeley was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher in her own living room. The man accused of the crime has indicated that Angie was killed because she was transgender. While in jail, he was quoted as saying that "all gay things need to die."
This type of hatred, unfortunately, is too prevalent. In 2008 alone, there were at least 21 murders of transgender people in the United States. But because the murders of transgender people are often under-reported or the identities of transgender murder victims are not properly reported, it's impossible to ever know how serious this problem really is.
People from all over the country were appalled a decade ago when gay student Matthew Shepard was beaten to death in Wyoming. We should be even more appalled that in those 10 years, our nation has failed to adopt a federal hate-crimes bill.
Colorado was the first state in the country to pass a hate-crime law. In 2005, that law was updated to protect gay and transgender Coloradans. However, the murder trial starting next week in Greeley will be the first time in Colorado — and the country — that any such law has been used in a prosecution related to the murder of a transgender person.
