Yuma man's death probably a hate crime, investigators say

[Brenda]

Yuma man's death probably a hate crime, investigators say

YUMA, Ariz. Investigators suspect a gay Yuma man's killing was motivated by his sexual orientation.

The body of 23-year-old Amancio Corrales was found in the Colorado River near Yuma on May sixth.

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[beth_finallyme]

Thank you for posting this Brenda



It is interesting that they classify this as a hate crime against a gay male and not a transgendered person. I guess it's still very safe by statistics for us in Yuma.

[Brenda]

Thank you for posting this Brenda



It is interesting that they classify this as a hate crime against a gay male and not a transgendered person. I guess it's still very safe by statistics for us in Yuma.

<sarcasm>
"apparently been dressed as a woman" equals 'gay man'.  Yes? 

Gee, don't we all know that every biological male that wears women's clothes is homosexual?
</sarcasm>

[Rose Dawson]

<sarcasm>"apparently been dressed as a woman" equals 'gay man'.  Yes? 

Gee, don't we all know that every biological male that wears women's clothes is homosexual? </sarcasm>

I agree, Brenda. Although I do indeed identify as gay, I will say with unwaivering confidence that I can tell the difference between sexual orientation and gender orientation. Simply put: They are not the same! Sometimes I just want to scream that at people who assume that just because you're transgendered (note how 'gender' is smack dab in the middle of that term), it automatically means you're gay. Not the case, people!

Generally speaking, since society has no interest in getting to know (or even understand) our kind, they just assume we're all freaks and deserve to be lumped into one category.

Funny, though, how those same people raise holy hell if we identify them as Lutheran or Baptist, when they're Catholic. Hmmm.....religion is one big concept. Why can't we lump them into the same category?  >

[kitten]

one of our problems is that even the gay/lesbian people tend to write us out of their histories too.

for example, here we have a "Stonewall Tavern" that commemorates the original, and how the riots kicked off the modern GLBT liberation movement ... but most gays think the original was purely a gay bar, and T-folk are not particularly welcome in the current incarnation, and the bar flies won't believe that the riots were police vs TS, and get upset if you ask them whether they think all those people were just cocks in frocks.

last week i saw a show on the telly called "The Homosexual history of Australia" that was very interesting, and filled in a few gaps in my knowledge, which is largely personal and anecdotal.  However, only gays and lesbians got mentioned, and where movements like the 19th century "passing women" who dressed in men's clothes, behaved as men and married women, were referred to purely as lesbians, when clearly some at least must have been TS FtM's.  And of course the other way round were just called gays, or at best cross-dressers.  This show was made by a respected gay film-maker, but TS has been written out of the history.

and then there is personal experience; i am on an LGBTI standing committee that does good work in the community, and i find myself helping to campaign against the same-sex marriage ban (yes that dirty perverted law has infected australia too) and protesting, and helping to organise it, and when i mention TS issues, i get sympathy, but then a week later we have fallen off the radar, and the gays and lesbians have forgotten our concerns, and are not even gracious enough to be embarrassed when reminded.

frankly i am tired of being invisible, which is very dangerous, here i have seen several murders that are on the police blotters as suicides by gay cross-dressers, despite the total absurdity of the claim when even the most cursory glance at the evidence shows the inconsistencies.

so if you want to murder people for fun, come to sunny Australia and murder Trannies, nobody will even go looking for you.

[Terri-Gene]

I dunnoi, just the way my mind works, but did anyone see anything in the ariticle that would indicate the victim to be transgender other then he happened to be wearing a dress the night he apparently died?

It occurs to me that when police find a person dead and have little or no evidence to go on, about the first thing they do is to find out all they can about the victims personal life.  He was identified in the article as Gay.

Tell me that there arn't Gay men who sometimes dress up as women without having any gender conflicts? Or being Transgender in any way?

Why turn this into a GL exclucion of T on the basis of the victim being referred to as Gay instead of Transgender since he was wearing a dress.  Any here know anything about this person or his personal life?

A person is dead and probably didn't go down easy, isn't that more important then a lot of NO facts speculation?

And Kitten, The Stomewall, WAS a gay bar.  The riots occured due to the police attempting to harrass Gay men and shut down such bars.  It was a common occurence back then.  There were some T supportors who showed up after the initial communication breakdown, as the word spread and the affair went on for several days.  In those days, Gays and T's worked closely together with T's being involved in most of the major movements of the times.  The Beginings of the modern day GBLT actually began almost two decades before Stomewall,  that incident simply became a focal point.  The initial standoff was a Gay affair in protest of "official" police treatment toward Gays in the many years preceeding the Stonewall affair.  It probably wouldn't have happened if they had not picked a particularly bad day for this particular raid.

TG

[beth_finallyme]

She was beautiful




http://yumacountyonline.homestead.com/gossip.html





beth

[Terri-Gene]

yes,  "Body of Phoenix female impersonator found in Colorado River
May 19, 2005 Echo Magazine Volume 16, Number 18"  aritcles go on to say he worked as a popular impersenator in a nightclub.  that was taken from an article in one of your other links.  Thanks for posting them.  It shows you research things.  As to the gossip collumn, sure would be nice if they talked to the police about it so the name and information could be of use, hopefully someone has and you can rest assured police know about the aligation and will check it out.  The gossip column did say he was known to crossdress and pick up men for sex but again, that doesn't mean transgender, though he might have been.

Some impersonators are in fact Transgender, but by no means all or even most.  so my initial quiery still stands.

It doesn't matter what the proper label should be, he was apparently killed over a sexual issue. It is something to take personal yes, but not something to divide the gay and trans communities over what he was labeled.  and he/she may have been both, but I take it the primary affiliation was gay.

TG

[beth_finallyme]

Her obituary said she worked at dillards dept store. 



http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/beth/detail?.dir=/9d24&.dnm=dca7.jpg&.src=ph






beth

[Terri-Gene]

  http://www.wingspan.org/content/news_wingspan_details.php?story_id=199

"Corrales was a former resident of Phoenix and performed locally at Paco Paco Club at 3045 N. 16th St. According to friend Juan Jimenez, Corrales had recently moved back to Yuma and was living with his parents. Corrales was expected to perform the night of May 6 at Paco Paco Club. Jimenez said that Corrales was very funny and humble."

I'm sorry if I attributed this to a link you had posted.  I simply followed the orignial liink a little deeper.  As to how I thought you had posted a link which brought this up Beth, all I can say is my attention span is not what it used to be these days.

The family may have had their reasons or perhaps didn't even know..

TG

[beth_finallyme]

You are right terri-gene she is definitely a man.

[Terri-Gene]

no need to be sarcastic.  it's just something we don't know or need to get all over media and police about as to the actual gender or GBLT relationship.  It's bad enough the person died, especially so young.

TG

[JamesK]

OK...  I'm compelled to write and please don't be offended by my ignorance, but to me the statement "A person is dead and probably didn't go down easy, isn't that more important then a lot of NO facts speculation?" is quite compelling and I think that point should have ended there, but it was followed the comment that Stonewall was a GAY bar and made that non-issue an issue yet again.  As far as I know, it was a gay bar but mostly gay black men and drag queens were the ones who revolted...... I'd venture to say that what is most important is the fact that human rights were violated and human individuals, whether gay, bisexual, straight, lesbian, transgendered or whoever decided it was enough!  We all have a common goal here, if we are to win this fight for HUMAN RIGHTS then we have to remember that that is exactly what it is about,  we all bleed red.   Here's a link that I found usefull in finding out about Stonewall.  Basically it's a part of history that is SYMBOLIC and mythical almost, but the bottom line is - it created change.

[JamesK]

ok,   i should be blond,  hehehe. 

here's the link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots#The_Stonewall_Raid_and_the_Aftermath

[Leigh]

I'd venture to say that what is most important is the fact that human rights were violated and human individuals, whether gay, bisexual, straight, lesbian, transgendered or whoever decided it was enough!

No, whats important is that for once the Queers stood up and said enough is enough.  I fail to see any demontsrated concern for the same thing happening in str8 clubs.  Why, because they were srt8.  The last time their bars were raided and peeps hauled off in masses was during prohibition.  When I have the same rights across the board as het people I might begin to give a RA about their *rights*

Leigh

[AllisonY2K]

The articles I read about her death included the observation that the men who killed her cut off her penis. I think that would be a very obvious indicator of a hate crime, and not because of sexual orientation.