Blogging for Justice: The Gwen Araujo Murder

On the night of October 3, 2002, in Newark, California, 17-year-old Gwen Araujo was beaten, bound, strangled, and left in a shallow grave after three men she met at a party discovered she was biologically male.

Three years later, two of the three accused men, Michael Magidson, 25, and Jose Merel, 26, received sentences of 15 years to life for first-degree murder without hate crime enhancements. The third defendant, Jason Cazares, 26, pleaded no contest to manslaughter and was sentenced to six years in prison, according to a Mercury News article.

Araujo's killers tried to use a "trans-panic" defense to get a lesser sentence. In other words, the defendants claimed that when they discovered that Araujo's biological sexual characteristics differed from her gender identity, it brought on a psychotic state that led them to commit a crime they otherwise wouldn't have committed. Many advocacy groups argue that this type of defense is merely a way to blame the victim, and takes the focus away from the crime committed.

Although the trials of Araujo's killers have garnered significant media attention during the past three years, the focus has often been on the sensationalism of her gender identity and on the trans-panic defense, rather than the murder and hate crime.

Community United Against Violence ( CUAV ), a nonprofit organization that has been fighting violence and oppression of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning ( LGBTQQ) community since 1979, helps spread tolerance and promote awareness through a number of programs and services, including a speakers' bureau program where community members volunteer their time to speak with students at public schools, government agencies, and community organizations

CUAV's members saw injustice in the defendants' trans-panic defense tactic and the ensuing media coverage, and felt a responsibility to the victim, her family, and the community. The organization determined that the only way to communicate the real story behind Araujo's death would be to attend the murder trial and broadcast both its observations and the subtle nuances of the proceedings via the Web.

Justice for Gwen Araujo

Andy Shie Kee Wong, CUAV's Director of Development and Communications, chose blogging as the easiest, most efficient way to capture CUAV's opinions and to pass along the unedited, unsanitized story to a larger audience. He created and launched the Blog Justice for Gwen Araujo using Blogger.com on the first day of the trial.

Wong chose the blog utility because he was familiar with the format, it was easy to set up, and it was accessible to everyone on the Web. Blogger was so easy to use, in fact, that CUAV's Speaker's Bureau Program Director Connie Champagne quickly became the blog's primary author, even though she had never used a blogging utility before.

Champagne vigilantly followed the trial's proceedings and recounted them on the blog, along with her opinions on the retrial and demystifications of the trial lawyers' legalese. She recorded the defendants' testimonies word for word, and filled in the blanks for readers who may not have understood the subtleties of the proceedings.

"When someone is trans-identified, the idea that they are somehow trying to deceive people -- when they are actually trying to self-identify -- was troubling," said Champagne. "It was our responsibility to let people know that. This was the first blog I have ever written. It was there to galvanize the community, to educate people, but the primary focus was to keep communities posted who weren't able to [attend the trial]."

While the blog was originally intended to broadcast coordinated communications between the blog authors -- Champagne and Christopher Daley, Director of San Francisco's Transgender Law Center, as well as other members of CUAV's staff -- it ended up serving as a way for those both inside and outside of the transgender community to have a view into the trial from a trusted source. It became a safe place for both the readers and the authors to vent and commune.

"[The blog] became somewhat of an opportunity for members on staff to process and develop personal resolutions around the trial," Wong explained. "A lot of people gave time and energy to the case, because they felt strongly about it, and the blog served as a release for them. It was like a diary sometimes; it helped them process personal stuff and get into a personal space."

Beyond Mainstream Coverage

Rather than focusing on Araujo's murder and the hate crimes committed against her, the mainstream media tended to dwell on the fact that Gwen was born "Eddie" and biologically male. In fact, reporters referred to Gwen as a boy who lived as a girl, even after they received requests from the transgender community to use female pronouns instead of male ones.

"The blog reporting was very different than what was covered in the mainstream papers," Wong stated. "It was very intimate, very detailed, and there was a lot of analysis that was coming from the volunteers that was more sophisticated than what the papers were able to convey. The mainstream press missed out on a lot."

Another mainstream miss was the aforementioned references to the trans-panic defenses. "I know for a fact that during the proceedings, there was a lot of trans-panic that was coming from the lawyers of the defendants," Wong stated. "Some of [the gender identity sensitivity] was missed by the mainstream press. They tried to glom onto it and talk about it, but it was oversimplified. The volunteers in the courtroom understood the trans-phobic tactics that were being used by the lawyers."

In all, the blog was a success. Despite the fact that Justice for Gwen Araujo, like many blogs, wasn't highly publicized, it achieved its desired effect. What's more, the blog also kept people informed during the second trial, when media coverage had diminished considerably.

"The blog we produced may have helped with the second trial, which didn't garner as much media attention. It allowed us to keep people informed," Champagne said. "When the trial lost its buzz, people were still informed of the details of the trial. Once the blog got news coverage, it was revitalized and it became more popular."

Champagne cited the blog as a means to broaden public perception of the trial. The focus shifted away from the sensational aspect of the media's coverage, and the fact that Gwen was transgendered, to the fact that this was a hate crime and a murder. "I hope our blog helped to tell the story from a place of understanding. The media had an unsophisticated approach, a lack of knowledge, which made them inadvertently disrespectful."

The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act

On January 26, The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act, a bill that seeks to limit the use of gay-panic and trans-panic defenses at criminal trials, passed the California Assembly. It now moves to the United States Senate for consideration.

The bill seeks to amend jury instructions and eliminate the use of societal bias, including the gay- and trans-panic defense, from courtrooms.

Closer to home, the Newark city and school district formed Not in Newarkto help promote respect, tolerance, and acceptance of all the city's residents. The groupwill meet in a public forum tospecifically address ways to better protect the safety of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered kids and adults.

Justice for Gwen Araujo is an example of one organization's drive to teach, and to bring truth and sensitivity to an issue it believed wasn't getting proper coverage in the mainstream media. Because blogs are such an easy and quick way to publish information to the masses,CUAV's blog became not only a way for the organization to share its thoughts on the trial, but a sounding board for the entire community.

"I don't know if we would have gotten the results we did without the groundswell that happened as a result of the blog," Wong concluded. "The blog was a part of the chorus of people."