On April 14, 2009, the two-week trial for the murder of Angie Zapata—an 18-year-old transgender woman—is scheduled to begin in Greeley, Colo. Due to this landmark case’s complexities and its significance for LGBT people, it is of utmost importance that media coverage of the tragic death of Angie Zapata be inclusive, accurate, and respectful of a community that is too often targeted for harassment and violence.
Angie Zapata was brutally murdered in an attack motivated by anti-transgender bias on July 17, 2008. Allen Ray Andrade, 31, has admitted to police that he and Angie met online, that they went on a date, and that he viciously beat her to death.
According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), the total number of victims reporting anti-LGBT violence increased by 24 percent from 2006 to 2007. The number of anti-LGBT murders also doubled during that time period. Despite this, federal hate crimes laws do not include sexual orientation and gender identity.
By looking back on Angie Zapata’s death and the countless other incidents of tragic violence that occur every year due to anti-LGBT bias, the media can play a vital role in determining future community and law enforcement response to hate-motivated attacks – from local and state hate crimes legislation to the Matthew Shepard Act and beyond.
Use the navigation to the right to explore GLAAD's Angie Zapata Resource Kit.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This resource kit originally included a sentence stating that the trial of Angie Zapata’s murderer was the first-ever prosecution of an anti-transgender murder under a transgender-inclusive hate crime law. In fact, the 2002 murder of transgender teenager Gwen Araujo was charged as a hate crime under California’s transgender-inclusive hate crimes law.
©2010 Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation