Articles- Collected Articles For The Transgender Community

by Michael K. Lavers, National News Editor, Monday Sep 13, 2010

Puerto Rican authorities continue to investigate the death of two transgender women found dead on a local highway.

El Nuevo Día reported local police discovered the bodies of “two men who were dressed in women’s clothes” along Highway 512 in Juana Díaz around 2:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 13. The newspaper said both victims, who were between 20- and 25-years-old, were shot in the head.

El Nuevo Día further reported authorities arrested a 28-year-old man in connection with the murders after they found blood and human tissue inside his car. Pedro Julio Serrano of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force urged Puerto Rican authorities to investigate the deaths as hate crimes.

“At the very least it is probable that these crimes could have been motivated by prejudice based on the victims’ sexual orientation or gender identity,” he said in a statement. “The authorities have an obligation under the law to investigate this hate angle.”
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By Dan Littauer, Editor of Gay Middle East

12.9.2010

Tehran, Iran. Farsnews reported that on April 25th, 2010 police found a 24 year old woman dead in her apartment, on Shariati St. After an initial investigation it became apparent the woman was called Mahsa and was a transsexual that had undergone sex-change assignment (his name before sex-change was Masood). Mahsa was strangled, and the police found out that her brothers were perpetrators. In addition the brothers stole money they found on her. The two brothers confessed to the killing of Mahsa, and mentioned the reason as “opposing her immorality”. Their father, who in Iranian Shari’a law is the Vali’ye Dam (Masa’s blood-owner), forgave his two sons for the murder. One brother was sentenced to 8 years in prison, with five years suspended jail time and the other for three with two years suspended jail time. In other words the brothers would only serve three and one year respectively in prison for murder!
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