Gwen Araujo.

Although times have changed a lot, and much more information and help is available for transgender teens and their families, transition can be a very dangerous undertaking. The teen years are a time when many young males in the community, full of testosterone, have very violent tendencies as they cope with the challenges of trying to "prove themselves as men". Pairs and packs of aggressive young males are particularly prone to violence against transgender girls and women. This is especially true in the African American and Hispanic communities, where expressions of violence against "faggots" is especially common among young males trying to be "macho".

The terrible results of such violence are all too often in the news, as in the story of the murder of Gwen Araujo. Gwen was a 17 year old Hispanic teenager from Newark, California, who hoped to someday become a girl by having a sex change. She had lived as a girl for several years with her mother's full acceptance, and in time very likely could have achieved her dream. However, while attending a party in October 2002, several brutal, violent young men discovered her transgender status and immediately beat her and strangled her to death with a rope while other partygoers looked on. Her tragic murder shocked the liberal Bay Area, and brought home again the dangers that face many transgender teens. (Unfortunately, most news reports erroneously referred to Gwen as "Eddie" and "he" and "him", ignoring and negating her transgender identity as a girl).