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Brandon Teena

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Brandon Teena

Brandon Teena[1] (December 12, 1972 - December 31, 1993), born Teena Renae Brandon in Lincoln, Nebraska, and known simply as Brandon, lived as a transsexual man.[2] He was raped and eventually murdered[3] in one of the most infamous[citation needed] American hate crimes[citation needed] of the 1990s. Brandon is the subject of the Academy Award-winning 1999 film Boys Don't Cry,[4] which was based on the documentary film The Brandon Teena Story.[5]

Childhood

Brandon Teena was native to Lincoln, Nebraska. Born in 1972, Brandon has been described as a "tomboy" as a child. When Brandon was young—and still living as a girl named Teena—he was sexually assaulted by a male relative, according to his mother, JoAnn Brandon, she and Brandon sought counseling in 1991.

In high school, Brandon began identifying as male and dated several girls, keeping his anatomical identity a secret. On the occasions that he did reveal his anatomical gender, Brandon experienced prejudice and hostility. Brandon's family had trouble accepting him, partly because he was thought to be a chronic liar. His mother rejected his male identity and continued calling Brandon her daughter. Brandon claimed he was intersex several times, but this was later proven to be false.[6][2]

Living near Falls City, Nebraska

In 1993, after some legal trouble, Brandon moved to the Falls City region of Richardson County, Nebraska where he identified solely as a male. Falls City was a small town where homosexuality and transsexuality were not widely tolerated.

Brandon quickly gained popularity with several local residents of Richardson County. Soon after he moved in to the home of Lisa Lambert in Humboldt, a small town close to Falls City, Brandon began dating one of Lambert's friends, Lana Tisdel and associating with ex-convicts John Lotter and Marvin "Tom" Nissen. Nissen was married and had two kids. Lana and Lotter had been friends since childhood and had dated for awhile several years before. Soon afterwards, an African-American man named Phillip DeVine began to date Tisdel’s younger sister, and he also became friends with Brandon.

On December 15, Brandon was jailed for forging checks. He was put in the women’s section of the prison. Lana provided money to Nissen in order to get Brandon out of jail on bail.

Tisdel subsequently questioned Brandon about his anatomical gender, and he responded that he was pursuing a sex change. She continued to be his girlfriend.

Brandon's arrest was posted in the local paper under his birthname, Teena Brandon. His circle of friends subsequently learned that Brandon was anatomically female.

The rape

The situation came to head during a Christmas Eve party, at which Nissen and Lotter became drunk. They grabbed Brandon and forced him to remove his pants, to prove to Tisdel that Brandon was female. Tisdel looked only when they forced her to, and she said nothing.

Lotter and Nissen then attacked Brandon, and forced him to get into a car. They then drove to an area by a meat packing plant and proceeded to beat and rape him.

Although injured, Brandon escaped from Nissen's bathroom by climbing out the window and went to Lana's. She convinced him to file a police report, though Brandon had been warned by Nissen and Lotter to remain silent.

Brandon went to the ER, where the standard rape kit was assembled (and subsequently lost). The sheriff at the time, Charles B. Laux, then began to ask Brandon questions about the incident. He seemed especially interested in Brandon’s transsexuality, to the point that Brandon found his questions rude and unnecessary, and began to decline to answer.

After the examination, Brandon left the police station, and the next day, Nissen and Lotter, angry at having been reported and desperate to dispose of the only witness to the rape, once again got drunk, and gathering an assortment of weapons, they went after Brandon. However, they failed to find him, and three days later, the police went to question Nissen and Lotter. However, Laux declined to have them arrested, even though both men had former criminal offenses.

The murder

During questioning, Lotter denied ever touching Brandon, and Nissen accused Lotter of raping Brandon, but said that he had simply watched. The two continued to search for Brandon, but he had gone to hide at Lisa Lambert’s house. Nissen and Lotter then concretely decided to find Brandon and murder him. Lotter stole a gun from a neighbor, and the two men went to Tisdel’s house, vowing to find Brandon, and kill whoever got in their way. However, Tisdel told them that Brandon wasn’t at her house, and her mother told them Brandon was at Lambert’s home.

The two men left for Lambert’s house and broke into it. They found Lambert in bed and demanded to know where Brandon was. Lambert, however, refused to tell them. Nissen however, caught him under the bed, and forced him to stand up. The men then asked Lambert if there was anyone else in the house, and she reported that Phillip DeVine was staying with her. DeVine was quickly located, shot, and killed along with Lambert and Brandon.

The two men then left, but were quickly arrested and charged with murder.

Trial and sentencing

Nissen quickly blamed the rape and murder of Brandon on Lotter. Later, in exchange for a reduced sentence, Nissen admitted to being an accessory to the rape and murder. Nissen testified against Lotter and was given a life sentence. Lotter proceeded to deny the veracity of Nissen’s testimony, but his version of events was subsequently discredited. The jury found Lotter guilty of murder and sentenced him to death. Lotter and Nissen both appealed their convictions, and their cases are currently under review.

Other information

At the time of his death, Brandon had neither commenced hormone therapy nor had sex reassignment surgery. However, some note that Brandon had stated that he planned to have sex reassignment surgery.[7] Brandon has sometimes been mistakenly identified as a lesbian woman realizing relationships with women in a way acceptable to the local society, despite his own statements to the contrary.[8]

Aftermath

JoAnn Brandon was furious with Charles Laux, and sued him for failing to prevent the death of Brandon, and in fact, being an indirect cause of it. She won the case, but was only awarded $17,000.

Sherriff Laux was also criticized by other people after the murder for his lack of action and his attitude toward Brandon — at one point Laux referred to Brandon as "it."[9]

Lana Tisdel sued the producers of the film 'Boys Don't Cry' for unauthorized use of her name and likeness before the film's release. She claimed that the film depicted her as a "lazy, white trash and a skanky snake,". Tisdel also claimed that the film falsely portrayed that she continued the relationship with Teena after she discovered Teena was anatomically female. She eventually settled her lawsuit against the movie's distributor for an undisclosed sum.

Teena Brandon's headstone shows her birth name.[10]

In 2006, the British duo Pet Shop Boys released a song called "Girls Don't Cry" (a bonus track on UK issue of I'm with Stupid) about Brandon Teena.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Note: - as Brandon Teena was never his legal name, it is uncertain the extent to which this name was used prior to his death. It is the name most commonly used by the press and other media. Other names may include his legal name, as well as "Billy Brenson" and "Tena Ray"
  2. ^ a b Matzner, Andrew. Teena, Brandon (1972-1993). GLBTQ Encyclopedia. Accessed 14 March 2007.
  3. ^ "[[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit|U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals]] JoAnn Brandon v Charles B. Laux". FindLaw. Retrieved 2006-12-07. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  4. ^ "Boys Don't Cry". IMDB. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  5. ^ "The Brandon Teena Story". IMDB. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  6. ^ Ramsland, Katherine. Notorious Murders - Not Guilty? Teena Brandon Accessed 14 March 2007.
  7. ^ Griffy, Anna M. (4). "The Brandon Teena Story: Chapter 2: Brandon". The Brandon Teena Story. ustice Junction. p. 2. Retrieved 2006-12-07. Teena made her decision for good: she was going to live as a man and began to tell people she was having a sex change operation. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "Brandon Teena Gets Dunne Wrong". Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. 24. Retrieved 2006-12-07. A New Yorker writer does not understand Brandon Teena's transgender identity, and describes him as a "predatory" butch lesbian, referring to him as "her" for most of the piece. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Gabriel, Davina Anne (15). "Activists Protest Violence As Lotter Trial Begins". Retrieved 2006-12-07. Laux has also been quoted as saying "you can call it 'it' as far as I'm concerned" when describing Teena. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ "Teena's grave". Find A Grave. August 28 2000. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

The Brandon Teena Archive, Judith Halberstam

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