Araujo begged for mercy, witness says
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
A Newark transgender teen was hit with a skillet, choked and kneed in the face during a vicious attack during which the youth pleaded, "No, please don't, I have a family," the prosecution's star witness testified Monday.

One of the three defendants, Jose Antonio Merel, struck Gwen Araujo in the head with a metal skillet when he and others discovered that Araujo, 17, was biologically male, Jaron Nabors said during graphic testimony in Alameda County Superior Court.

Merel, 24, of Newark, Michael Magidson, 24, of Fremont and Jason Cazares, 24, of Newark face murder and hate-crime charges in the slaying and could face life in prison if convicted.


Prosecutors allege they beat and strangled Araujo, 17 -- who was born Edward Araujo but lived and identified as a young woman -- in the wee hours of Oct. 4, 2002, and then buried her body in El Dorado National Forest in the Sierra foothills.


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Two Daddy Ban In Oklahoma Moves Forward
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) The Oklahoma House Monday voted to ban co-parenting by same-sex couples.

Under the bill sponsored by state Rep. Susan  Winchester (R-Chickasha) only one person in a gay household could be recognized as the legal parent of any child adopted in Oklahoma. 

The legislation tightens an existing law which prohibits same-sex couples from adopting in the state but which currently does not cover people from outside Oklahoma who adopt children in the state. 

Winchester prepared the bill following a controversy last month in which the Oklahoma Health Department refused to issue a birth certificate for a child adopted by a gay couple who live in Seattle, Washington.