Can words begin to describe the horror? Can any one doubt that gender is strictly enforced by violence? Can any one understand why there is so much hate?
Witness describes slow death of transgender teen

By MICHELLE LOCKE
Associated Press

HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) - A witness who was there the night transgender teen Eddie ``Gwen'' Araujo was killed testified today he saw one of the defendants in the case pulling a rope toward the 17-year-old's neck as she lay tied up on a garage floor.
Jaron Nabors said he left the garage at that point. He returned soon after to find Araujo's body being loaded into a pickup truck, he said.

Nabors described Merel as wielding the can and skillet while Magidson choked, punched and kneed the teenager. He said Cazares kicked Araujo in the back after she was down.

In the garage, Nabors said he saw Magidson pulling a loose end of the rope tied around Araujo toward her neck. He said he left the garage to go into the house, where Merel was scrubbing blood from the carpet. He returned to the garage to find Magidson and Cazares carrying Araujo's body out to the truck, Nabors said.

The four drove about 150 miles east to a remote area near Lake Tahoe, where they dug a grave, putting Araujo's body in and throwing rocks on top.

At some point on the drive, Nabors said Magidson talked about having twisted the rope. Nabors said Magidson said he hadn't been sure Araujo was dead until Cazares hit her over the head with a shovel.

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Call for Irish gay rights

Dublin - Cohabiting couples, including those in homosexual relationships, should be given a wide range of legal rights according to a report published on Tuesday by Ireland's legal watchdog.

The Law Reform Commission recommended legal rights and protections in areas such as property, pensions, inheritance law, healthcare, tax, maintenance and domestic violence.

Reforms would apply to "qualified cohabitees", defined by the commission as people who live together in a "marriage-like" relationship for a continuous period of three years or - where there is a child of the relationship - for two years.

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California Making Gay-Discrimination Laws Uniform
by Mary Ellen Peterson
365Gay.com Newscenter

(Sacramento, California) California is attempting to unify a hodge podge of non-discrimination clauses in dozens of state labor laws.

The Assembly's Labor and Employment Committee has voted 6-2 in favor of standardizing about 30 labor and employment non-discrimination provisions to make them consistent with the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) which prohibits discrimination based on a number of categories including sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for a hearing in May.

AB 2900 received broad support for its passage from prominent labor, legal, civil rights, and LGBT organizations, including Equality California. Another bill, AB 2889, also authored by Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) would extend third party harassment protections to the categories listed in FEHA, including sexual orientation and gender. This bill also won overwhelming passage by the committee.

“These bills are needed to ensure that all workers, especially LGBT employees, have the same level of protection,” said Assemblymember Laird. “It is unacceptable in this day and age that there would be unequal treatment in the workplace. AB 2889 and AB 2900 advance the cause of civil rights protection for all Californians.”