[Trash-talk] Gwen Araujo in RS (semi-GR)

Brendan Kelly garbageotaku at yahoo.com
Tue Feb 22 23:29:48 PST 2005


This has nothing *directly* to do with Garbage.  I
marked this as semi-garbage-related because I first
heard about Gwen Araujo from Shirley.  When Garbage
played Trenton, NJ on the BG tour, Shirley had just
received word of Gwen Araujo's murder.  So she took a
few minutes during the show to tell us all the basic
story of what happened, and she dedicated Cherry Lips
to Gwen that night.

However, not many details were available at that time
regarding Gwen or the circumstances of her death. 
Now, the current issue of Rolling Stone (with Green
Day on the cover) has a long article about Gwen
herself and the chain of events leading up to her
murder.  Some of it can be a bit graphic and
heartwrenching, but there are some really inspiring
bits as well, especially regarding her family.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Gwen
Araujo was a 17-year-old transgendered girl
(male-to-female) living in Newark, CA (southeast of
San Francisco).  Gwen Stefani was her idol, hence her
choice of the first name "Gwen".  She was killed by a
group of guys she'd been hanging out with (and
"fooling around" with) for months, after they
discovered she was anatomically male.  It's clear from
the RS story that Gwen was pretty irresponsible in the
way she lived her life towards the end, and really she
shouldn't have been in the dangerous situation she was
in.  But god, it's really chilling what some people
will do out of fear and hatred.

Maybe I think of this as being more garbage-related
than you guys do.  Being transgendered myself, I tend
to focus on the subject when it shows up in Shirley's
lyrics and political commentary.  In any case, I hope
you'll spare a thought for Gwen :)

- g.o.
(Brendan/Rita)


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