Tupelo Honey/Angel
(Van Morrison/JimiHendrix)
He's as sweet as Tupelo honey.
You can't stop us on the road to freedom.
You can take all the tea in China,
put it in a big brown bag for me,
say you'll look around all the seven oceans,
drop it straight into the deep blue sea.
He's an angel of the first degree.
He's as sweet as Tupelo honey,
just like the honey from the bee.
You can't stop us, because our eyes can see.
Men within sight, men in granite.
Knights in armour, bent on chivalry.
Incredibly, the local police refused to pursue charges when
Brandon chose to confront his attackers, and swear out a
complaint. Instead, Sheriff Charles Laux continued to harass
Brandon for his male appearance. One day later, Lotter and Nissan broke into Brandon's home and
shot their victims, execution-style, in their sleep. Brandon was also
stabbed repeatedly in the stomach with a knife.
Due to a public outcry and mobilizing by trans-activists, the killers
were brought to trial and convicted in February 1996. John Lotter received the
death penalty, while Thomas Nissan received a life sentence.
Queer-phobia led to the murder of Brandon Teena (above-left)
and two friends, in Falls City, Nebraska, on December 27, 1993.
The tragic course of events began when local police exposed
the fact that Brandon, a young trans-man, had been born female.
On Christmas Day, 1993, Brandon and his girlfriend attended a
Christmas Party, where he was forcibly stripped and then kidnapped.
He was then gang-raped by John Lotter and Thomas Nissan.
The photographic representation of Brandon Teena and his friend is
©1998 NYC Am Boyz, BJML, et. al., and is reposted courtesy of the New York Chapter of the American Boyz
I thought of the transgendered people in
every country who face discrimination and violence, but who
continue to find the courage and strength to be themselves,
to love whomever they choose, regardless of gender or gender
identity.
I thought of my own thirty-year struggle to escape from the closet,
and about the number of times people have asked, "why in the
world do you want anyone to know?" My only answer is
that the violence visited upon Brandon Teena and others is the
sharp edge of the fear that would keep us in the closet.
But the fear haunts us in other forms, as well. The fear of isolation
from family and friends. The fear of losing a job. The fear of losing
status, dignity, and respect.
But the fear is a liar and a tyrant. Life in the closet means losing
ourselves forever. It means learning to value deception and
deceit over honesty and integrity. It means never learning to love
others completely, because we cannot love ourselves. It means
never being free.
The closet is a psychological "Iron Maiden," a cage that stunts,
deforms, and eventually kills the body, mind, and spirit. It is no
place for a human being. To surrender to queer-phobia is a slow
and lingering death.
Leslie Feinberg wrote: "It takes so much courage to live our lives
that sometimes just leaving our homes in the morning and facing
the world as who we really are is in itself an act of resistance (Transgender
Warriors)."
Reading those words for the first time, I wept. And I remember
them, everyday. Just as I remember Brandon Teena, and all those
who resist, and who have refused to surrender.
Their struggles, sacrifices, and victories are not in vain. They
have laid the foundation for transgender liberation, and I honour their courage and their
lives.
There is a new day coming.
The version of Tupelo Honey above is taken from a compact
disc by Cassandra Wilson, Blue Light 'Til Dawn. It is a
powerful and moving celebration of the struggle for love and freedom.
I listened, and I thought of Brandon Teena.
This page was last 
on September 8, 1998
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