another legal issue about which I know very little but still have an opinion. and then a quote.

The Teena Brandon story. I am so profoundly unaware of popular culture that I had never heard of it until yesterday on American Justice. Do you all know about this? And you haven't been raising fists or shaking heads anywhere on any blog I read until now? Shame on you. There's been a movie and a song and a lawsuit that made it to the Nebraska Supreme Court, and still I was unaware. Teena Brandon was a transsexual young man (anatomically female but living as a man) who was brutally raped by two men. He reported it to the police, who were so shockingly offensive in their questioning that he eventually stopped answering their questions. The men, both ex-convicts who were identified by Brandon, were not arrested. When they found out Brandon had gone to the police, they killed everyone in the home where he was staying, including the mother of a baby in front of her child. What I couldn't get over was the response of the justice system - the questions they asked, the clear disregard for Brandon's emotions, and a judge who, during a wrongful death suit, found Brandon himself 1% liable for his own murder. Unbelievable. If our justice system does not protect the minority, who does?

And a quote, completely unrelated to Teena Brandon, but appropriate for my week:

And that same sun that warms your heart
will suck the good earth dry
With everything it's opposite
enough to keep you crying
or keep this old world spinning
with a twinkle in its eye
- Indigo Girls