| (In cases of transsexuality, it's always difficult to choose whether to use 'he' or 'she'. I am of the opinion that you should call someone what they prefer to be called. Hence: he.)
Brandon Teena was a female-to-male transsexual, who was raped and later murdered, on December 31, 1993.
Brandon was born in 1973 as Teena Renae Brandon. Although he is now mostly known as 'Brandon Teena', probably because this is the name that was used in Boys Don't Cry and The Brandon Teena Story, he himself used different gender-neutral or masculine names.
Brandon took no hormones and had had no surgery but passed to some extent as a man.
In 1993 he moved from Lincoln to Richardson County, Nebraska. There he dated a girl and made some friends. He was however discovered to be biologically and legally female by local police following his arrest on a misdemeanor check forgery charge. The police publicly released this information to the local newspaper, the Falls City Journal. The same 'friends' discovered that Brandon actually had a female body and concluded that he was therefore actually a woman. This deceit made them so angry that at a Christmas party they kidnapped, raped and assaulted him.
Brandon filed charges with the Falls City Police Department and the Richardson County Sheriff. The rapists however remained free and later murdered him, as well as his girlfriend and a man who Brandon had sought refuge with.
The murderers have both been convicted. One is on death row, the other was sentenced to life without parole.
The movie Boys Don't Cry tells the story of the last three weeks of Brandon's life. A documentary was made about the same period, called The Brandon Teena Story. | 
