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Brandon Teena
Brandon Teena (December 12, 1972 – December 31, 1993) was an American transgender man who was raped and, along with Phillip DeVine and Lisa Lambert, murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska, by John Lotter and Tom Nissen. His life and death are the subject of the films The Brandon Teena Story and Boys Don't Cry. Teena's murder, along with that of Matthew Shepard nearly five years later, led to increased lobbying for hate crime laws in the United States.
Brandon Teena was born on December 12, 1972, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to JoAnn Brandon. His father died in a car accident in Lancaster County eight months before he was born, and he was raised by his mother. Teena and his older sister Tammy lived with their maternal grandmother in Lincoln, before they were reclaimed by their mother when he was three years old and Tammy was six. The family resided in the Pine Acre Mobile Home Park in northeast Lincoln. JoAnn received disability checks and worked as a clerk in a women's retail store in Lincoln to support the family. As young children, both siblings were sexually abused by their uncle for several years, and Teena sought counseling for this in 1991. JoAnn remarried in 1975, divorcing in 1980. Teena's family described him as being a tomboy since early childhood; he began identifying as male during adolescence and dated a female student during this period. His mother rejected his male identity and continued referring to him as her daughter. On several occasions, he claimed to be intersex.
Teena and his sister attended St. Mary's Elementary School and Pius X High School in Lincoln, where some remembered him as being socially awkward. During his second year, he rejected Christianity after he protested to a priest at Pius X regarding Christian views on abstinence and homosexuality. He also began rebelling at school by violating the school dress-code policy to dress in a more masculine fashion. During the first semester of his senior year, a U.S. Army recruiter visited the high school, encouraging students to enlist in the armed forces. Teena enlisted in the United States Army shortly after his eighteenth birthday and hoped to serve a tour of duty in Operation Desert Shield. However, he failed the written entrance exam by listing his sex as male.
In December 1990, Teena went to Holiday Skate Park with his friends, binding his chest to pass as male. In the months nearing his high school graduation, he became unusually outgoing and was remembered by classmates as a "class clown." He also began skipping school and receiving failing grades. He was expelled from Pius X High School in June 1991, three days before graduation.
In mid-1991, Teena began his first serious relationship, with a girl named Heather. Shortly after, he secured employment as a gas station attendant in an attempt to secure funds to purchase a trailer home for himself and his girlfriend. However, his mother disapproved of the relationship and convinced her daughter Tammy to follow Teena to determine whether his relationship with Heather was platonic or sexual.
In January 1992, Teena underwent a psychiatric evaluation, which concluded that he had a severe "sexual identity crisis". He was later taken to the Lancaster County Crisis Center to ensure that he was not suicidal. He was released from the center three days later and began attending therapy sessions, sometimes accompanied by his mother or sister. He was reluctant to discuss his sexuality during these sessions but revealed that he had been raped. The sessions ended after two weeks.
In 1993, after some legal trouble, Teena moved to the Falls City region of Richardson County, Nebraska, where he presented as a man. He became friends with several residents. After moving into the home of Lisa Lambert, Teena began dating Lambert's friend, 19-year-old Lana Tisdel, and began associating with ex-convicts John L. Lotter (born May 31, 1971) and Marvin Thomas "Tom" Nissen (born October 22, 1971).
On December 19, 1993, Teena was arrested for forging checks; Tisdel used money from her father to pay his bail. Because Teena was in the female section of the jail, Tisdel learned that he was transgender. When Tisdel later questioned him about his gender, he told her he was a hermaphrodite pursuing a sex change operation, and they continued dating. In a lawsuit regarding the film adaptation Boys Don't Cry, this was disputed by Tisdel. Teena's arrest was posted in the local paper under his birth name and thereupon his acquaintances learned that he was assigned female at birth.
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Brandon Teena
Brandon Teena (December 12, 1972 – December 31, 1993) was an American transgender man who was raped and, along with Phillip DeVine and Lisa Lambert, murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska, by John Lotter and Tom Nissen. His life and death are the subject of the films The Brandon Teena Story and Boys Don't Cry. Teena's murder, along with that of Matthew Shepard nearly five years later, led to increased lobbying for hate crime laws in the United States.
Brandon Teena was born on December 12, 1972, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to JoAnn Brandon. His father died in a car accident in Lancaster County eight months before he was born, and he was raised by his mother. Teena and his older sister Tammy lived with their maternal grandmother in Lincoln, before they were reclaimed by their mother when he was three years old and Tammy was six. The family resided in the Pine Acre Mobile Home Park in northeast Lincoln. JoAnn received disability checks and worked as a clerk in a women's retail store in Lincoln to support the family. As young children, both siblings were sexually abused by their uncle for several years, and Teena sought counseling for this in 1991. JoAnn remarried in 1975, divorcing in 1980. Teena's family described him as being a tomboy since early childhood; he began identifying as male during adolescence and dated a female student during this period. His mother rejected his male identity and continued referring to him as her daughter. On several occasions, he claimed to be intersex.
Teena and his sister attended St. Mary's Elementary School and Pius X High School in Lincoln, where some remembered him as being socially awkward. During his second year, he rejected Christianity after he protested to a priest at Pius X regarding Christian views on abstinence and homosexuality. He also began rebelling at school by violating the school dress-code policy to dress in a more masculine fashion. During the first semester of his senior year, a U.S. Army recruiter visited the high school, encouraging students to enlist in the armed forces. Teena enlisted in the United States Army shortly after his eighteenth birthday and hoped to serve a tour of duty in Operation Desert Shield. However, he failed the written entrance exam by listing his sex as male.
In December 1990, Teena went to Holiday Skate Park with his friends, binding his chest to pass as male. In the months nearing his high school graduation, he became unusually outgoing and was remembered by classmates as a "class clown." He also began skipping school and receiving failing grades. He was expelled from Pius X High School in June 1991, three days before graduation.
In mid-1991, Teena began his first serious relationship, with a girl named Heather. Shortly after, he secured employment as a gas station attendant in an attempt to secure funds to purchase a trailer home for himself and his girlfriend. However, his mother disapproved of the relationship and convinced her daughter Tammy to follow Teena to determine whether his relationship with Heather was platonic or sexual.
In January 1992, Teena underwent a psychiatric evaluation, which concluded that he had a severe "sexual identity crisis". He was later taken to the Lancaster County Crisis Center to ensure that he was not suicidal. He was released from the center three days later and began attending therapy sessions, sometimes accompanied by his mother or sister. He was reluctant to discuss his sexuality during these sessions but revealed that he had been raped. The sessions ended after two weeks.
In 1993, after some legal trouble, Teena moved to the Falls City region of Richardson County, Nebraska, where he presented as a man. He became friends with several residents. After moving into the home of Lisa Lambert, Teena began dating Lambert's friend, 19-year-old Lana Tisdel, and began associating with ex-convicts John L. Lotter (born May 31, 1971) and Marvin Thomas "Tom" Nissen (born October 22, 1971).
On December 19, 1993, Teena was arrested for forging checks; Tisdel used money from her father to pay his bail. Because Teena was in the female section of the jail, Tisdel learned that he was transgender. When Tisdel later questioned him about his gender, he told her he was a hermaphrodite pursuing a sex change operation, and they continued dating. In a lawsuit regarding the film adaptation Boys Don't Cry, this was disputed by Tisdel. Teena's arrest was posted in the local paper under his birth name and thereupon his acquaintances learned that he was assigned female at birth.