-Sean O'Neill, a 20 year-old transgender person, has been charged with the sexual assault of 4 girls who claim they engaged in consensual sex on numerous occasions but were unaware that O'Neill, born Sharon Clark, was actually "a lesbian." O'Neill, who does not use the words "transexual" or "transgendered," reportedly has a fluid approach to gender and lives primarily as a man, prefering male pronouns. Although the events in question occurred years ago when both O'Neill and the women were teenagers, O'Neill is being charged with 11 felony counts, including sexual assault, criminal impersonation and sexual assault on a child. Total penalty is 32 years imprisonment, and O'Neill would be 52 upon release.
Charges were originally brought by two policewomen in the ultra-conservation Colorado Springs area, when O'Neill was picked up on a minor charge and admitted to having vaginal sex organs. His previous girlfriends refused cooperate in the prosecution until intensely pressured by the PD, parents, and the DA's office. If successful, the case would effectively equate failure to disclose one's genitals/genital status as a "criminal deception" and any resulting sex, consensual or not, as "sexual assault" or rape. This poses grave consequences for transpeople who are pre-operative or non-operative, and for trans-men who lack the $60,000 (or the desire) for a complete phallo-plasti.
Under Colorado's interpretation, the murder of transpeople (like the bloody May 16 slaying of Deborah Forte following her date's discovery of her penis) could be defended on grounds of "justifiable homicide" since they would be engaged in the de facto "rape" of their assailants. This is strongly reminiscent of the odious "homosexual panic" defense, long used in conservative jurisdictions to justify the murders of gay men by offended straights. O'Neill's case is covered in detail in the October issue of OUT Magazine by Donna Minkowitz.
The Menace is planing a series of educational demonstrations in concert with local activists, the F-T-M community, and any interested Lesbian Avengers. ContactRiki Wilchins for further details.
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