In the Life: The murder of Fred Martinez

[Katherine Linton] We begin at the American Indian Community House in New York. For more than thirty years, this organization has provided support services for Native Americans, and worked to foster understanding between native and non-native communities. Our first segment, is about a Native American youth, and a crime that has become all too familiar. Some of the victims have names you might recognize like, Matthew Shepard and Brandon Teena, the real-life subject of the film, "Boys Don't Cry." But others like, Fred Martinez, a transgendered Navajo youth, haven't made the national headlines, or movie marquees. Yet for the gay community of Cortez, Colorado, Martinez's murder had a major impact. Highlighting issues of sexual orientation as well as those of class and race. [Music] [Pauline Mitchell] Well, to me he was happy all the time. And he was always outspoken. [Suzanne Casey] He just loved life. He was, you know, he had fun doing whatever he did. You know, he was a really social person. [Mitchell] There was nothing for him to hide. He wasn't hiding anything. He was just saying, I'm just being myself. [Mitchell] He enjoyed being the way he was. And, enjoyed having a lot of friends. On June 16th, 2001, Fred C. Martinez, FC to his family and friends, a sixteen year old nadleeh, or transgendered, Navajo youth, went to a carnival at the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo, in his hometown of Cortez, Colorado. He came in and he goes, "Hi Mom. I'm home." He went in the back room. Got something and came back out and he says, "Well, I'll be back later. I love you Mom." And I told him be careful and take care. [Sniffs] So he left here. That's the last time I seen him. [Linton] Five days later, Fred's partially decomposed body was found off a dirt road below a canyon rim. [Linton] Not far from where he lived. He had been bludgeoned to death with a rock. [Linton] In the weeks following the grim discovery, [Linton] eighteen year old Shaun Murphy was arrested for the murder, based on tips that he had bragged about quote beating up a fag. [Linton] According to reports, Murphy and a friend had given Fred a ride home on the night he disappeared. [Linton] After dropping him off, the two had discussed Fred's sexual orientation. [Linton] Murphy then left the apartment they were visiting, and returned twenty minutes later covered in blood. [John R. Peters-Campbell] Someone's future is gone. Was just erased. Um, who had a violent brutal death. Probably because he was transgendered. Nadleeh. Um. Changed the world for me. [Linton] John Peters-Campbell moved with his partner Alan Cook to Cortez four years ago. [Linton] Becoming an active member of the local community, as well as a board member for the Four Corners Gay and Lesbian Alliance for Diversity. [Linton] An educational social and advocacy organization. [Linton] Learning about the circumstances surrounding Fred's murder, brought home some ugly truths. [Campbell] I've never thought of this as a dangerous town. And then I realized of course, it is dangerous for some people. [Campbell] I was devastated because Fred was someone, not that I knew personally, but that I'd seen around. [Campbell] And it made me feel good as an older gay man, that there were kids who were coming out that early. And it never occurred to me that they were in danger. [Linton] In fact, Fred's two-spirit, transgender identity, was not something that high school officials, and many other people in Cortez, were prepared to handle. [Mitchell] There was one time they told me that he was wearing, ah, shoes, that he's not supposed to be wearing. And then later on, these girls come in, she was wearing the same shoes. And I just sit there and I said, well, I always call him, Sonny, you know, and I said, "Sonny, look over there at Chris wearing the same shoes as you are, you know. What come she's not being sent home." [Betsy Stephens] Fred was sent home on a fairly regular basis, because he would be wearing eyeliner. I think once he was sent home, he's wearing jellies on his feet. Those little girl's shoes. And that is, that is not the proper way to respond to a child that's being harassed. One time, my, um, little cousin, she, um, her and a friend and FC were walking, and, um. She said that these, um, anglo [?] , these white boys came up and, they were saying stuff, yelling at her like, you know, "Hey faggot." "What are you guys hanging around with this guy for?" and things like that. [Linton] Kids like Fred have to contend not only with anti-gay bias, but also with the racism that exists in a border town like Cortez. [Linton] Located right next to the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation. [Casey] I know there's a lot of harsh feelings, in this area against, a lot of natives. I, I don't know if it's because they, they're, you know, Cortez is just right next door to a reservation, or, [Carolyn Wagner] I think, many in the gay community in Cortez and Durango, [Wagner] felt like they had this false sense of, [Wagner] security or safety. [Wagner] Because they were white, middle-class, ah, productive, involved members of the community. And they really had their world shattered in many ways. [Wagner] And they're struggling with what they now recognize as some of their own biases. [Wagner] I'm so proud of how folks are working here. [Wagner] I've never seen such hard work and dedication and the willingness, [Wagner] to even, to go through situations that are painful. And I think a lot of us can learn lessons from the community. [Linton] As news spread about the murder, [Linton] 4 c GLAAD, the Colorado Anti-Violence Project and PFLAG or Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, [Linton] combined their resources to provide support to Fred's family, insure that the crime was thoroughly investigated and the media accurately informed. [Campbell] We realized that this was potentially a very serious situation that had much more far-reaching, far-reaching consequences, then, then just Cortez and Montezuma County. [Linton] Carolyn Wagner and Gabby Clayton, PFLAG moms whose own sons were victims of hate crimes, headed to Cortez to be part of the support team. [Wagner] We're a rapid response team of parents, of hate crime victims, to come and assist other families' parents, who are in the midst of a situation that we are very familiar with. We went through this alone. [Wagner] And what our goal is, is to ensure that, if parents do not want to be alone, they're not going to be alone. We're going to be there. [Wagner] And, ah, Pauline asked for us to come and help her because it can be very hard. You're dealing with the grief and shock of losing a child, on top of dealing with, ah, the justice system, media, organizations you've never heard of. [Wagner] And hatemongers. Always the hate mongers. And it just, [Wagner] It just can be more than one can bear. [Linton] Finally 4 c GLAAD and the Colorado Anti-Violence Project enlisted the help of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, to help handle the media. [Cathy Renna] What we bring particularly, is media expertise. How to handle the media. How to educate the media. [Renna] And, it's a really important piece of the puzzle. Because how the media portrays, and, and writes about, ah, bias-motivated crimes, has a huge, huge impact on the outcome of investigations. It also has a huge outcome, in terms of whether or not people learn something from this. And, and how families are treated frankly, 'cause many times the coverage can be sensational. And it's very disrespectful. [Sage Douglas Remington] I was very concerned about how the media would handle, the, the issue of Fred's murder. [Linton] Sage Douglas Eagle Remington, a member of the Southern Ute tribe, has been involved in the Indian Movement since the Sixties. [Linton] And in the early Nineties, founded the Two-Spirit Society of Colorado, to address the specific needs of gay and lesbian Native Americans. In my involvement in the gay and lesbian community in the last ten years. I've seen it transform itself, from, crisis management events, to a very coordinated effort. And that's what happened in Cortez. I was, I was very, I felt very assured that there were a group of people, that were in a position to be able to take the issue, monitor it, control it, so it doesn't get out of hand and make sure that there was equity, in, in the reporting of the news and there was equity, in describing Fred's lifestyle. [Linton] Although the circumstances of Fred's murder, echoed those of Matthew Shepard in many ways. [Linton] This story was not one that many national media outlets were anxious to tell. [Renna] It's hard not to look at a picture of Matthew Shepard and look at a picture of Fred Martinez, [Renna] and, not really get why the media were not as interested. Fred was many things, that when you add them all up, [Renna] made him very much the other, for, for people. He was a person of color. He was Navajo. [Renna] He was poor. He was transgender. He also identified as gay. He was a complicated kid, in a tough situation, with no privilege. [Native American music, chanting, drums, continues under eulogy] [Mitchell] My son Fred C. Martinez Jr., FC, as he was known by family and friends, [Mitchell] left this world much too soon. [Mitchell] Because of those who fear and hate anyone who was different. [Renna] One of these days we're gonna look back and [Renna] understand how historic the community organizing around Fred Martinez's death really was. [Renna] Because this was, in my mind, the first time at this level, that we have put together all the pieces to really, [Renna] make positive change, out of a really horrifying tragedy. [Remington] The Indians believe that there is no death, only a change of worlds. [Remington] So, Fred is in another world now, and obviously a better place where we will eventually be. I also know in my heart, that he has brought us all together. In many places, everywhere, tonight. That we will now walk together on a path of truth and justice. Never again allow our children and loved ones, to suffer in silence, or walk alone. [Linton] The trial of murder suspect Shaun Murphy is scheduled to begin on February 20th in Cortez, Colorado. He's being charged with both first and second degree murder in the death of Fred Martinez Jr. You