Today will probably be is a bittersweet day for Angie Zapata's family.Angie would have celebrated her 20th birthday today. Instead, they will be memorializing her.
However, the family and the transgender communities in the Denver metro area, the state of Colorado and nationally will mark the occasion knowing that her murderer Allen Andrade is rotting in a Colorado prison.
Yes, justice was served, but unfortunately that doesn't bring back this beautiful young woman's life or ease the pain of her loss for all of the people who were blessed to have Angie in their lives.Hopefully the message was sent in this trial and the recently concluded one last month of Dwight DeLee that it's no longer open season on transpeople.
One of the things we can do to honor Angie today is to redouble our community efforts in getting federal hate crimes and ENDA legislation passed.
We can also work toward doing a better job of ensuring that the American transgender community showcases all of the members and the talents of its diverse rainbow of people.
Happy birthday Angie. Say hello to all of our fallen brothers and sisters for us
