Features

NEWARK — To family members, Eddie “Gwen” Araujo was a struggling but beloved teenager whose killing, allegedly committed in a fit of homophobic rage, is a private sorrow. 

To transgender activists, Araujo represents the 25th victim since last November, by their count, of violence against people who don’t fit traditional gender molds. 

Both groups mourned Araujo at funeral services Friday. 

“Angels don’t have a gender and he’s my angel now. I know that he’s safe somewhere where no one can hurt him,” said Araujo’s mother, Sylvia Guerrero, speaking to hundreds of mourners at St. Edward’s Church. 

Araujo, 17, was beaten and strangled at a house party on Oct. 3. Police say three men attacked him after discovering the beautiful blonde they knew as Lida was biologically male. 

Two weeks later, one of the men led officers to Araujo’s body in a shallow grave in the Sierra foothills about 150 miles east of San Francisco. One defendant has pleaded innocent while the other two have not yet entered pleas. All three face charges of murder as a hate crime.