Derece, I hope you are joking about your past. Not disclosing your sex to those you are dating and unwittingly involving others in homosexuality is just plain wrong. Most people don't view a post-op "woman" as being an actual woman. I certainly don't and I don't think it makes me a bigot to say that either. It's just a fact and no amount of hormones or surgery will ever change that. I don't think killing is ever justified, but I can see why someone would fly off the handle when something like this happens. At the very least, a good ass kicking is to be expected after such a revelation. What this person did is no different than rape in my eyes. I'm sure this incident will be a rallying point for the gay community, much as the Lawrence King murder was. What people don't like to talk about is the fact that in both instances, these people would be alive if they hadn't sexually harassed or deceived the other party. If you are going to pick a poster child, it would be wiser to chose someone who was an blameless.

I wish the news would stop calling Zapata a she, HE had a penis, HE did not tell this person HE was in process (so we understand at this point), and No HE should not have been killed. But think about how deceived one would feel if they just spent the last two days with someone to find out they were a MAN, again not condoning the crime, but it is certainly not a hate crime. The Transgender community is in fear for their lives? Well then folks maybe you should fully disclose to someone you have a penis, don't fish from the hetero pier. If you received an operation, well that just gets to Grey an area. Just because one gets an operation to remove their genitalia and put in place a false representation of the other sex, DOESN'T make them the other gender...Sorry if that is narrow minded. My father was gay, and I supported his choice, had he chose to remove his penis and put in place a false representation of a vagina, well that just changes the whole moral concept of everything. Is it right for someone hetero to not know that their mate is transgender, but is it right for the transgender to subject himself to ridicule?

this person, zapata, presented themself as a female. that is not the genetic reality. surgery to change physical appearances does not make it so in everyone else's mind. this is deception on zapata's part. when you combine deception with sex, you should EXPECT dire consequences. there are many people who only want sex with members who are genetically from the opposite gender. lying about sex is a threat to a persons right to reproduce. this is why it's evolutionary response is so vitriolic. if this guy is a gang member and murderer, maybe he belongs behind bars, but if killing a transgender guy who gave him a bj is his 'crime', i see no reason for conviction. rapists deserve death. zapata is a rapist via deception. maybe i wouldn't carry out the sentence, but that is the reality. then again, i am not angry...

This man clesrly had a choice. He could have left immediately or even before confronting the "girl" since he had doubts when he saw "her" pictures as a male. OR he could have gotten himself in trouble like he did. No one made him kill that poor defenseless person. He did it all on his own and now he won't be a man and own up to it. Shame on him and everyone else who thinks that transgendered people are sub-human. They deserve respect and the right to live just like the rest of us.

This is not a hate crime, the victim lied and IS a man, you have a penis, you're a man. HE lied and no didn't deserve to be killed. I could see how the other guy could lose it and then freak out. How is this a hate crime? I've heard it all I think now. I then am claiming discrimination because I'm a woman without a vag ....idiots

Okay, for those who are all caught up in the "LIE", let's really see how you feel. If a gay man gets oral sex from a woman pretending to be a man how do you think he should feel? Should he kill her? Just beat her up a little, but leave her alive? In both situations, the answer is: "Thanks, but no thanks" coupled with a quick exit. I find it appauling that you suddenly, and no doubt for the first time in your life, find sympathy for a murderer.

Unless they can somehow prove that prior to the oral sex this man knew that he was getting done by a man then this case should get thrown out the window since no jury in the land could be found to properly prosecute this case. Especially considering the fact that on any given day most of us do have something that for us personally very well could lead to murder. Whether that be the brutal rape and murder of a loved one or some other insidious. In fact one would ask the question of what they would do if someone conned them out of their life savings and then was never convicted of any wrong doing.... Derece you can consider yourself lucky that someone was willing to accept you even after your deceiving them. Because at the end of the day it is still a deception since you are biologically incapable of reproducing. When and if you married what were you planning to do if your husband wanted to have kids? Maybe lie to him and tell him you were infertile since as you put it your former sex was irrelevant to you?

Oh and lola, he was not a "poor defenseless person" he was a deciever. No he did not deserve to die, but he is not by a longshot "innocent" in this case!!

Derece -- this is OBVIOUSLY a much different situation than yours. It is not about "prejudice towards transpeople." Get over it already. It is about a transgender who LIED about who he really was, to a GANG MEMBER nonetheless. Kudos to YOU for always disclosing who you were to people, had Zapata done so, he would be alive today. He knowingly brought a gang member into his home, had oral sex with him knowing that this guy did not know he was really a man, spent 2 days with him -- did not develop a relationship, like you did with your husband -- met him online and right away went for sex. I completely understand how a heterosexual man could lose it and go insane at the thought of another man giving him oral sex! While all the time thinking it was a beautiful woman! What is wrong with people missing the real story here: DECEPTION on the part of the transgender! No he/she did not deserve to die, but I believe that this guy lost it -- and acted with how he felt at the time!

I am a male-to-female transgender woman and after 12 years, it astonishes me that the prejudice towards trans people is still alive and well. I have never deceived anyone when it came to the question of the gender I was born into, but I have always identified as female and when dating men I always disclosed my identity, that is, until I had sex reassignment surgery in 2002. No longer having to deal with the shame of having a penis, I no longer felt it necessary to disclose my past to the men I date. Why should I? When men look at me they see a woman. When I am intimate with a man, he enjoys real breasts and a fully functional vagina. If that man were to "discover" I was once male, would that be justification for him to fly into a rage and kill me? I think not. In fact, my husband (yes, husband) did not know until I let something slip. He did not fly into a rage, he certainly did not kill me. In fact, he married me! The time has come for prejudice and violence against transgendered people to end and the perpetrators of crimes punished not have those crimes justified.

Kate: By not addressing dms by his title "God of all living beings" you are being prejudice towards him. don't you understand that reality doesn't matter at all, and only his feelings towards what he believes he is matters? And since he believes that he is god, you must address him as such or else you are being "prejudice" and "offensive" towards those of us with megalomania :P Zapata is/was a "he" and is/was male. Zapata's beliefs about his own identity don't change those FACTS. He was the victim of a crime, and as such, Andrade should be tried for murder. If he is convicted, he should serve time. But this was not a hate-crime, and given the current information based off the defendant's story I'd say it's not first-degree murder. But you gotta think, how much of an idiot was Zapata for not disclosing his status before engaging in intimate behavior with Andrade? Poor guy probably could have saved his life by just disclosing the truth before anything serious happened. Oh, and for any "well you're blaming the victim" claims... Yes I am. When people make stupid choices, it's often that bad things happen to them. If you don't believe that, throw a bag over your head and go dance on the freeway. Btw, my title is "Emperor of Earth"

dms___ by Calling her a he.... you are i assume unknowingly being prejudice towards the victim. If someone is trans its in the same grey area as intersex; genetics which i assume you all are implying XY is male and XX is female... however you fail to realize that those assumptions are not completely accurate in predicting someones sex... I can bring up a few examples AIS females (XY genes) and XX male syndrome. Thou these are unrelated to being transgendered under the pretenses of what you are saying here in your comments are they they are also deceiving the people they interact with. That calling it a "lie" or using such terms are inaccurate for the situation. The real problem here is ignorance to such things. I'm glad you think you live in a world where gender is clean cut and easily identifiable by genetics, but the truth is we don't. Which shows your lack of knowledge on the subject, in our day in age such comments are prejudice and offensive. I'd also like to point out people who are transgendered don't choose to be transgender as their overall motivations are becoming what they feel they are on the inside, and if given the option would rather just be their targeted sex, which is why when referring to that person you should use the correct pronouns to describe her.

I would have to agree with the defense. I have no problems with anyone and am extremely liberal, but if you deceive someone in that way you risk that they will find out and freak out! Of course, Zapata did not deserve to die, but she was not a completely innocent bystander who was intentionally targeted. It is not as if the defendant went looking for transgenders to kill. Zapata tricked him regarding something fairly serious and I can imagine that someone could get extremely upset over that. To kill someone, that is not okay, but to become extremely outraged would be justified.