Allen Andrade, 32, was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without possibility of parole for murder in Greeley, Co., reports the Denver Post. Jurors also convicted him of a hate crime, the first time in the U.S. someone has been sent to prison for killing a transgender person under a hate-crime law, advocates say.
That, they say, bodes well for transgender people in Colorado and elsewhere. “This is a good start to allowing people to live their lives without fear they will be singled out because of who they are,” said Susan Matthews, a member of the Gender Identification Center in Wheat Ridge, Co. The speed of the conviction stunned many, especially given the conservative makeup of Greeley and the victim’s transgender-oriented life.