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Brandon Teena (posthumous name only; in life he was simply called Brandon) (December 12, 1972 - December 31, 1993), born Teena Renae Brandon in Lincoln, Nebraska. Brandon, a transman, who had a male gender identity and lived as a man, was raped on Christmas 1993 by John Lotter and M. Thomas Nissen, two friends of his in nearby Falls City, when his birth sex was discovered. He reported the rape to the sherriff, who mocked him and did not look into it at all even though both Lotter and Nissen had prior criminal records. Lotter and Nissen discovered that Brandon had gone to the police and murdered him, the woman he was staying with, and another friend of theirs on New Year's.
Nissen testified against Lotter and was given a life sentence; Lotter was sentenced to death and is currently on Death Row.
Brandon had not started hormone therapy or had had sex reassignment surgery. This to some suggests that Brandon was transgender rather than transsexual, but others note his plans to have sex reassignment surgery, suggesting he was a transsexual man. As with many other female bodied persons who lived as men, it has occasionally been claimed that he was a lesbian. There are, however, no indications of that; (compare Homosexuality and transgender).
He dated Lana Tisdale, a local woman.
Brandon Teena was portrayed by Hilary Swank in an Academy Award winning performance in 1999's Boys Don't Cry, which was itself based on the documentary film The Brandon Teena Story. Lana was played by Chloe Sevigny.
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