RIP Angie Zapata

[Trigger warning.]

This is an extremely upsetting story about a man who went on a date with a trans woman, and, upon discovering she still had male genitalia, bludgeoned her to death. I'm not going to recount the details of the gruesome murder, which you can find at the link if you are so inclined, but I want to highlight one thing that the murderer, Allen Ray Andrade, said to investigators while describing the murder: His first attempt failed, and he was surprised to discover Angie Zapata was still alive, as he thought he had "killed it."

It.

Because Zapata was trans, she went from being a woman with whom Andrade wanted to (and did) have sex, hang out with, and view as a human being, to being a genderless, neutered "it" devoid of her humanity. A thing, who wrought its own demise with its false advertising.

Andrade could have shouted, could have stormed out, could have just gone quietly and never looked back. But he had to "kill it." He had to destroy all trace and presence of what he perceived as a mistake that impugned his very manhood. And so he grabbed at the notion of transgender people as "things," as freaks and monsters, as Its, the narrative of objects and outcasts, always so close at hand in a culture hostile to everything and everyone different—he grabbed it and seized it and held it close while he killed a living, breathing person. Angie Zapata. A trans woman who was loved.

And now people who never, ever, would have known the names Allen Ray Andrade or Angie Zapata know that they fucked and know that he murdered her. Because he couldn't bear to just walk away. Because he is a coward who would rather kill than defend his choices, and a stupid man who didn't consider that stealing Zapata of her humanity to justify slaying her would only rob him of whatever humanity he ever had.

Who's "it" now, asshole?

[H/T to Shakers Lena and M.]