December 31, 1993: The Murder of Brandon Teena

December 31, 1993: Brandon Teena is murdered by bigots in Humboldt, Nebraska. He was 21 years old, and unwittingly becomes perhaps the first famous pre-surgery transgender person – not post-surgery, what was then called a "transsexual."

The subject of this essay was born on December 12, 1972, in Lincoln, Nebraska, with female characteristics, and the name Teena Brandon. The child's father died before the birth, and was raised, along with an older sister, by a single mother. Both children were abused by an uncle.

Teena was described by others as a "tomboy," and, in adolescence, began identifying as male. He was kicked out of a Catholic high school for dressing like a boy, and rejected by the U.S. Army by listing "male" on his enlistment form.

In 1993, Teena began dating a woman named Lana Tisdel, who was 2 years younger. Teena was arrested for forging checks, and it was only upon going to bail him out and seeing "her" in the female section of the jail that Tisdel learned that Teena was transgender. He assured her that he was seeking what would then have been called a sex change operation (today, it would be called "gender reassignment surgery"), and she stuck with him.

Five days later, on Christmas Eve, Teena was beaten and raped by 2 male ex-convicts. They told him that if he went to the police, they would kill him. He went to the police. They refused to file charges. Seven days later, on New Year's Eve, the rapists kept their word, shooting Teena in the stomach. Both men were convicted, and, as of December 31, 2022, are still in prison.

In 1999, Hilary Swank played Brandon Teena in the film Boys Don't Cry, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress, as a woman playing, as would have been said at the time, "a man trapped in a woman's body."

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December 31, 1993 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. No NBA games were scheduled. There were 4 college football bowl games played:

* Number 12 North Carolina were beaten by Number 18 Alabama, 24-12 in the Gator Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Jacksonville, Florida.

* Number 21 Indiana were beaten by Number 22 Virginia Tech, 45-20 in the Independence Bowl, at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, North Carolina.

* Number 24 Clemson beat Kentucky, 14-13 in the Peach Bowl, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* And California beat Iowa, 37-3 in the Alamo Bowl, at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

In the fictional world of the ABC sitcom Coach, the next day, January 1, 1994, the Pioneer Bowl was held at the Alamodome, to decide the National Championship. Minnesota State, coached by the titular Hayden Fox, played by Craig T. Nelson, beat West Texas, 24-20. Footage of a Minnesota-Wisconsin game, at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, was used.

At the time, there was no real school named Minnesota State University. In 1998, Mankato State University was renamed Minnesota State University, Mankato. In 2000, Moorhead State University was renamed Minnesota State University Moorhead. Unlike the Mankato campus, there is no comma in the title.

There were no NBA games scheduled. There were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 4-4 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Chicago Blakchawks, 5-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3. This was part of the NHL's experiment in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons, with neutral-site games, in a search for future expansion sites. This one was at the Target Center in Minneapolis, 8 months after the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas. Minnesota did get a new team for the 2000-01 season, the Minnesota Wild, playing at the new Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, built on the site of the St. Paul Civic Center, which had been home to the World Hockey Association's Minnesota Fighting Saints.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.