The Brandon Teena Story

By this time, the word was out that this Brandon, who'd convinced everyone he was a male, was actually female. The Falls City Journal had identified him as such in its listing of area arrests. Although Lana had glimpsed Brandon's breasts while he was in jail, she was still unsure, so she confronted him. Brandon confessed that he was going through a sex change procedure. Yet earlier, he told her he was a hermaphrodite — half-male — so she no longer knew what to believe. Nevertheless, she stuck by him because she liked him. She even defied her mother on the subject. Nevertheless, there are some who thought she was the one who asked the others to find out the real story.

No one else said much to her about it, she insists, until the Christmas Eve party. Tom and John got drunk enough to force the issue. They didn't much like what was going on and didn't want Lana dating a person they considered a freak. (It was also possible that John, who'd loved her, didn't want her dating anyone.)

Grabbing Brandon, they unfastened his pants and pulled them down, demanding that Lana have a look. They wanted her to just admit that Brandon was a girl. According to her account, she shielded her eyes. They insisted, so she looked but said nothing.

Soon John told her she was wanted back at home, where Brandon was no longer welcome, so when she decided to leave, she couldn't take him along with her. Brandon begged her to come back. He was afraid of Tom, he said, even though he was staying at Tom's by invitation. Lana promised she would. Then she left, and Tom and John decided it was time to teach this boy/girl a lesson.

In a drunken state, Tom followed Brandon into the bathroom and punched him hard in the stomach. According to Brandon, Tom also kicked him several times when he was down. Then Tom and John hustled Brandon into a car and drove out into the cold night. They found a secluded spot near a school and Tom forced him into the car's back seat and insisted he remove his pants. Brandon begged Tom not to hurt him, but finally removed his shoes and pants. Then Tom raped him, both anally and vaginally, to prove to him that he was a girl. After that, John had his turn, although he later said he could not complete the act and had ejaculated into a condom. For good measure, Tom hit and kicked Brandon again.

By the time Brandon stumbled back to find Lana, his lip was bruised and bleeding, his body was sore from all the pummeling, and he was in a state of profound shock. Although it was cold out, he wore no coat or shoes, and even worse, the thing he'd most feared had happened to him.

John and Tom had warned him to tell no one, but Lana urged him to report the rape and assault to authorities. She had no idea of the humiliation this would bring to Brandon, or the degree of retaliation.