After a transgender woman named January Marie Lapuz was murdered in her New Westminster apartment in 2012, a “Justice for January” campaign and march took place as a community response. A few years later and the impact of her death, suspected to be a hate crime, is still felt by the LGBTQ community.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University students Lennee Son and Elina Gress are making a short documentary about Lapuz’s life as an immigrant and transgender woman of colour. The film produced by Sher Vancouver, which Lapuz was a member of, aims to celebrate Lapuz’s life and impact her death had on the LGBTQ community. As women of colour, the two young filmmakers also want to bring attention to trans issues and rights.
A second round of crowd-funding is underway on Kickstarter.
By Amar Mirchandani @amarmirch
