Reel Affirmations: The Nation's LGBT Film Festival 2009

Yuma, Arizona is the birthplace of Cesar Chavez and is considered one of the hottest places on earth. It’s also the site of the exceptionally brutal murder of Amancio Corrales, a 23-year old female impersonator well-known in northern Mexico and the southwest U.S. Amancio’s dream of performing in Las Vegas was cut short when his body was found floating in the Colorado River near Yuma, Arizona. The violence inflicted on the popular young man’s body — beaten, stabbed more than 30 times, dragged more than 25 feet — served to galvanize the community. Despite an initial flurry of outrage and a community-wide appeal for justice, attention for the horrific murder soon faded. One man, however, refused to give up. Yuma resident Michael Baughman, who had never met the young man, was haunted by the story. Seeing that the police seemed in no hurry to undertake a thorough investigation, he befriended Amancio’s family and friends and joined the cause on behalf of a young man he had never met. Three years later, Baughman and a coalition of LGBT activists, family members and concerned citizens filed into court for the last time, to confront Amancio’s killer. Local filmmaker Tom Murray has crafted a fascinating and poignant look at a community forced to publicly address issues of sexual orientation and gender expression.