Lana Tisdel
| Lana Tisdel | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Lana M. Tisdel March 1, 1975 Falls City, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Josh Bachman (2001–present) |
Lana Tisdel (born March 1, 1975) is an American woman whose early life and involvement with the 1993 murder of Brandon Teena was chronicled in the 1998 documentary The Brandon Teena Story and the 1999 film Boys Don't Cry. She was portrayed in the film by Chloë Sevigny, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Tisdel.
The director of the film, Kimberly Pierce, worked on the script for many years and interviewed Lana and her mother for details on their life. Pierce also drew information from other sources including All She Wanted by Aphrodite Jones (1996), a biography of Brandon Teena and the lives of those involved with the murders; and a 1994 Village Voice piece written by Donna Minkowitz which was responsible for the story becoming a media sensation in the early 1990s.
In the fall of 1993, Tisdel, aged 19, met Brandon Teena, 20, through their mutual friends. Teena was new to the close-knit area, from Lincoln, Nebraska, and the local crowd was curious about him. Teena and Tisdel began seeing each other, because Tisdel found Teena attractive, believing Brandon was a heterosexual man. He was in fact assigned female at birth, but identified as male. Tisdel has made it clear that her relationship with Brandon Teena was brief and did not include sex; only lasting about two months from their first meeting until the murder. However, the two months of their relationship is described as very intense. Her mother Linda, testified that Tisdel would be with Brandon all day, had trouble sleeping, and their relationship was all she cared about during that time.
On December 19, 1993, Brandon Teena was arrested for forging checks, and put in jail for several days. Tisdel found out he was assigned as a female after his birth name (Teena Renae Brandon) was printed in the local newspaper in the arrests section. Tisdel paid to get him out of jail, and he told her that he was undergoing sex reassignment surgery. Tisdel has disputed claims that after the truth was revealed to her, they continued a romantic relationship, but instead she told Brandon that they could still be friends. Tisdel defended Teena often, at one point lying to authorities and telling them she had seen him naked and saw his penis, in hopes they would leave him alone.
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