Jury selection in the murder trial of the man accused of killing a transgender woman last July in Colorado is set to begin on Tuesday, reports the Denver Post.

Eighteen-year-old Angie Zapata self-identified as a woman since 2003 but remained pre-op at the time of her death.

Allen Ray Andrade, 31, has confessed to the brutal crime and says he killed out of hate, police allege.

Andrade and Zapata briefly dated after meeting on an Internet dating site. According to Andrade's arrest affidavit, Zapata performed oral sex on him in her apartment on July 15. Andrade said he grew suspicious of Zapata's sexual identity because she would not let him touch her and they slept in separate rooms that night.

The next evening, Andrade confronted Zapata. He beat her first with his fists and then with a fire extinguisher after discovering she was a biological male. And he beat her a second time with the fire extinguisher when he realized she wasn't quite dead.

Police say Andrade has admitted he was motivated to kill Zapata because she was transgender, adding “all gay things need to die.”

Most of Andrade's confession, however, has already been thrown out by Weld County District Court Judge Marcelo Kopcow. Kopcow says police should have ended their interrogation of Andrade once he said he wanted to stop talking.

Andrade is charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime. It is the first Colorado case to use the state's gender identity hate crime law, which adds an additional 18 months to a conviction. Sexual orientation and transgender protections were added to an existing law in 2005.

Last week, an Onondaga County, New York grand jury ruled the murder of twenty-two-year-old transgender Letiesha Green was motivated by hate, possibly adding 5 years to the murderer's prison sentence.

A public information campaign based on the Zapata murder was launched last week. A coalition of about 50 pro-gay and anti-violence groups are behind the effort that calls on Congress to pass the Matthew Shepard Act. The bill would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate crime law. Members of Zapata's family were featured in the End Hate campaign that combines full-page newspaper ads along with a strong Internet component.

On the Net: The End Hate campaign is at www.angiezapata.com.