By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Nov 22 | On the night of Friday, November 13, 2009, 26-year-old Juan Martinez Matos picked up 19-year-old Jorge Steven López in Caguas, Puerto Rico, and drove him to the nearby town of Cidra, PR. After discovering that Mercado, who was dressed as a female, was a man, Matos, in a whirlwind of rage, not only murdered Mercado, but beheaded and dismembered his body. Its remains were partially set on fire. Mercado’s body was discovered in the nearby town of Cayey, PR.
Matos was apprehended, has confessed, and is imprisoned with bail set at four million dollars. Initial reports seem to indicate that the line of defense will be invoking “gay panic,” a strategy used commonly in recent times with varying degrees of success. In a troubling interview with Univisión, police investigator Ángel Rodríguez Colón is on record as saying (as translated into English),
“These types of people, when they enter this lifestyle and go out into the streets know that this could happen.”
In response to sudden and widespread outrage due to the murder, thousands of New Yorkers will gather at Manhattan’s Pier 45 (at Christopher Street) on Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 5:00 PM for a vigil ceremony
The Manhattan vigil will occur in conjunction with satellite Sunday vigils in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Durham, and other American cities
Photo Courtesy of the Mercado Family
“When my son told me he was gay, I told him, ‘Now, I love you more.’ I want to tell the world that hatred is not born with human beings, it is a seed that is planted by adults and is fostered creating a climate of intolerance and violence. We must change our ways and understand that anyone …could have been my son. And I want everybody to know that Jorge Steven was a very much loved son.”
— Miriam Mercado, mother of Jorge Lopez Mercado.
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1 comments:
This story reveals the inbuilt bias in some police forces against anyone whose sexuality is different form the socially accepted norm of man-fucks-wife-in-private.
I have placed a small note on my forum that your readers may find of some small interest.
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