Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Remembering Scotty Joe Weaver

On this day in 2004, Scotty Joe Weaver fell victim to an anti-gay hate crime in Bay Minette, Alabama. He died at the hands of his own roommates, people who on the surface represented friendship and trust. Yet Scotty Joe was murdered while pleading for his life in front of people who betrayed that relationship and bond.

Today, join the Unfinished Lives project as we remember Scotty Joe, mourn his loss, and celebrate his life. In our memory, we restore to Scotty Joe the dignity and worth that rightly belongs to every individual, regardless of one’s sexual orientation.

Read a September 2007 news story carried by WKRG about the prison sentencing of Weaver’s assailants, and view the related television news report:

July 18, 2008 Posted by | Alabama, Anglo Americans, gay men, Law and Order, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Remembrances | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Father assaults gay son with baseball bat

[NOTE: The veracity of the teen’s claims are now under investigation.  See this July 23, 2008 update to the story.  – The Unfinished Lives Project team]

 

An article in the Anderson Independent-Mail (South Carolina) reports that a father assaulted his own son for having attended a gay pride parade last Sunday.

The article says “the teen’s 49-year-old father yelled, cursed, swung a baseball bat, prayed and tried to ‘cast the demon of homosexuality out of him,’ according to the teen’s version of events.”  A second incident occurred when the son returned home to collect some clothing.

Both occurrences are under investigation by deputies in Anderson County.

July 18, 2008 Posted by | Beatings and battery, Domestic Violence, gay men, Hate Crimes, religious intolerance, South Carolina, Uncategorized | , , , | Comments Off on Father assaults gay son with baseball bat

As Ebony Whitaker laid to rest, hate crime concerns continue in Memphis

According to a July 8 Out & About Newspaper article, the murder of transgender woman Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker has raised concerns about anti-gay violence in Memphis, Tennessee.  As Whitaker’s body was laid to rest on Monday, the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) called upon the Memphis Police Department to be more responsive when it comes to crimes committed against the transgender community.

Whitaker’s murder is considered the latest in a string of violent crimes against transgendered persons in Memphis.  TTPC president Marisa Richmond said that the unsolved murder of Tiffany Berry and the police beating of Duanna Johnson point to an unacceptable trend of violence.  “The lack of response by the Memphis Police Department,” says Richmond, “has set a tone in the community that the lives of transgender people, especially African-American, are irrelevant.”

 

Watch the video of Duanna Johnson’s beating by Memphis Police in February.

 

For more information about Ebony (Rodney) Whitaker, read a related article at the Memphis Eyewitness News website.

July 11, 2008 Posted by | African Americans, Hate Crimes, police brutality, Tennessee, transgender persons | , , , , | 1 Comment

Remembering Charlie Howard

July 7 marks the twenty-fourth anniversary of Charles O. “Charlie” Howard’s murder in Bangor, Maine. As Charlie and his friend Roy Ogden walked on a downtown street, three teenagers accosted Charlie and his friend, shouted homophobic slurs, threw Charlie to the ground, and then punched and kicked him. The three youths decided to force Charlie over a bridge railing and into the Kenduskeag Stream twenty feet below. Ogden, who had initially fled from the assailants, looked back to see them throw Charlie over the railing. After sounding an alarm for help, Ogden, together with firemen and police, looked for his friend, whose body would not be found until hours later. On that same night, at a party, the three teenagers bragged about having thrown Charlie into the stream.

Today the Charles O. Howard Memorial Foundation and the City of Bangor are working to establish a granite monument to mark the place of Charlie’s murder.  Despite earlier disagreements about the proposed memorial, the City of Bangor approved installation of the monument by unanimous vote during a City Council meeting last November.

Today the Unfinished Lives Project also remembers Charlie.  The tragedy that befell Charlie twenty-four years ago still touches lives today, and as we remember him we also hope for a world where hate-crime violence no longer occurs.

July 7, 2008 Posted by | Anglo Americans, Beatings and battery, drowning, gay men, Maine, Monuments and markers, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Remembrances, Slurs and epithets, Stomping and Kicking Violence | , , , , , | 4 Comments

Remembering Barry Winchell

Barry Winchell horizontal

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the death of hate crime victim Barry Winchell. He served in the United States Army and held the rank of Private First Class. Following a period of ongoing harassment directed at Winchell for having dated a transsexual showgirl, fellow soldier Calvin Glover used a baseball bat to bludgeon Winchell as he slept on a cot in the barracks of Fort Campbell. Winchell died of massive head injuries the following day.

Winchell’s brutal murder prompted President Bill Clinton to review the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy, which many cite as a factor in the hate crime.

Today we remember Barry Winchell, and in our memory we restore to him the dignity and respect belonging to every person, regardless of sexual orientation.

July 6, 2008 Posted by | Anglo Americans, Bludgeoning, Don't Tell (DADT), gay men, harassment, Kentucky, military, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Politics, Remembrances, U.S. Army | , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Murdered transgendered woman a possible hate crime victim

Memphis police are investigating the death of Rodney Whitaker, age 20, an African American transgendered woman who was found on July 1, 2008, in Memphis, Tennessee.

While police are currently investigating the circumstances of the crime, says Tennessee Equality Project President Christopher Sanders, there is reason to believe that Whitaker’s murder was a hate crime fueled by “transphobia.”

Whitaker’s murder is the latest in a string of hate crimes against the Memphis transgender community.  This week’s murder follows the February 16 murder of African American transgendered woman, Tiffany Berry.

Read the original article at the Out & About online newspaper.

Read a related article at the Memphis Eyewitness News website.

July 3, 2008 Posted by | African Americans, Hate Crimes, Tennessee, transgender persons | , , , | Comments Off on Murdered transgendered woman a possible hate crime victim

Project Activity — Winter and Spring of 2008

2008 – Dallas, Texas, to participate in a Vigil for Lawrence “Larry” King.

2008 – Birmingham, Alabama, to give an Unfinished Lives presentation to Alabama Against Hate.

May 2008 – Austin, Texas, presentation given at University Baptist Church.

May 2008 – Austin, Texas, participation in Equality Texas and the State of the State Conference.

July 1, 2008 Posted by | Alabama, Latino and Latina Americans, Project Activity Summaries, Remembrances, Social Justice Advocacy, Texas | | Comments Off on Project Activity — Winter and Spring of 2008

Project Activity — 2007

April 2007 – Washington D.C., to participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s clergy call conference and lobby day for The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act and the Employment non-Discrimination Act.

June 2007 – Dallas, Texas, where Unfinished Lives project director Stephen V. Sprinkle served as moderator for the Human Rights Campaign Faith and Fairness Town Hall Meeting.

Summer 2007 – Met with supporters to discuss next steps for Unfinished Lives.

Summer 2007 – Dallas, Texas, to conduct research on Than Nguyen.

July 1, 2008 Posted by | Asian Americans, gay men, Legislation, Politics, Project Activity Summaries, Social Justice Advocacy, Texas, Washington, D.C. | | Comments Off on Project Activity — 2007

Project Activity — 2004, 2005, and 2006

2004– Fort Lauderdale, Florida

June 2006– San Francisco Bay Area, California, to conduct research on Diane Whipple, Gwen Araujo, and Harvey Milk.

In the summer of 2006, Unfinished Lives project director Stephen V. Sprinkle visited the San Francisco Bay Area to conduct research about anti-LGBT hate crimes victims. His work included research about Harvey Milk. Sprinkle shares some of his recollections from the trip:

“On my first major trip to study LGBT hate crimes murder victims, I traveled to Gay Mecca, the Castro in San Francisco. Though this was one of several visits to Castro Street through the years, the summer of 2006 was different. It was the year I met Harvey.

“Gay life is as vibrant as those who live it, and the Castro is Ground Zero for all LGBT people thanks to Harvey, the ‘Mayor of Castro Street.’ On my way to the HRC Store, I had walked right by Harvey Milk’s camera shop without noticing it. A friendly clerk at the HRC named Fidel pointed me back there, and I walked back across the street and down the block until I stood facing the closed and vacant shop at 575 Castro Street. Down at my feet was a bronze plaque commemorating Harvey’s shop and home.

“I looked up and saw a mural of Harvey standing in the window, looking down from the second floor at the beloved community he represented as the first openly gay person elected to a major office in America. He and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated in City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor, on November 27, 1978.”

July 2006 – Laramie, Wyoming

July 2006– Cortez, Colorado, to conduct research on F.C. Martinez.

2006– Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida

July 1, 2008 Posted by | Anglo Americans, California, Colorado, Florida, gay men, gun violence, Latino and Latina Americans, Monuments and markers, Native Americans, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Politics, Project Activity Summaries, transgender persons, Wyoming | | Comments Off on Project Activity — 2004, 2005, and 2006

Welcome to the Unfinished Lives Project

Stephen V. Sprinkle

 

Welcome to the Unfinished Lives Project, a place to remember and honor LGBT hate crime victims.

Our mission is to reveal the reality of unseen violence perpetrated against people whose only “offense” is their sexual orientation; to make anti-LGBT hate crime statistics available to our communities; to educate about the nature of hate crimes and how it affects LGBT and other communities; and to eliminate hate crime through social justice and awareness activities. On our website, we’ve dedicated pages and posts to achieve our mission:

A near brush with anti-gay hate crime in the late 1990’s in Fort Worth, Texas, shocked me awake to the reality of violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people across America. As a graduate school professor, my pursuits are usually quiet ones, preparing for class, and doing my research. But my quest to understand the effects and causes of hatred against people because of their difference has made me stare into the face of radical evil: the sort that kills.

Because of my work and research, I have learned how much all of us need each other–especially all of us who are members of racial/ethnic, religious, differently-abled, female, and LGBT communities. I have learned how vital the work of advocacy is. I have learned how precious life itself is, and how fragile. For this project, I have interviewed relatives, bereaved lovers, co-workers, neighbors and friends, journalists, and law enforcement officers who had direct knowledge about the women and men who died so brutally because of ignorance, prejudice and fear. It has been the journey of a lifetime, and in a strange way, though I am a teacher, these deceased LGBT people have become my teachers.

I want to convey to anyone who will listen that it is possible by hope to bring something beautiful and meaningful out of the ugliest realities of American life. Every time I meet a mother or lover, a friend or an advocate of one of these murdered LGBT people and share their stories, the intentions of the killers and the haters are frustrated, and the hope for a better, more just society somehow springs to life from the ashes.

I dedicate this website to the victims and to all those working for a better world. Thank you for visiting with us, and for joining us in our pursuit for a world free of violence and fear.

I hope you will visit us often.

Sincerely,

Stephen V. Sprinkle
Director
The Unfinished Lives Project

June 30, 2008 Posted by | A Welcome Message, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

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