Justice for Jimmy Lee Dean: Both Attackers Now Sentenced
Jimmy Lee Dean, Victim of Brutal Attack
Dallas, TX – The second man who nearly beat Jimmy Lee Dean to death in July 2008 has been sentenced to 75 years in prison. Bobby Jack Singleton, 30, faced his fate August 27 in Dallas County’s 194th District Court. The co-defendant in the case, Jonathan Russell Gunter, 33, received a 30-year sentence for the crime in March of this year. The Singleton sentence means that the jury understood the severity of the crime against Mr. Dean, who has been permanently disfigured and lost his entire sense of smell due to the attack. The earliest Singleton can be paroled is 37 1/2 years under Texas law. There is no penalty attached to an LGBT hate crime in Texas, though the Dallas Police who investigated the attack, which occurred just a block off the major LGBT entertainment strip in the city, treated the crime as anti-gay from the beginning. Had the Matthew Shepard Act been law at the time of the case, there would have been another recourse for law enforcement to take. Dean said that he was satisfied by the sentence. Testimony in the trial revealed that the co-defendants had drunk five pitchers of beer at a North Dallas bar before getting up the courage to travel to the Oaklawn/Cedar Springs area to rob gay people because the perpetrators were “low on cash” and believed gay men could be more easily robbed. Gunter took a gun with him and brandished it at Dean, a 17-year resident of the Oaklawn neighborhood, on a darkened section of Dickason Street. Singleton, however, did most of the severe damage to Dean as he lay unconscious on the sidewalk,
Gunter (l), Singleton (r)
kneeing him, kicking him, and stomping on his face with his boots while yelling anti-gay slurs at his helpless victim. The jury heard taped phone conversations between Singleton and his half-sister while he was in jail awaiting trial, in which he laughed about Dean’s nose hanging on by a flap of skin, and claimed that he was going to pretend he was gay so that the punishment might be lighter on him. “All I got to do is fill out one of them homosexual cards and prove that I’m a faggot, too,” he said. He went on to his half-sister that if he were sentenced to prison, he could just tell the corrections officers that he was “not really a fucking faggot” so that he could skip being housed in protective custody. Dean said to Dallas Voice reporter John Wright, “This [sentence] sets a precedent for anything like this that happens. He also said that no one should be a target of violence for any reason, including one’s sexual orientation. What now remains to be done is support for Mr. Dean in the months and years that follow this trial. LGBT presence at both the Gunter trial and the Singleton trial was sparse. Dean and his longtime roommate, Thomas Bergh, are contemplating moving to Oklahoma, away from the scene of the attack. Dean told reporters that when he walks along Dickason Street these days, he has to walk down the middle of the street, and not on the sidewalk where the two Garland, TX men nearly killed him. Like so many victims before him, Dean will live with the nightmares and the physical consequences of the attack for the rest of his life. It is not enough for the LGBT community to shrug shoulders now that that last trial has been held, and assume Dean can just go from this point vindicated. Dallas has to face its hate-crime problems, as the Dean case, and the Richard Hernandez case have both shown in recent months. One way to do that is to get support for Jimmy Lee right from here on out.
NC Gay Bashings Alarm Wilmington and Greensboro
Chaz Housand shows gay bashing injuries (Paul Stephen photo for StarNewsOnline)
Wilmington, NC – Protesters are calling for hate crime protection for the LGBT community in New Hanover County, the heart of Coastal Carolina country, after two gay men were brutally beaten unconscious last month. Three men shouting anti-gay slurs attacked Chaz Housand and Chet Saunders as they walked out of the door of a popular Front Street bar in the early morning of July 17, according to witnesses at the scene. StarNewsOnline reports that just after 2 a.m., witnesses flagged down a police officer to tell him that two young men had been beaten. Both Housand, 22, and Saunders, also 22, had no recollection of the attack. “The last thing I remember,” Housand told reporter Dave Reynolds, “I was walking out of the door. Then I remember waking up in the hospital.” The only thing the victims can think motivated the attack was their sexual orientation. The recollection of the eyewitnesses, and the severity of the wounds inflicted on the two gay men seem to substantiate that suspicion. According to the police incident report, a witness remembered one of the suspected attackers shouting, “This is our town!” as he struck Housand and Saunders. Three suspects were arrested by the police in short order and charged with the assault: Jong Tae Chung, 27; Melvin Lee Spicer, 25; and Daniel Minwoo Lee, 21. While North Carolina does not have a hate crime law that covers sexual orientation, District Attorney Ben David told Star News that a judge may very well increase the charges from a misdemeanor to a felony in light of the brutality of the attack and the extensive injuries sustained by the victims. Bones in Housand’s face were broken and he suffered deep cuts above his eye and around his mouth. Saunders suffered a concussion and internal bruising, and he has still not recovered the motor skills needed to use a knife and a fork to feed himself as of July 27. Housand, who had been celebrating his birthday with his friend just before the attack, told reporters that as a university student, he had been involved in social action to change North Carolina’s hate crimes statute to include sexual orientation, but never imagined he would be personally involved in a hate crime. Public Radio, WHQR FM, reports that the downtown beating last month ignited protests by LGBT people and straight allies outside the New Hanover County Courthouse August 24. Outraged by the bashing, locals are calling on the state to protect LGBT citizens. Some in the LGBT community are convinced that the attack was hate-motivated due to the hallmark overkill of the assault. Lynn Casper, one of the courthouse protesters, said that everything about the bashing indicates that it was about homophobia, and gay people in Wilmington are frightened. “I’ve heard a lot of people talk in the queer community,” Casper told reporters. “They’re a lot more scared now.” Wilmington, the largest city on the Carolina coast, is no stranger to anti-LGBT murder. Lesbian Talana Quay Kreeger, 32, was manually disemboweled by a trucker in 1990. Tab Ballis, a local documentary filmmaker, is working to complete a film telling her story, called “Park View.” Now, LGBT people across the Tarheel State are worried that bias crimes against anyone perceived to be gay are on the rise. In Greensboro, the largest city in the Piedmont, a 25-year-old Pilot Mountain man was attacked on July 4 by a group of young men yelling anti-gay epithets. Matt Comer of Q Notes reports that the as-yet unidentified victim was merely thought to be gay by his assailants who targeted him as he left a popular gay night club with two gay friends. The victim was struck on the back of the head and knocked to the ground. His friends ran to find help. Greensboro Police have arrested Tyren Hassan McNeill, 25, and charged him with felony aggravated assault.
Transgender Woman Raped, Assaulted with Wooden Coat Hanger in Murder Attempt
Trinidad, CO – The Pueblo Chieftain and the Examiner.com report that on July 15, 2009 a transsexual person was attacked in a hate crime reminiscent of the murder of Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old transgender woman who was bludgeoned to death in Greeley, CO last year. The victim, a 25-year-old M to F person in transition was lodging in the Trinidad Motor Inn awaiting consultation on gender reassignment surgery when she was targeted by a suspect identified as Marcus Lee Watlington. No age or hometown of the suspect has been announced by the Trinidad police. Police have reported that Watlington denies any part in the crime. According to reports on the scene, the victim was pushed into her motel room by the attacker after answering her door. He verbally denigrated her because of her identity, and proceeded to force sex acts on her. He then raped her, using a wooden coat hanger to assault her sexually. To finish the job, the attacker then plunged the victim in a full tub of water in the bathroom, and attempted to execute her by tossing an electric hair dryer into tub with her. The breaker blew, preventing a fatality. Frustrated in his attempt to murder the victim, the assailant dragged her back to the bed, bound her with a phone cord, slapped her repeatedly, and warned her not to come back to Trinidad because her “kind” were not wanted there. The victim stayed bound in the bed until she was discovered late the next morning. Her description of the attacker was detailed, and according to police, fit Watlington “to a T.” Anti-trans hate crimes are notable for their brutality and for the abject disregard of the humanity of the victim, and transgender persons are particularly vulnerable to anti-gay as well as anti-trans bias, according to the Colorado Anti-Violence Program (CAVP). If charged with the crime, Watlington would face sexual assault, attempted murder, and “false imprisonment” charges. The Chieftain noted that Trinidad, which is a center for transsexual reassignment surgery, has a larger than usual population of transgender persons who are drawn to the town because of the famed practice of Dr. Stanley Biber. The surgical practice, now run by Dr. Marci Bowers, carries out as many as four sexual reassignment surgeries a day, making Trinidad known as “The Sex Change Capital of the World.” Local police report that crimes against transgender persons are rare in the town of 9,000. While it is still unclear about whether hate crimes charges will be filed in this case, Colorado does have a hate crime statute that covers anti-transgender crimes. Allen Ray Andrade, found guilty of the murder of Zapata earlier this year, was sentenced to life in prison by the Colorado hate crimes law, and is believed to be the first person to be successfully prosecuted under such a statute in the United States. The Unfinished Lives Project awaits further developments in this case.
Syracuse Jury Finds Slayer of Transwoman Guilty of Manslaughter Hate Crime
Syracuse, NY – In a closely watched case, a man charged with shooting an African American transgender woman to death outside a house party in November 2008 has been found guilty of anti-gay bias. Dwight DeLee will be sentenced shortly for the murder of Lateisha Green, née Moses Cannon, a 22-year-old male-to-female transperson who commenced living as a girl at the age of 16. Green frequently dressed in women’s clothing, but was dressed in a tee shirt and jeans on the night of her murder. DeLee’s attorney argued that his client had no animus against LGBT people, but witnesses testified that he referred to Green as a “faggot” the evening he shot her to death with a .22 calibre pistol in her brother’s car. The Onondaga County jury, charged by the presiding judge to consider possible conviction for murder or manslaughter with or without the hate crime charge delivered their verdict of guilty of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime in six hours of deliberations over two days. Earlier in the summer, Allen Ray Andrade was also found guilty of the bias-motivated murder of Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old Latina transwoman in Greeley, Colorado. Now with this second prominent conviction for anti-gay hate crime bias in the nation, the argument marshaled by conservative law enforcement agencies that hate crimes enhancements are impractical because they seldom can be proven in court is increasingly discredited. These hate crimes convictions not only demonstrate the bankruptcy of entrenched refusals to try defendants for anti-gay bias, but they also show the acknowledgment that hate crime murders differ substantially from other sorts of murders, giving the lie to the argument that all murders are somehow on a par. LGBT advocates have been largely successful in educating the American populace that hate crimes not only target the specific victim of the murder, but also send a message of terror to a whole class of people in affinity with the victim of the homicide. Thanks to William Kates of the Associated Press for breaking this story.
Sean William Kennedy’s Killer Released Early by South Carolina
Greenville, SC – Sean William Kennedy’s killer, Stephen Moller, has been released early from prison, even after a reduced sentence that scandalized the nation. Moller, sentenced in June 2008 to 3 years for Kennedy’s murder, was given every break in the book. A massive letter writing campaign scotched the first attempt to parole Moller early. Hundreds of letters flooded the SC Department of Corrections to stop any early release, and it appeared that the state relented. Such was not the case, as Moller’s early release this week demonstrates. He served less than a year for the murder of 20-year-old Sean (pictured to the left). Kennedy’s mother, Elke Kennedy, issued this statement through a bulletin from the Human Rights Campaign: “This adds insult to injury. To release a man just one-year after his sentencing in this heinous crime and to inform the victim’s mother through an automated recording is despicable,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Sean Kennedy was violently attacked for no other reason than his sexual orientation. This is a text book case of why we need to pass federal legislation that would bring stiffer penalties and provide local authorities with the full resources of the U.S. Justice Department to address vicious hate crimes.” On the night of May 16/17, 2007, Moller attacked Kennedy outside Brew’s Pub, a popular Greenville bar. According to reports, Moller accompanied the assault with anti-gay epithets. He later bragged about bashing “that fagot [sp.],” and suggested that he owed Moller $500 for hurting his hand when he struck Kennedy in the face. The blow hit with such force that Kennedy fell back and sustained brain injury from the combination of the punch and the fall. South Carolina still has no anti-LGBT hate crimes legislation on the books, and this outrageous miscarriage of the law is one more strong reason for the passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act now before the U.S. Senate. For more information, go to www.seanslastwish.org.
WaPo: Anti-Latino/a and Anti-LGBT Hate Crimes Spiral Upward Together
Washington, DC – The Washington Post reports in a late-breaking story that incidents of bias-related crimes against Latino/a people and LGBT people are rising sharply on seemingly parallel tracks, according to FBI findings. In a June 16 article entitled “Hate Crimes Rise as Immigration Debate Heats Up,” Spencer Hsu, reporter for WaPo, writes that officials are concerned about the abrupt rise in violent crimes against both groups: “The FBI reported in October that the number of [total] hate crime incidents dropped in 2007 by about 1 percent, to 7,624. But violence against Latinos and gay people bucked the trend. The number of hate crimes directed at gay men and lesbians increased about 6 percent, from 1,195 to 1,265, the FBI reported.” It should be noted that the actual rise in hate crimes against LGBT people is actually in excess of 28% in the last year, according to the more comprehensive statistics reported by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Shrill voices in the media and organization of xenophobic hate groups on the internet are contributing to this alarming trend. Most recently, as Mariela Rosario writes for http://www.latina.com, Minutemen stand accused of the murder of a Latino immigrant family. In a May 30th home invasion attack just now being shared widely in the national media, three members of the anti-immigrant group Minutemen American Defense (MAD) allegedly burst into the Arivaca, AZ house of Raul Junior Flores, 29, and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia, and shot them dead. Flores’ wife using a shotgun returned fire, repelling the attackers, and wounding one of them. Shawna Forde, 41, Jason Eugene Bush, 34, and Albert Robert Glaxiola, 42, stand accused of the crime. The stated mission of the Minutemen American Defense is summed up in Forde’s own words, “We will expose and report what we know and find, we will recruit the serious and train the revolutionist, time for words have passed the time for bravery and conviction are now.” The Pima County (AZ) Sheriff’s Department is still investigating. The murder of Flores and his young daughter has sparked outrage among Latino/a rights groups. As The Unfinished Lives Project has previously reported in numerous stories over several months, the tragic
Romel and Diego Sucuzhañay at Brooklyn DA's Press Conference
victimization of Latino and Latina folk, gay, bi, transgender and straight often converges in a terrible way. José Sucuzhañay, and his brother, Romel, Ecuadorans visiting the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, NY were brutally assaulted on the night of December 7, 2008. Hakim Scott, 25, and Keith Phoenix, 28, beat the Sucuzhañay brothers with a beer bottle and an aluminum ball bat shouting slurs at them for their ethnicity and their perceived sexual orientation. The savage attack was apparently motivated by a toxic combined hatred of Latino immigrants and gay people. The brothers, huddled together against the cold, were walking arm-in-arm from a party. Ironically, José, who died from his wounds, and his brother Romel, are both heterosexual. José leaves behind a 10-year-old son, Brian, and a 5-year-old daughter, Joanna, who is living with Down Syndrome. As an attorney for the Sucuzhañay family told the New York Post, “The family has suffered tremendously. It was a brutal murder.” Scott and Phoenix have been indicted for second-degree murder as a hate crime by the Brooklyn District Attorney, and await trial. Often set at odds by “common wisdom” and the media, the Latino/a immigrant community and the LGBT community share a truly common need for unity in the face of irrational hatred of “the other.” The Ecuadoran media covered the crime widely, putting an important face on anti-LGBT hate crimes in the United States.
Feel the Morning Breaking: Remembering Bill Clayton (1978-1995)
Bill Clayton wanted to be a sculptor, a teacher, an architect, a counselor…but his life was cut short by irrational hatred on May 8, 1995. He was barely 17. Bill had come out to his parents as a bisexual three years before, when he was 14. Molested by a sexual predator that same year, he went into intensive therapy and regained his old confidence. It took years, but by April 1995 he and his counselor agreed that he was no longer in need of counseling for the PTSD that had plagued him for the past three years.
Bill was out at school, and a vocal, active proponent of the rights of sexual minorities. When an anti-LGBT storm broke over a Women’s History Month speaking invitation to Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer (who defied Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the U.S. Military) at Olympia (Washington) High School, where Bill was a student, he openly supported her presence on campus. She was allowed to speak on March 21, 1995. Strong, homophobic feelings hung thick in the air after that.
Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer
On April 6, 1995, ironically one day after his therapist released him, Bill and his friends Sam and Jenny were attacked by a gang of students in broad daylight. The two boys were beaten and kicked unconscious after being verbally assaulted for being queer. The police arrested several boys under 18 who had acted on the community’s homophobia by targeting Bill and his friends. The assault was treated as a hate crime from the beginning. In time, the boys who attacked Bill and Sam were sentenced to 20-30 days in juvenile detention, followed up by probation and community service and four hours of diversity training concentrated on sexual orientation.
Bill after the hate crime assault
Olympia rose to the challenge, and began to face its homophobia at a rally in a city park on April 14. Bill spoke out, saying, “As an openly bisexual person in Olympia, I’m probably–or may be–the victim of this sort of thing again. Hate crimes–especially those against homosexuals and bisexuals and transgendered people are on the rise in this area. And that is why now–more than ever–we, the gay community need to come out and band together and fight for our civil rights and our right to be safe in our homes and on the streets.” It was a brave thing for him to do.
As a result of the attack, Bill fell into a deep depression, becoming suicidal. His family hospitalized him for his own protection and healing. Ten days later he came back home. He told his mother that all he could see ahead was a lifetime of dealing with one assault after another, and he was tired of coping with it all. She wrote about his fear and depression, “He was 17 years old–an age when kids are supposed to be excited about moving out into the world as adults. The only place he felt safe was at home.” She continued, “He saw no hope, so he chose to end his life.” As a living memorial to Bill, his mother, father, and brother have become advocates for LGBTQ youth, and strong voices for the prevention of teen gay suicide. They have not forgotten Bill, and we cannot let ourselves forget him, either.
One of Bill's last paintings, done while hospitalized for depression after the assault, "Hold Back The Dawn."
Now, with anti-bullying legislation on the books in several states, and pending in several others (NC, for one), Bill’s passion for life has a new dawning of hope. Federal legislation has been introduced in Congress to address school bullying and violence. Bill’s story takes on new power as the cause of security and hope for LGBT youth moves to center stage in American consciousness. Every time a life is saved, every time a young boy or girl is helped not to take their lives, Bill Clayton is honored. To save the lives of young queer folk is to vindicate the passion of our young brother, Bill, and all the thousands like him for whom the dawn did not break in time.
To that end, here is the link to the Trevor Helpline, http://www.thetrevorproject.org/ the oldest and largest 24/7 suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth in existence. If you or a friend are feeling lost and alone, call the Trevor Helpline, 866-4-U-Trevor, [866-488-7386]. There is hope, there is help. Bill has not been forgotten. The morning is breaking.
Ohio Hate Murder Revisited After Six Years: Justice for Gregory Beauchamp
Jerry Jones, 28, indicted for 2002 New Year's Eve Murder of Gregory Beauchamp
On New Year’s Eve 2002, a dark blue Cadillac pulled up to the corner of West Liberty and Vine Streets in Cincinnati beside two cross-dressed friends as they walked to a party. Taunts erupted from the car at the two homosexual men, “Fuckin’ faggot-assed bitches!” Then somebody in the Caddy pulled a trigger, and Gregory Beauchamp, 21, fell fatally wounded in the chest. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Hate Murder Victim Gregory Beauchamp, 21, wanted to be a fashion designer.
Now, thanks to the work of the Cincinnati Cold Case Unit, Jerry Jones, 28, has been indicted for Beauchamp’s murder. Jones was already in custody at a Dayton, Ohio detention facility on unrelated charges. In 2003, though he had been arrested for killing Beauchamp, the grand jury failed to indict him. The years have not dimmed the pain Beauchamp’s friends still feel for his loss. His friend Dontae refuses to forgive Jones: “This is so sad what they did to Gregory. I miss him so much! The guy who took his life don’t think how much he meant to us. He took my best friend [away from me] that night.”
Curtis Johnson holds photo of his friend, Gregory Beauchamp. (Steven Heppich photo)
Gregory Beauchamp was the 65th homicide of the year in Cincinnati, and the last one for 2002. Curtis Johnson remembers the night as if it were yesterday. He told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he was on his way to meet Beauchamp at the party. “He just died in the street–it’s just terrible. I just want people to know he’s more than just the 65th victim. He loved clothes, music, he could sew. He was just a good person. Being black and gay in Cincinnati is tough.”
Beauchamp’s brutal murder sparked a movement in Cincinnati that culminated in the passage of a municipal hate crime statute. Now his friends may get to see justice done for the gentle man who loved to wear women’s clothing and dreamed of studying fashion design in California.
Fate of Angie Zapata’s Confessed Murderer Goes to Jury
Allen Ray Andrade, on trial for the Murder of transgender woman Angie Zapata, awaits his verdict in Greeley, CO today. Prosecution goes for first degree murder. Andrade, already confessed to the murder, was deeply homophobic, according to statements from the jail to girlfriends, such as “Gay things must die.”
Justice Coming for Angie Zapata
Angie Zapata, 18, and alleged murderer, Allen Andrade, courtesy of ABC News
Denver, CO: Allen Andrade, 32, told investigators that he bashed Angie Zapata in the head twice with a fire extinguisher. He confessed that he thought he had “killed it” when Zapata roused, and then he clobbered her again, delivering the coup de grace. That was last July. Now he is slated to go on trial for bias-motivated murder in Greeley, CO where he carried out the crime because he found out Zapata, an 18-year-old male-to-female transwoman, was biologically male.
Angie Zapata
Born Justin Zapata, Angie had been living as a woman since the age of 16. She had striking beauty, attracting many admirers, though according to her sister, Monica, her loves ended by her boyfriends going back to biological women. Angie was a gentle, graceful, loving sister, who suspended her life in Fort Lupton, where she was raised, to come to Greeley to help her sister take care of her children. Monica found Angie’s battered corpse in her apartment, covered in a blanket.
For two weeks, investigators sought the killer, and finally arrested Andrade on July 30. He made an initial confession which a judge ruled inadmissible on a technicality. He has been held in jail without bond since his arrest for the murder. While behind bars Andrade made recorded phone calls to girlfriend claiming that when he discovered Zapata’s biological status, he “snapped.” In another conversation, he told his girlfriend that “gay things need to die.” The phone call transcripts and recordings will be admitted in evidence in the trial.
According to the Associated Press, Andrade is going to be the first person prosecuted for a hate crime under the sexual orientation section of Colorado’s hate crimes law. Colorado is one of 11 states to have hate crimes enhancements in their statutes. The comprehensive Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 2, 2009, would allow the FBI and other Federal Agencies to investigate such crimes, and to support the local authorities in carrying out their investigations, as well. Passage of the LLEHCPA remains a critical element of deterring and punishing hate crimes offenders for violence related to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
While nothing can bring Angie Zapata back to her family, friends and loved ones, justice for her and for all transgender victims of hate crime violence, which has been so long in coming, may finally be on the horizon. Stay in touch for further developments.
About
If you are a first-time visitor to the Unfinished Lives Project website, we invite you to read A Welcome Message introducing you to our project. We are truly grateful for your visit.
The Unfinished Lives Project website is a place of public discourse which remembers and honors LGBTQ hate crime victims, while also revealing the reality of unseen violence perpetrated against people whose only “offense” is their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender presentation. LGBTQ people in the United States are suffering a slow-rolling decimation of terror and murder all across the country. Every locale and demographic of society are affected: First Nations, Anglo, Black, Latino and Latina, South and Southeast Asian, Transgender, Bisexuals, Gay men, Lesbians, disabled, young, and mature. Homophobia has a long, crooked arm, and it is reaching out to snatch the life away from women and men whose tragic stories are under-reported to begin with, and whose memories are swiftly forgotten.
The horror of these killings transcends the shock and bereavement of loved ones and friends. These are not typical homicides; they are not killings for money or drugs, incidents of domestic strife, or crimes of passion. The vicious nature of hate crimes against LGBTQ persons is extremely brutal, grotesquely violent, and egregiously hateful.
Each murder serves the LGBTQ population as a sobering warning about the actual level of danger in our communities. The message these killings send is that freedom and open life for LGBTQ people is a cruel dream. Every time we remember one of these victims, however, the intentions of their killers are frustrated. To remember these women and men is to begin the process of changing the culture that killed them.
Our Project Director
Dr. Stephen V. Sprinkle (Keith Tew photo).
Stephen V. Sprinkle is Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, and Professor of Practical Theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, a post he has held since 1994. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the first open and out Gay scholar in the history of the Divinity School, and the first open and out LGBTQ person to be tenured there. Read More…
Recent Social Justice Advocacy Activity By Dr. Sprinkle
Summer 2009 – Dr. Sprinkle responded to the Fort Worth Police Department and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Raid on the Rainbow Lounge, Fort Worth’s newest gay bar, on June 28, 2009, the exact 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Dr. Sprinkle was invited to speak at three protest events sponsored by Queer LiberAction of Dallas. Here, he is keynoting the Rainbow Lounge Protest at the Tarrant County Courthouse on July 12, 2009. Read More…
Contact Us
Communicate with the Unfinished Lives project team:
info@unfinishedlivesblog.com
Schedule a Presentation
Dr. Sprinkle will gladly present his acclaimed presentation to your organization. To arrange an Unfinished Lives presentation for your organization or group, please contact us.
Dr. Sprinkle has given his Unfinished Lives presentation to these and other community groups and organizations. Read More…
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Steve Sprinkle
Unfinished Lives: Remembering LGBT Hate Crime VictimsBrite Divinity School/Texas Christian UniversityFort Worth TXprofessor, minister, author, blogger, LGBTQ advocate
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