Alleged Murderer of Seaman August Provost Commits Suicide
Oceanside LGBT Memorial to August Provost
Camp Pendleton, CA – Petty Officer Jonathan Campos, 32, has died from apparent self-inflicted asphyxia in the brig at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base. He was being held for a number of charges primarily related to the murder of Seaman August Provost, a gay sailor, who was shot to death June 30, 2009 while on guard duty. A routine check of his cell discovered that Campos was “unresponsive,” and attempts to revive him failed. Campos had apparently choked himself to death with toilet paper, according to The Navy Compass, San Diego’s official Navy paper. An autopsy has been ordered by the Navy to establish definitively his cause of death. Both sailors served in the same Navy unit at Camp Pendleton, Assault Craft Unit 5. Controversy has swirled around the Provost murder case since the discovery of his charred remains in the guard shack where he stood sentry. Campos allegedly set the shack afire with Provost’s corpse in it to destroy evidence. Family, the bereaved lover, friends, and LGBT human rights activists contend that the gay sailor, who refrained from reporting sexual harassment for fear of discharge from the Navy under DADT, was murdered because of his sexual orientation. The Navy has repeatedly denied that Seaman Provost died as the result of a hate crime. Now, since the issue will never be resolved in a court of law, the truth of why August Provost was shot to death will never be fully known.
Decorated Sailor Charged with the Murder of Gay Sailor August Provost
August Provost pic on his MySpace page
San Diego, CA – The U.S. Navy says that a decorated petty officer has been charged with murder and other offenses in the June 30 slaying of gay Seaman August Provost at Camp Pendleton, California. Jonathan Campos, 32, has been in military custody since July 1, when the smoldering remains of Seaman Provost were found inside the guard shack where he stood sentry on the night of his murder. Campos, a Lancaster, CA native, enlisted in the Navy in 2001. He is a military fuel-system technician who had received numerous decorations, including the Good Conduct Medal. He has been charged with murder and arson, as well as charges of wrongful possession of a firearm, unlawful entry to a military base, carrying a concealed weapon and stealing military property. Forensic evidence shows that Provost was shot multiple times with a .45 calibre pistol. The sentry shack was then torched with Provost’s body inside in order to destroy evidence of the crime. The Navy continues to deny that the victim was killed because of his sexual orientation. Instead, naval investigators for NCIS contend that Provost surprised Campos as he was seeking to gain entry to the anchorage where hovercraft were docked in order to set one of them afire, and that Campos shot Provost at that time. Provost’s family and friends, along with gay rights activists, believe that his sexual orientation played a factor in the murder. His aunt has told the press that her nephew complained to her about being repeatedly harassed for his homosexuality, and that he had one prime antagonist on base at Camp Pendleton. Though it is not known whether Campos is that antagonist, both he and Provost served in the same unit, Assault Craft 5. Ben Gomez, head of the San Diego chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights, a national LGBT servicemembers organization, said to San Diego 6 that he and other LGBT activists believe Seaman Provost’s murder was a hate crime. They contend that he was killed after having an argument about his sexuality with an antagonist on base. They do not find the Navy’s claim credible that Provost was a “random” victim. While the Navy largely bases their claim that sexual orientation did not play a part in Provost’s murder since he had never filed a complaint with his superiors about being harassed for being gay, family and the LGBT community counter that he could not have felt safe approaching his commanders at Camp Pendleton because of the threat posed to his continuing military service because of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT). Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from California and Provost’s native Texas are calling for a full investigation into the case.
“Full Military Honors”: The Irony of A Nation’s Thanks for a Murdered Gay Sailor
Houston, TX – The dignified notice of services attending the interment of Seaman August Provost appeared in the Houston Chronicle on July 9th: “SEAMAN AUGUST “B.J.” PROVOST III 29 A courageous soldier, passed away (Thurs) 06-30-09 while serving in the U.S. Navy @ Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Ca. Visitation (Fri) 07-10-09 from 10am-11am @ Wright Grove Missionary Baptist Church; 9702 Willow Street. Funeral services will begin at 11am. Interment: full military honors will be given in his honor at Houston National Cemetery – (Gate-time 2:30pm). Boyd Funeral Home.” As a gay sailor who had not yet been outed and discharged under the provisions of the 1993 DADT law, August Provost was eligible for “Full Military Honors.” The Military Funeral Honors web site details what by law they must be for August Provost: “Military Funeral Honors have always been provided whenever possible. However, the law now mandates the rendering of Military Funeral Honors for an eligible veteran if requested by the family. As provided by law, an honor guard detail for the burial of an eligible veteran shall consist of not less than two members of the Armed Forces. One member of the detail shall be a representative of the parent Service of the deceased veteran. The honor detail will, at a minimum, perform a ceremony that includes the folding and presenting of the American flag to the next of kin and the playing of Taps. Taps will be played by a bugler, if available, or by electronic recording. Today, there are so few buglers available that the Military Services often cannot provide one.” Of course, Seaman Provost is due all honor by a grateful nation for his service in the Navy. Every fallen LGBT servicemember is due the full honors of the United States of America whose flag they served. But the irony fairly crackles around this funeral notice. Seaman Provost was brutally murdered, shot multiple times as if by execution. His body was found partially burned in a guard shack, probably the work of a killer intent on covering up his gruesome handiwork. Seaman Provost had confided in his family and to his same-sex lover that he had been harassed for being gay for the better part of a year by someone on base. But he would not report any of this to a superior, lest in the name of the same body of law that now covers him with honor, he be investigated and summarily drummed out of the military for being a homosexual. So, someone finally worked his evil, and Seaman Provost died, vulnerable and unprotected, a gay man like so many tens of thousands of others who vow to protect and defend the very nation that will not do the same for them. May the family, and Seaman Provost’s bereaved lover, to whom the honors of the nation refuse to extend in President Obama’s America, find comfort for their loss. May Seaman Provost rest in peace in Houston National Cemetery, covered with honor as he should be. But the rest of us should be put on notice that DADT must not stand one day longer, else this brave gay man will have died in some sense bitterly. As for us at the Unfinished Lives Project, we cannot help being Red, White, and terribly Sad.
DADT Claims Another Victim: Gay Sailor August Provost
Beaumont, TX – East Texas is not what an informed person would call a hotbed of liberalism. But the East Texas aunt of murdered gay sailor, August Provost, is speaking out against the investigation of the Navy into her nephew’s execution-style murder at Camp Pendleton, California. Rose Roy of Beaumont claims that a full year before his murder, Seaman August Provost complained that he was being harassed for being gay. Provost’s lover has corroborated the same story when he spoke out to the press on July 4. Mrs. Roy and other family members encouraged Seaman Provost to document the incidents and inform his superiors in the Navy about them, but she found out that he was afraid to do so because of the military ban on homosexuality, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). She told reporters for KBMT News that he was discouraged by the possibility that the Navy would have launched an investigation into his private life, so he didn’t pursue the matter officially. Now, the Navy is discouraging any suggestion that Provost, an African American patriot from Houston, TX, was murdered because of his sexual orientation. A spokesman refuses to give any other motive for the killing. Provost was shot multiple times, and his corpse was set afire in a guard shack in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence. According to statistics kept by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), nearly 13,000 members of the U.S. Military have been discharged under the provisions of the 1993 DADT law. That amounts to about one person each and every day. Since President Barak Obama was inaugurated, 284 Americans have been discharged from the military thanks to DADT. The untold story is the toll in lives lost because of murders that could possibly have been prevented were DADT not in place, not to mention the number of suicides among LGBTQ sailors, soldiers, airmen, coast guardsmen, and marines.
Gay Sailor Murdered at Camp Pendleton
Camp Pendleton, CA – An E-3 sailor was found shot “execution-style” at Camp Pendleton’s Hovercraft Station on June 30. Privately, investigators confirm a “gay angle” in the slaying. 29 year old Seaman August Provost of Houston, TX was found dead in a guard shack Tuesday at about 3:30 PM. One as yet unconfirmed report says that in addition to his being shot, Provost’s body was badly burned. While the Navy will not comment on whether his sexual orientation was related to his murder, other sources allege that the victim and a “person of interest” to investigators had an ongoing argument on sexual matters for some weeks. 10News.com reports that an anonymous source says Provost was murdered by a fellow serviceman during a violent argument over Provost’s sexual orientation. The suspect in the slaying is being held in the Camp Pendleton brig. San Diego gay activists and the Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network (SLDN) are calling for a full inquiry into whether this was indeed a hate crime. Kaether Cordero, Provost’s boyfriend in Houston, told reporters for the San Diego Union Tribune that his lover was “openly gay but kept his private life quiet for the most part.” “People who he was friends with, I knew that they knew,” Cordero said. “He didn’t care that they knew. He trusted them.” Provost’s sister, Akalia, said that he had recently complained to his family that someone was harassing him. His family recommended that he tell his supervisor. In 
view of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military policy banning gay servicemembers from the military, Provost would have been unlikely to broach the subject. He would have had no place to go for counseling or advice, given that many chaplains and psychologists for the Navy would have felt it necessary to comply with DADT and turn a gay-affirming or questioning sailor in to his superiors. His family describes him as courteous, mannerly, and even a little nerdy, a good son who loved his mother and worked hard to see that she was always well cared for. He had completed three years of college prior to enlisting in the Navy in March 2008 in order to help finance the rest of his education, according to his uncle. He was studying to become an architectural engineer. Provost was assigned to Assault Craft Unit 5, nicknamed the “Swift Intruders.” Investigators for the Navy and the family await the autopsy and toxicology report before definitely confirming that Provost’s murder was an anti-gay hate crime. His sister told the Union Tribune, “He didn’t deserve anything but a good life.” As a retired military person said of the case, “This one could get ugly.”
On Memorial Day, We Honor the Military Service of Our Gay Dead
Since time immemorial, Gay and Lesbian people have served their country with distinction. LGBT Americans pause to remember and honor the service and sacrifice of all American service members, especially the ones who faced battle on two fronts: the battle for freedom and security for our country, and the battle against unreasoning homophobia. This Memorial Day, The Unfinished Lives Project pauses to give thanks for the lives of three gay men who served their country, and died because their countrymen could not accept their sexual orientation: Petty Officer Third Class Allen R. Schindler, Jr., Chicago Heights, IL, sailor on the U.S.S. Belleau Wood; Private First Class Barry Winchell, Kansas City, MO, soldier at Fort Campbell, KY; and U.S. Army Veteran Michael Scott Goucher of East Stroudsburg, PA.
Schindler, who was mercilessly harassed on board his ship, was murdered in 1992 by shipmates in a public toilet while on leave in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan. His body was so ravaged by the attack that every major organ in his body was ruptured, his skull was crushed, and the medical examiner found sneaker tracks embedded in his chest and face. The only way his mother could identify her son’s body was by a tattoo he had inked into his upper arm. His main assailant, who openly declared that he was disgusted by homosexuals, said shortly after the murder, “I don’t regret it. I’d do it again. … He deserved it.” The Navy has never been forthcoming about the slaying, and has repeatedly refused to release the report of the Japanese police about the crime. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) was officially enacted soon after Schindler’s murder by President Clinton. SLDN has continued to represent his mother in the courts.
Winchell, who had been singled out for anti-gay ridicule by his barracks mates at Fort Campbell, was bludgeoned to death in 1999 by a fellow soldier wielding a baseball bat at his head and body while he was asleep. Ironically, he was killed after an Independence Day celebration on base. His hate crime murder and trial exposed one of the most notorious cover-ups of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) era. His parents and SLDN contend that the Army betrayed him by violating its own DADT policies, failing to follow the best traditions of the Army in order to shield the chain of command, and exposing other gay soldiers to danger and dishonorable discharge. The anti-gay climate of Fort Campbell was never sufficiently addressed in the wake of Winchell’s killing, and the base commander, General Robert T. Clark, was promoted despite the protests of SLDN and other LGBT advocacy organizations around the country. His killer is serving a life sentence for murder in a federal military prison facility.
Goucher, who had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army after a tour of duty in Alaska where he served in transport, was ambushed by two young men who stabbed him to death over 45 times according to autopsy records in 2009, arguably the first anti-LGBT hate crime murder victim of the year. After returning to East Stroudsburg, Goucher worked as a high school janitor, captained the Neighborhood Watch in his area, and served as assistant organist at a local church.
These three represent many more loyal Americans who happened to be LGBT and have been stigmatized, drummed out of the service, and in the cases of these faithful guardians of our country, were killed because of deep-seated bias against members of the sexual minority. They neither betrayed their country nor themselves. For that, and for justice-sake, we cannot forget them. At the request of SLDN, Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network, Chan Lowe drew this provocative tribute to homosexual Americans who have paid the supreme price to wear our nation’s uniform. We offer it for your consideration on this Memorial Day 2009.
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.
Michael Scott Goucher and the Deadly Web of Homophobia
Michael Scott Goucher
Michael Scott Goucher, 21, thought he was meeting Shawn “Skippy” Freemore, 19, for a second tryst when he left his Stroudsburg, PA, apartment on the night of February 3, 2009 (see Towleroad, “Internet Tryst Leads to Murder of Pennsylvania Army Veteran, 2/13/2009”). Instead, Goucher was being set up for murder. Goucher met Freemore online. According to his MySpace page, Freemore identified as bisexual, but more interested in men. After the initial meet up in January, Freemore enlisted his friend, Ian Seagraves, 17, to ambush Goucher.
Goucher followed Freemore out of his car in a wooded area off of Snow Hill Road in Price Township. Seagraves, who was hiding under a nearby bridge, surprised Goucher, stabbing him in the neck. During the attack, his two assailants stabbed Goucher “45 to 50 times” according to police affadavits. They rifled his pockets, taking credit cards, his ID, and a cell phone. A DVD belonging to Goucher was later confiscated at Seagraves’ home. They covered his body with snow, and drove his car away.
Ian Seagraves & Shawn Freemore, courtesy of Pocono Record
When he was arrested, Freemore contended that he had acted alone and used the “gay panic” defense, saying that he resisted Goucher’s sexual advances in the car, and only after Goucher pursued him outside, stabbed him in the neck and stomach “about 20 times.” On February 11, 2009, Freemore showed police the location of Goucher’s body. Detectives secured a knife and a meat cleaver near the body, and a roll of duct tape with Seagraves’ fingerprint under the bridge. Seagraves, who apparently celebrated his part in the murder by changing his MySpace moniker to “ThrOwt Stabba,” was soon arrested, and the pair is now charged with premeditated murder.
This is one murder the FBI will surely miss in its Hate Crimes Statistics. The murky details of online hookups, closeted gayness, and bisexuality mingle with drug and alcohol addiction (on Freemore’s part at least), theft, and the involvement of the teenage men in a violence-exalting subculture called “the Juggaloes.” Anti-gay hate murder has been facilitated online before, as the story of Michael J. Sandy showed in 2006, as well as the role that homosexual self-loathing plays in the psychological makeup of some attackers. But this was a brutal, homophobia-instigated and motivated hate crime.
Michael Goucher at the Zion UCC organ
Goucher, a U.S. Army veteran, was a contributing member of his community. He worked for the local school system, and volunteered as the assistant organist of the Zion United Church of Christ in Stroudsburg, where he had impressed the pastor and the membership with his talent, sincerity, and friendliness. He was captain of the East Stroudsburg Crime Watch. He was a gay man. Though he came out to his family as early as 14, according to his uncle, William Searfoss, Goucher did keep his orientation from his Army superiors.
His killers will be judged according to the evidence. Allegedly, they own the guilt for this terrible crime. But Freemore and Seagraves are, in their own ways, victims of American-style homophobia, too. They were products of the same school system as Michael Goucher. They loathed gay men enough to turn a consensual sexual encounter into a bloodbath, with all the marks of homophobic overkill. They victimized Michael Goucher, giving way to their own self-loathing.
UPDATE: Following a Supreme Court ruling that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole, Ian Seagraves was given a new hearing in hopes of securing a lesser sentence. His attorney filed a petition to the court based on the Supreme Court decision. But the judge was unmoved by the arguments, and after hearing the profanity laced lyrics of Seagraves’ song about the Goucher murder, reaffirmed the sentence Seagraves was serving. Goucher’s uncle, William Searfoss, said to PA Homepage, that the focus of the story can now return to Michael Goucher: “This isn’t about [Seagraves]. This is about Mike.”
Remembering Barry Winchell
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.
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…
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Unfinished Lives: Remembering LGBT Hate Crime VictimsBrite Divinity School/Texas Christian UniversityFort Worth TXprofessor, minister, author, blogger, LGBTQ advocate
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Unfinished Lives 
Triangle of Terror: Gays On Their Guard
Police in body armor outside US Holocaust Museum (Shawn Thew/European Pressphoto)
Steven Domer murdered by white supremacist
Steven Domer of Edmonton, Oklahoma, was brutally murdered in October 2007 by Darrell Madden, a white supremacist recently released from prison. Madden, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, garroted Domer with a wire clothes hanger after binding him with duct tape. Domer’s body was found in a ravine in McClain County. Investigators believe that Madden’s motive was to earn his “patch” from the Aryan Brotherhood, a sign of distinction awarded to a member who murders a Jew, a black, a homosexual, or anyone deemed to be an “enemy” by the group. In October 2008, Madden was found guilty of first degree murder and abduction, and sentenced to four consecutive life terms. The Domer murder and others like it offer a warning to the LGBT community in a time when hostility is clearly on the rise against same-sex marriage, the Matthew Shepard Act, ENDA, and the proposed repeal of both DOMA and DADT. Hate crime statistics demonstrate an upward spiral of violence in Michigan, Tennessee, Minnesota, and California. LGBT Americans share the vulnerability of other targeted groups, and decry the violence perpetrated by religious bigotry, misguided nationalism, racial hatred, and misogyny. The need for the passage of a sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression hate crimes law has never been greater, given the rising tide of bias-related hate crimes chilling whole segments of the American population. Fear may isolate and paralyze people. Resolve to face hate and fear with justice and hope can unite people, as well. Now is the time for coalition building, rejection of irrational hatred wherever it arises, and a mutual commitment to the health and safety of all Americans. Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people already know how important vigilance and solidarity in the face of terror are. So do women, Jews, and Blacks, all of whom have been affected by these deplorable killings in recent weeks. Perhaps this time those targeted by the radical right will learn how to stand together, and rally the country to repudiate these senseless acts of violence. We at The Unfinished Lives Project devoutly hope so.
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June 11, 2009 Posted by unfinishedlives | anti-LGBT hate crime murder, Anti-Semitism, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Racism, religious intolerance, Social Justice Advocacy, Special Comments, Strangulation, Tennessee, Washington, D.C. | African Americans, Anglo Americans, Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT), gay men, gun violence, Hate Crimes, hate crimes legislation, Matthew Shepard Act, military, Neo-Nazis and White Supremacy | 3 Comments