Ryan Skipper’s Killer Sentenced to 2 Life Terms
William "Bill Bill" Brown at sentencing, Ledger photo
Bartow, Florida – Circuit Judge Michael Hunter sentenced William “Bill Bill” Brown, 23, to life without parole for first-degree murder, and gave him a second life sentence for armed robbery with a deadly weapon for his part in the horrific murder of Ryan Keith Skipper in March 2007, according to The Ledger. The judge also imposed a 15-year sentence for arson, and an additional five years for tampering with evidence. Eye witnesses in the courtroom say that Brown smiled ruefully as his fingerprints were taken prior to jailing him for the rest of his life. Ryan Keith Skipper’s stabbed and slashed body was found on a lonely roadside in Wahneta, Florida at approximately 1 a.m. on March 14, 2007. The Polk County Medical Examiner reported to the court that Skipper had been cut and stabbed a total of 19 times, and died of blood loss at the scene. Police later discovered Skipper’s powder blue Chevrolet Aveo partially burned at at boat ramp on Lake Pansy. Brown admitted to investigators that he was in Skipper’s car on the day of the murder, but claimed that he “blacked out” at the time of the attack, and couldn’t remember anything about it. Brown and Joseph “Smiley” Bearden were arrested and charged with the murder by Polk County Sheriff’s Officers. Bearden was sentenced to life without parole for his role in Skipper’s murder earlier this year. Pat Mulder told Ledger reporters that she was relieved that the trial and sentencing were finally over, but that Brown probably will never know the gravity of what he did to her and the family. “He stole my heart when he killed my son,” she said. The prosecutors in the case contended that the killing was a hate crime because the two men targeted Skipper particularly for his sexual orientation, believing young gay men to be easy marks. Witnesses during Bearden’s trial testified that the assailants believed they were doing the world a service by ridding the world of another “faggot.” Though the prosecution never formally charged Brown or Bearden with an anti-gay hate crime, opting instead for a capital murder case and the death penalty, Skipper’s parents urged that the death penalty be waived so that the trials could proceed. The Mulders and Ryan’s elder brother, Damian, have gone on to become the most persuasive advocates for LGBT equality in Florida, and among the most respected social justice advocates in the nation.
Bowing to Pressure, Puerto Rican Authorities Ready to Investigate Gay Teen Murder As Hate Crime
Family Mourns at López Mercado Funeral, Nueva Dia photo
Boston – EDGE Boston reports Wednesday that the heinous murder of Puerto Rican gay teen, Jorge Steven López Mercado, will be investigated as an anti-LGBT hate crime. This is a victory for LGBT activists on the island and on the mainland who have repeatedly called for the police to pursue the case as a hate murder. Pedro Julio Serrano, point person for LGBT activism in Puerto Rico, drew international attention to the heterosexist and homophobic attitude of police investigators who at the onset of the case, blamed the gay youth for his own death. Serrano and others blasted police investigator Ángel Rodríguez Colón for stating to the press that gay people who live their lives openly can simply expect bad things to happen to them. Colón was replaced as overseer of the case. After meeting with representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, Puerto Rican authorities finally have agreed to conduct the investigation as a hate crime murder. Pointing out that no LGBT person has ever been tried under the provisions of the Puerto Rican hate crimes statute of 2002, the ACLU argued that it was past time for alleged murderers like Juan A. Martínez Matos, who has confessed to slaughtering 19-year-old López Mercado in an anti-gay rage, to be prosecuted as a bias-motivated perpetrator. Matos is apparently preparing to plead some form of insanity or ‘gay panic’ defense based on accounts of his childhood. Nueva Dia reports that Henry Ramirez, ACLU executive in Puerto Rico as well as head of the Legal Clinic at the University of Puerto Rico, convinced Puerto Rico Department of Justice Secretary Antonio Sagardía that the time for deflecting the issue of hate crimes against LGBT people in the Commonwealth is long past. In a statement to the public, Ramirez said, in part, “The ACLU has tried to get the government to accept its responsibility to investigate cases… that are hate crimes, particularly that of young Jorge Steven López Mercado. We should not be satisfied with the possibility the federal government will do what our government is not interested in doing; which is to protect every citizen.” The FBI is monitoring events, and may yet intervene in the case with federal charges. LGBT advocates have long pointed out that the social climate for LGBT Puerto Ricans is hostile. Conservative Roman Catholic and Protestant attitudes are well-entrenched and powerful throughout most of the Commonwealth. Heterosexist and homophobic machismo plays a role in pathologizing LGBT people, as well. Police attitudes are reflective of these negative cultural assumptions. The López Mercado case may prove to be a watershed for LGBT advocacy in Puerto Rico, and perhaps other places in the Caribbean. The manner of his death, decapitation, dismemberment, and partial immolation of his body are hallmarks of homophobic rage and bias-motivated hate crime in such obvious ways as to make a hate crime conclusion unavoidable. López Mercado’s youth also makes this case notable from a media standpoint. In many ways, Jorge Steven López Mercado may turn out to be Puerto Rico’s Matthew Shepard.
Overflow Crowd Lays Jason Mattison, Jr. To Rest in Baltimore; Murder Investigation Continues
East Baltimore, Maryland – An overflow crowd packed the Unity United Methodist Church on Edmundson Avenue in Baltimore Thursday for the funeral of slain gay teenager, Jason Mattison, Jr. The Baltimore Sun reports that the principal of Mattison’s high school announced the establishment of a scholarship in his memory at the service. “No one is truly gone if you carry them in your heart,” Principal Starletta Jackson said. “And Jason is a part of our heart. We all knew that Jason wanted to be a pediatrician. There was never a question of whether or not he was going to make it. Some children we have to pray over a lot — pray for grades that they pass, but we never worried about that with Jason.” Rev. Patricia D. Johnson, speaking to the mourners, said that young Mattison’s brutal murder serves as a warning to parents to watch over their children in neighborhood of rundown row houses that the church serves. At times during the 90-minute service, teen classmates who loved the sassy, joyous gay boy with his signature tight jeans and cool sweaters were so overcome with emotion they had to excuse themselves from the church sanctuary. No doubt he left his mark on their lives and on the Harlem Park neighborhood where he lived. Principal Jackson concluded her remarks, “We will miss you, Jason, but know that your memory will never be lost.” Mystery surrounds the grisly murder. Dante L. Parrish was arrested and confessed to the rape and slaughter of Mattison, and is being held without bail. Mattison’s cousin described him as “an old family friend,” presumably of Mattison’s aunt, where the gay youth’s body was found in an upstairs closet, gagged with a pillowcase and savagely stabbed in the head and neck with a box cutter. Conflicting accounts of why Mattison was at his aunts’ house have come from family members. His cousin says that he was “visiting relatives.” His paternal grandmother has said that her grandson was actually living in the home rather than in his parents’ home, suggesting some possible alienation or estrangement that Mattison kept under wraps at school. While he was an open book insofar as his sexual orientation was concerned, he was tightlipped about his home life and his living situation around his classmates. Family sources also suggest that Parrish had exhibited an unhealthy interest in Mattison for some time, one that allegedly made the gay youth uncomfortable. As the investigation into one of Baltimore’s worst bias-related hate crimes continues, the search for answers about his family’s relationship with a convicted murderer and their attitude toward Mattison’s homosexuality goes on. On Sunday, vigils and protests related to Jason’s horrific death and that of slain Puerto Rican gay teen, Jorge Steven López Mercado, took place in more than 20 cities around the country, from coast-to-coast.
Mother of Slain Gay Puerto Rican Teen Speaks Out; Protests and Vigils Break Out Worldwide
Miriam Mercado and Pedro Serrano show Jorge's Signature Gesture (Nueva Dia photo)
San Juan, Puerto Rico – The mother of brutally murdered gay teen, Jorge Steven López Mercado, has broken her silence concerning the social and religious environment in Puerto Rico that led to the loss of her son (see Nueva Dia photo, left). In a statement issued to the press, Miriam Mercado said, “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.” Meanwhile, the investigation into López Mercado’s murder continues, even as protests and vigils spring up on his home island and around the world, condemning the violence that took his life. After Juan A. Martínez Matos confessed to the beheading, dismemberment, and burning of young López Mercado, his home was intensively searched. Forensics experts recovered a knife believed to have been used in the murder that had been thrown into a septic tank. Statements Matos has made about the events leading up to his savage crime make it likely that he will plead a form of the “gay panic defense,” claiming temporary insanity after ‘discovering’ López Mercado’s sexual identity. Matos is being held in San Juan on $4 million bail. At a large protest on the grounds of the Puerto Rican capitol on Thursday, Pedro Julio Serrano, a leading LGBT activist, called out political and religious leaders who have characterized gay and lesbian people as “perverts,” condemning their hate speech for contributing to lethal violence against members of the sexual minority. Serrano also decried the refusal of these same leaders to extend condolences to López Mercado’s mother and family. On Sunday, vigils took place around the United States, Latin America, and Europe in memory of the 19-year-old Puerto Rican and another gruesomely slain gay teen, African American Jason Mattison, Jr., who died within days of López Mercado, making last week one of the most shocking in recent anti-LGBT hate crime history. Thousands of mourners gathered to remember the teens in Anchorage, Alaska, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, CA, San Francisco, Chicago, Terra Haute, IN, San Antonio, Dallas, Abilene, Lubbock, New Orleans, Atlanta, Durham, NC, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia and New York City, as well as in San Juan and at others sites in Puerto Rico.
Gay Lad’s Accused Killer and Rapist was Convicted Murderer
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Jason Mattison, Jr. (l), Dante Parrish (r)
Baltimore, Maryland – According to information released by the Baltimore Sun, Jason Mattison, Jr.’s accused killer had previously served time for first-degree murder. Dante L. Parrish, 35, who is accused of raping and murdering the 15-year-old gay boy was convicted of murder in 2000 for a 1999 crime, and had served ten years of a thirty year sentence. Records show that he had repeatedly appealed his conviction and sentence. After a judge ruled that his legal counsel at the time of his original murder trial was “ineffective,” Parrish was granted a new trial. In a plea bargain for second-degree murder in the second trial, he was released from prison in January 2009 for time served, satisfying his sentence. Parrish was a friend of the family, rooming in the home of Mattison’s aunt on Llewellyn Avenue in East Baltimore, but it is still unknown how long he had lived in the house before allegedly committing the murder. Mattison was visiting his relatives at the time of the killing, which went undetected until police, who were summoned to the home for a burglary investigation on Tuesday, November 10 were shown blood oozing out from under a closet door on the second floor of the rowhouse. There they discovered the gagged, raped, and repeatedly stabbed body of young Mattison buried under a pile of blankets. The teen had been knifed in the head and throat multiple times with a box cutter found in the house. Parrish became a suspect right away, and was identified and arrested at a 7-Eleven store in Northeast Baltimore on Thursday, November 12. Speaking to reporters, Mattison’s cousin, Tara Dudley, said, “I need him to be brought to justice and pay for what he did to my cousin. He needs to pay for what he did to him.” A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department said on Friday that Parrish has confessed to the crime. He is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree sex offense, and first-degree assault. Bail was denied, and Parrish is being held in jail pending what will be his third trial for murder in little over a decade.
African American Gay Teen Slaughtered in Baltimore
Baltimore, MD – A 15-year-old African American sophomore who was open to his classmates about his sexual orientation was found Tuesday, November 10 stuffed in a closet in his aunt’s house, raped, gagged with a pillowcase, and stabbed multiple times in the head and throat. The Baltimore Sun reports that Dante Parrish, 35, a convicted felon who knew Jason Mattison, Jr. and his family, was arrested on November 12 at a convenience store, and charged with first-degree murder. After release from prison, Parrish roomed in Mattison’s aunt’s home on Llewellyn Avenue, where Jason was also living at the time. Reports speculate that Parrish had forced a sexual relationship on the teenager. A spokesman from the Baltimore Police Department said that Parrish, who is being held in custody without bond, confessed to the murder. Jason was a joyous non-conformist, known at West Baltimore’s Vivian T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy where he attended high school as a witty, chatty young gay man who lived out his sexual orientation without apology. When other boys harassed him for his tight jeans and feminine-looking sweaters, he always seemed to have a quick answer, and would walk away from the encounter smiling. He had planned to become a pediatrician according to his teachers, who believed that no matter how cheery he appeared to be, the slurs hurled at him still hurt. When he came out to his family, there was some friction, but gradually they accepted him, according to his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Wanda Williams. Williams was among the earliest members of his family to whom he came out, and she admitted to reporters that his revelations caught her off-guard. She was worried about her grandson. “I accepted his sexual preferences,” she said. “But I told him, ‘You’re young and don’t understand life.’ I told him, ‘Plenty of young women would love to be with you.’ He said he likes boys. Young people don’t like to listen to adults, but I told him I’m not going to push him away.” Jason’s murder has devastated his grandmother. “I haven’t cried so much this entire life,” Williams said to The Sun. “My grandson hollering for help and there is nobody there to help him.” Many unanswered questions remain for family, classmates and friends. Why would his relatives allow Parrish to stay in the same house as Jason, given Parrish’s violent past? Were the reports of a sexual relationship with Parrish true, or fabricated by a man facing the worst criminal charges of his life? What were the circumstances that led up to one of the most gruesome anti-gay murders in the history of Baltimore? Jason’s funeral was held this Wednesday at Unity United Methodist Church. His cousin, Laquanna Couplin, who was also living in the house on Llewellyn where Jason was killed, told reporters, “He was a terrific boy, and we miss him very much. We’re hoping that justice is served and that the person who is responsible for this goes to prison and doesn’t get out.” She spoke lovingly of her young cousin, “He was a sweet young man. He wasn’t afraid of who he was. He had a life ahead of him. I just wish he could’ve had a chance to live it.” A candlelight vigil is planned Sunday, November 22 in Dallas, Texas to call for justice for Jason.
Suspect Arrested in Puerto Rican Gay Teen Hate Murder Case
Jorge Steven López Mercado
San Juan, Puerto Rico – The Associated Press is reporting that the arrested suspect in Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado’s grisly murder is claiming the infamous “gay panic” defense to besmirch the character of the victim, and appeal to anti-gay machismo. Regional Police Director Hector Agosto said, “This was a ruthless crime. Whoever did this just wanted to make the person disappear.” Gay rights advocates in the Caribbean United States Territory have carried out a number of memorial events for young Lopez Mercado, as well as protests in the capital, San Juan demanding that police investigate the murder as a bias-related hate crime. “They are hurt and they are indignant,” gay activist Pedro Julio Serrano said to reporters. “They are calling for justice.” Local island media are reporting that Juan Antonio Martínez Matos, 26, a father of four, was arrested by authorities for the murder. Matos is alleging that he was in search of a woman for sex, and when he found out that Lopez Mercado was a gay youth instead of a female, he panicked. Whether he is speaking under the direction of an attorney is not known at this time, but in any event, the suspect has appardently made the calculation that enough members of the public will buy his account that he will be more likely to receive a lighter sentence, if convicted. On the mainland, the gay or trans-panic defense has been tried on many occasions in an attempt to cast enough aspersions on the character of the LGBT victim that public opinion will soften toward the defendant. In recent court cases, such as the trial of Allen Ray Andrade, the murderer of trans Latina Angie Zapata in Greeley, Colorado, the panic defense has fallen flat. Andrade, who made a similar claim, left both judge and jury unconvinced, and received life in prison without hope of parole. According to Box Turtle Bulletin, Matos also claimed that Lopez Mercado demanded money from him. Police investigators have allegedly discovered a wig, a burned mattress, burned PVC pipe, and a knife at the suspect’s apartment. Accounts also say that police found blood stains on the wall of the courtyard of the apartment. Investigator José J. Bermúdez said to the press that he has no doubt that López’s murder can be prosecuted as a hate crime. Since the public can easily be prejudiced by media accounts that are both uncritical of a suspect’s allegations about his victim, and unverified as to what actually may (or may not) have been found at a crime scene, the Unfinished Lives Project will pass these details along as currently unsubstantiated reports until properly and fully vetted. Officials in Puerto Rico are now saying that the mutilated, beheaded and partially burned body of Lopez Mercado was discovered on Friday, November 13 in a wooded area near Cayey, only a few miles from his home in Caguas. Both the LGBT community in Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican population of New York City have expressed grave concern about the most savage murder of a gay person in Puerto Rico’s history.
Ryan Skipper’s Family Issues Press Release After Conviction of Son’s Killer
Pat Mulder embraces a supporter
Bartow, FL – In an email blast send to supporters of the Ryan Skipper Fund and Foundation this evening, news of the reaction of Lynn and Pat Mulder to the guilty verdict for William D. “Bill Bill” Brown went nationwide. Brown was found guilty of first degree murder and burglary with a deadly weapon by the Polk County jury. He had previously pled guilty to arson and evidence tampering. In view of the gravity of the verdict, a heavy sentence, probably life in prison with no possibility of parole, is expected when Judge Hunter rules in early December. Speaking to the press and to dozens of supporters outside the Polk County Courthouse, the Mulders said, “We would like to thank the State Attorney’s Office and especially Mr. [Cass] Castillo for consistently striving to uncover the truth and seek justice for our family and for Ryan. We want to thank the detectives of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office who worked diligently and showed compassion to our family. Thank you to the crime scene technicians whose attention to detail helped uncover the truth. And thank you to everyone else along the way who committed their time and talent to ensuring that justice was served. Lastly, we thank the jurors who have taken time from their jobs and families to fulfill an important civic duty. You paid attention to testimony that was brought before you and rendered a conclusion that serves justice and benefits society. To the public, we want you to know that Ryan, like so many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, was a good and upstanding member of this community. We all deserve to be judged by our abilities and character instead of our differences. We are all human beings and we all deserve the right to pursue happiness, to have a job, to be parents either naturally or by adoption, to be in a committed loving relationship which is legally recognized, to serve our country in the military openly and honestly with pride. Finally we want the public to know the devastation hate crimes inflict is not only on the individual victim but their families, friends and the entire community feels the impact. We will always cherish our memories of Ryan. We along with countless others will continue to honor Ryan by always standing up for truth, honesty and equality for all!” Brian Winfield of Equality Florida made this statement in response to the news of Brown’s conviction for Skipper’s murder, “Today’s verdict concludes the final trial of Ryan’s two attackers. But it does not end the epidemic of anti-gay hate violence in Florida. Ryan was killed because he was a gay man who lived his life honestly. During the trials, witnesses revealed that Ryan’s murderers bragged about what they had done and ‘felt that they were doing the world a favor by getting rid of,’ their words ‘one more faggot.’” Winfield went on to say that hate violence perpetrated against LGBT people in Florida had increased 33% each year for three of the last four years. He concluded, “The violence Ryan suffered is the most extreme expression of an all too common sentiment – that gay and transgender people are less valued. The silence of elected officials and even the media in the face of these violent attacks must end. Gone are the days of blaming the victim for his own murder.” No one from Brown’s family was present to support him in court today.
Guilty!: Second Defendant in Ryan Skipper Hate Murder Case
William D. Brown on the way to jail
Bartow, FL – William D. “Bill Bill” Brown has been found guilty of first degree murder and burglary with a deadly weapon today by a jury in the Polk County, FL, county seat. Skipper was slashed and stabbed to death in March of 2007 on a lonely, rural road in Wahneta, FL. A woman who discovered his body beside the road ditch said that it seemed to her that someone had turned on “a sprinkler of blood.” The 25-year-old college student had been stabbed with knives 19 times, according to the Polk County Medical Examiners Office, causing him to die of blood loss and trauma. His murderers attempted to fence his automobile after trying in vain to remove blood from the interior of the vehicle. Unable to find a buyer, they set the car afire at a boat ramp in Auburndale, but frustrated their own attempt by shutting the doors after kindling the blaze. In a personal communication Lynn Mulder, Ryan Skipper’s step father, said, “William Brown was convicted today of first degree murder, burglary with a deadly weapon and he confessed his guilt in arson and tampering with evidence. Responsibility and accountability has been established and protection for society will occur on 1 Dec when he will be sentenced to life in prison without parole.” More will be forthcoming from Ryan’s parents and friends as statements to the press outside the Bartow Courthouse become public. Brown, who elected not to testify in the trial, contended in a pre-trial confession in 2007 that he had “blacked out” and could not remember if or how Ryan Skipper died. Witnesses reported that he and his accomplice, Joseph “Smiley” Bearden, said they wanted “to rid the world of one more faggot.” The Skipper case suffered in the media because of the irresponsibility of Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who merely repeated the defendants’ unsupported allegations concerning Skipper’s character and activities. Judd prejudiced the media against Skipper, painting the victim as a person who in some way deserved his fate. Though each unsupported claim made by the Sheriff’s Department has been systematically debunked, and the public communications director for the county has declared Skipper guiltless of any wrongdoing in any of these particulars, Sheriff Judd himself has never explained or apologized to the public or to Skipper’s parents and friends. In February of this year, Bearden was found guilty on all counts, and was sentenced to life without parole. As Mulder has suggested, Brown’s sentence is expected to be similar. For further information and developments in this case, see the Ryan Skipper Documentary web site, and One Orlando.
Second Alleged Killer of Ryan Keith Skipper on Trial in Florida
William D. "Bill Bill" Brown on trial
Bartow, FL – Entering its third day, the felony murder trial of William D. “Bill Bill” Brown, 23, is underway in the Polk County, Florida Courthouse. Brown is the second alleged murderer of Ryan Keith Skipper, a 25-year-old gay college student, who died of 19 stab and slash wounds on a desolate road in Wahneta, Florida in March 2007. The first trial, that is Joseph “Smiley” Bearden, in February of this year ended with his conviction on all counts and a life sentence in state prison. Ironically, Skipper’s murder is not being tried as a hate crime, though many including his parents, Lynn and Pat Mulder of Auburndale, contend that their son’s assailants chose him because he was a gay man. The same judge and prosecutor who tried the Bearden case are trying the Brown case, as well. In a surprise move by the defense on October 26, Brown pleaded guilty to arson (setting fire to Skipper’s car to destroy evidence), and evidence tampering, which could earn him a total of 20 years at sentencing. He is still on trial for robbery and first degree murder, which could sentence him to life in prison, just like his accomplice. The Mulders came to Bartow to attend the Brown trial two days after the wedding of Ryan’s older brother, Damien. Though they were personally invited to attend the October 28 signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by President Obama in Washington, DC, a law they had vigorously lobbied to see enacted, the Mulders declined the invitation in order to be present for the trial in Polk County. Their son Damien and his wife attended the ceremony at the White House in their stead, and were greeted by President Obama, along with Matthew Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis, and William Sean Kennedy’s mother, Elke Kennedy. In communication with the Unfinished Lives Project, Lynn Mulder said that during the first days of the trial, Cass Casstillo, the prosecuting attorney, presented evidence conclusively linking Brown to the murder, including finger prints, shoe impressions, and testimony from others who heard him admit to “stabbing someone.” Brown has contended that Skipper, whom he knew was gay, touched his “private parts,” irritating him, but denied that he killed his 25-year-old neighbor, who lived barely two blocks from his trailer home in rural Wahneta. On Wednesday, the prosecution rested. The Judge gave the jury the next two days off, telling them according to Mulder that the defense would present a short case with one or no witnesses on Monday, such that closing arguments would probably be offered then, and the case would go to the jury on Tuesday, November 3. Vicki Nantz, lesbian activist from Orlando, and director/co-producer of the acclaimed Ryan Skipper Documentary, Accessory to Murder: Our Culture’s Complicity in the Death of Ryan Skipper, noted to reporters that had there been a Matthew Shepard Law on the books, Skipper’s murder could have been tried as the anti-gay hate crime it was, instead of burying the true motive of the slaying. Nantz and others have provided a detailed trial summary day-bay-day with links to media reports at the Ryan Skipper Documentary site. Speaking to the press, Ryan’s mother, Pat, said she wanted it known that her son “was killed by hate.” She urged the public to help end such lethal hate, because if it were not ended, hatred would kill others. His father, Lynn, said that Ryan would have approved of the new law protecting LGBT people from hate crimes. “He would see the value in that,” Mulder said,”that everybody was protected equally under the law, and he would be very proud that the bill was signed into law.”
Ryan and his brother, Damien Skipper
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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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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