George Steven Lopez Mercado was a gay teen in Puerto Rico who was found on the side of a road partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered. The response of the police was reportedly horror . . . at his lifestyle.
According to reports, the police investigator assigned to the case, Angel Rodriguez Colon, said that “people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen.”
The 19-year-old was found a few miles away from his town of Caguas.
Obviously, this detective must be removed from the case but it reveals a deeper seated problem in such cases. I have worked in Puerto Rico and was told by a gay Puerto Rican of the fear that he has from both police and vigilantes. This case would appear to reaffirm his concerns.
For the story, click here.
Bobby H,
Thanks for your story. It makes an old fart like me of the same age feel good to know that there are still those of our generation who never gave up. We may have lived different lives, but we are in the same place and it’s a good one.
What a shameful and horrid crime!!
I feel sorry for the victims family and friends and what they are having to deal with now.
I do not understand the need that some people have to harm those that are “different” from themselves.
There is a lot out there that I do not agree with, but I am not going to go out and harm another person to try and justify my feelings.
Can religion die fast enough?
In 1928 Walter Lippman was quite optimistic about filling the void forming from Christianity’s eventual enlightenment, reflecting the evolution of thought and culture. Oh how this sad chapter once again slaps the face of civilization with the horrible reality that humankind still will not yield to modernization.
But what do we expect from the isolated South steeped in thirteenth century morality, proudly and instinctively taught and retaught daily?
Where’s the hope?
(oops – I tried to “tag” my comments as rhetorical, but the tags didn’t display.)
TomD.Arch,
For Gods sake he was queer. That is the life style that they complained of. He was queer. He deserved what he got he had to go. It would not surprise me in the least that the PR cops had something to do with this MURDER. They don’t want to tag one of there own so thats why they are treating it so casually.
The above was meant to provoke a reaction. I like everyone until I have a reason not to. I come from a family with three brothers and sisters, One of each. So it does not bother me of anyone’s sexual orientation. But if you are rotten and dishonest, then I have no use for you. Regardless of sex or race.
So what lifestyle did this poor kid lead that was so horrifying to the police? Did he lead an active, athletic lifestyle that horrified the donut munching, sedentary cops? Was it a highly ordered, regimented lifestyle and the cops felt he should have mixed things up and lived a little? Did he lead a lifestyle that was full of volunteering and service to others, and the cops felt he should have been more self-centered? Sure he may have been gay, but what sort of lifestyle did he lead that bothered the cop?
Bobby H – thanks!
Alas, this sad story may have spawned a true hero from an unexpected place and age group:
http://www.arktimes.com/articles/articleviewer.aspx?ArticleID=2f5d7a3b-c72a-446b-8d20-3823aa79c021
Wow, I read the story and sat here for a long time, just thinking.
I am 65,a former female impersonator, who has made thousands of people laugh, Always asking why I am here, finding out my reason for life was to entertaine, to take people with troubles a way to a place of laughter, to get their minds off their problems for the few minutes I kept them in LAUGHTER!
I have always put my pants on , one leg at a time, like most of you guys. I enjoyed going out with friends and having some beers. I
ate, and still do on ocassion,at Mc Donald’s or Pizza Hut Pizza. I’ve watched and listened, and I think the same today as I did when I was just finding there were other people in the world like me. I’d grown up in the rural area of Michigan, and didn’t know why I felt the way I did about boys and girls, but I considered girls my close friends, guys were beautiful, protective, and the rest I will leave to you’re imagination and say, I had no idea in high school what GAY even WAS. As I got out on my own, I quickly learned I was fimenin, I hated fighting, war, and the evile that was, and still is in the world. Oh, I’m no angle, but my gosh, I believe in… live and let live. It isn’t true that even “gay people” are ALL THE SAME..We are as diverce and defined as the “straight people” who have had so little contact with gay people. We (I AM NOT) are not all out to touch men, or make a man feel less than he is, why do you do that to us?
Being from the age of Aquarius, I am a mellow fellow (ha) laid back, as we used to say in the DAY! Never married,but had many male lovers and boyfriends,over my lifetime. I’d never hold hands in public, never was affectionate in public, and my claim to fame; I NEVER WANTED TO BRING A CHILD INTO SUCH A MIXED UP HATEFUL EVER CHANGING WORLD WITH ALL THE KILLERS. NUTS AND FRIGHTENING PEOPLE THAT ARE IN THIS WORLD. I probably have as many or maybe a few more “straight friends ” than I have “gay friends”, to be honest. I’ve laughed, danced til I was ready to drop! I tried pot, and inhailed, yes Bill, it was fun! I have lived in huge cities, Dallas, Chicago, New York City, Indianapolis, Louisville, Jacksonville Beach ,TULSA, Kansas City, New Orleans, led a double life because it was hard to be totally gay in the 60’s. Now, more pepople have met, have had children that have turned out gay, and I
can honestly say to you, I would not want to be any other way, at times it would have been easier to be “straight”. I feel I would have been a total fake to everyone, and a hippocrate, even to myself!
I’m glad I found out there were other people like me.(gay)..everywhere! These people who kill dismenber , mame, burn animals like cats and dogs and horses,you’d better keep an eye out on them! At first they get their jollies & practice from killing animals but then they work their way up to kids, and finally attack adults and seniors. And for what? The THRILL?I think I would have to give em a gun and send a bunch of them over to war with the alkita and Big Ben.lol.
Would that give them a crown in GLORY? I think not. They sometimes get caught, go on trial, are sentenced to die, and take another 10-20 years of hearing, and still ends up they are to be full time prisioner… Who pays for their upkeep while waiting to die? You and I brother’s and sisters! Is it right to kill whoever they want and get a slap on the wrist of 8 years? This world needs to be civilized again, government needs to be trimmed, manufacturers need to make products that are WORTH what they are asking. Pride should be instilled & taken in their work, them selves, their homes. We need to instill, & get rid of the old ways of keeping the common man POOR! In the end however we are offered a slice of carrott cake,but we are given a rag flavored with vinigar..
Thanks for the story MIKE, it sure got me to thinking.. Thank God I am 65, with the health problems , hopefully I won’t be around for the final count down..My life right now has been full, fun, educational and I have no regrets what so ever. Even alone I know am loved by friends, and believe me, that’s a good
feeling,,, Enjoy your journey through the rest of your lives.. Be BRAVE enough to be able to stand up for who and wHAT YOU ARE!
The Best of LIFE to YOU!
Bobby H was here!
What Mike said.
People who suffer bullying are likely to become bullies themselves.
The battle for a humane world is not about nobility, it is about fairness.
—
Thanks, Mike.
Mike S:
well said.
Takoma,
Good story with your mother. My whole career was working with people who were in some way disadvantaged and I learned that they have the right, like everyone else, to not be noble. Part of the difficulty that some of those fighting to end racism and injustice in the world is to tend to ascribe nobility to those they are fighting for. no group is per se “noble.” The battle for a humane world is not about nobility, it is about fairness. The assumption that by dint of a particular person’s race or ethnicity, they are somehow “more noble” is in itself bigotry.
@ Mike Spindell:
“People who suffer from racism and bigotry are no more likely than anyone else not to also harbor bigotry of their own.”
That’s so true. While growing up in Africa, I once heard my mom voice her bewilderment at the apartheid policy in South Africa (though she lived under the apartheid-like regime of the Belgian Congo). But I was also bewildered, as I knew she hated pygmies. So, I confronted her about her own prejudices. Without missing a bit she retorted: “Blacks and whites and Asians are humans; whereas pygmies are subhumans!”… Here in the US, African-Americans often mock Africans from Africa and Haitians (accent, clothing, etc). I overheard this African-American lady at a shopping mall telling her friend who was mulling buying some dress: “You wear that, hon, and people would think you are a Haitian woman!”… This is prejudice and insensitivity of the most vicious kind, because if you were to yell racism, no one would believe you as it’s black on black!…
An Arkansas 10-year-old says he won’t pledge to the flag until gays and lesbians have equal rights.
Here’s a kid shining the light, with his old man by his side.
http://www.cnn.com/video/
Boy won’t pledge allegiance.
It’s stories like this that make my head explode when I hear those morons who insist that homosexuality isn’t an inherent trait (like having blue eyes or being left-handed) but is a conscious choice on the part of the individual. What person would CHOOSE to adopt a lifestyle knowing the kind of hatred and vitriol that lifestyle would bring them throughout their lives?
“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”– Blaise Pascal
The read in the article states that he “IS” gay should that not be “WAS?”
Did anyone ever hear of that sad situation out in Big Sky country where a student was killed for the same?
The PR should be good on all fronts.
Thanks AY
This is heartbreaking.
People who suffer from racism and bigotry are no more likely than anyone else not to also harbor bigotry of their own. Puerto Rico is an overwhelmingly Catholic Island and culturally macho. Its residents in general show little tolerance for male homosexuals. This is sadly true in many places where people stung by bigotry nonetheless fail to extend a sense of empathy to others.
In a strange analogy think of the term PWT (poor white trash) used in our southern states. Having suffered prejudice and political impotence caused by a disparagement of their poverty, the recipients of such offensive terminology look at Black people with disdain.
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world. NOT!
Louis was stonded when he recorded that song! 😉