Asterisk

This seems to have turned into Attack A Gay Teen week. At least JayRon isn’t dead.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We need to protect ourselves. Those with the authority or ability to help have made it clear over and over and over and over and over and over that they’d rather see us attacked (or worse) than treat us like human beings. I’m 100% dead serious. Protect yourself.

According to the 16-year-old, the attack took place off campus. He said a fellow student beat him after school while eight others stood around and watched. Martin believes he was beaten because he’s gay.

“All they kept saying was, ‘We going to get you. We going to fight you,’ and all that and so when they started coming after me they were like, ‘You’re not going to be gay anymore.’ They just kept hitting me,” he said.

Hours before the incident, JayRon Martin said a friend told him a group was planning to attack him. The teen said he talked with two administrators about his concerns. The administrators took a written statement from him, said Martin.

“I sat down in the cafeteria and I started writing the letter and so then I handed it to them and they said, ‘We are going to call y’all down and stuff like that,’” he said.

Martin said he was never called to the office, and the administrator didn’t call his mother.

At the end of the school day, Martin said he rode the bus home. The group threatening Martin was riding the same bus. Martin said he told his bus driver, but nothing happened. The teen said the group ran after him as he got off the bus.

“You don’t understand, I was just running for my life and nobody was like there at all. Nobody was doing anything for me,” said Martin.

Martin said the group chased him, and he ran into one of his neighbors’ home. While there, Martin said, one of the teens beat him for seven minutes with a pipe. He said the attack didn’t stop until the man who lives in that home came downstairs. “Then the man came down with his shotgun and he was like, ‘Y’all need to stop. Y’all need to stop,’ And the boy wouldn’t stop and he just kept hitting me and hitting me and so he cocked his gun and that’s when he ran out,” Martin said.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested the 16-year-old who beat Martin. The accused teen is facing aggravated assault charges. His case is in the juvenile court system, and those records are sealed. No other arrests have been made at this time.

On Wednesday, Cy-Fair School District officials said they have launched an investigation. They said they have placed Martin’s bus driver on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation. The district is also reviewing the actions of an assistant principal.

“I’m disgusted,” said the teen’s mother Lakenya Martin. “I’m sorry, after the fact doesn’t do it. The school district let us down. I mean, let all of us down because it could have been anyone’s kid.”

The Cy-Fair mother said she wants to move away from the neighborhood and out of the school district.

“When the child does what they’re supposed to do and the adult doesn’t, what are you supposed to say then? How do you make him feel comfortable? How do you give him back that sense of security,” she said.

Martin suffered a concussion. He also has cuts and bruises on his arms and hands, and said he does not want to return to school.

Meanwhile, the Martin family has retained an attorney and is considering a civil lawsuit.

In case you missed it, the bus driver is still getting paid and the two assistant principals are still in charge of children’s safety. I’d call it unbelievable, but we know better than that, don’t we?

Stand tall, JayRon and Mrs. Martin, and please plug into the Houston LGBT community for support. You are not alone!

I just don’t know what to say anymore.

The Baltimore Sun has the story of another LGBT person being murdered. This one happened last Wednesday, though I hadn’t heard of it until today.

Last week, at his aunt’s house, one of the few occupied homes on a block boarded and sagging, Jason Mattison Jr. was found dead – raped, gagged with a pillowcase, stabbed repeatedly in the head and throat, and shoved into an upstairs closet. Jason’s killing left his teachers, classmates and relatives in tears and family members asking questions of one another even in the days leading up to today’s funeral.

Did Jason leave his mother’s house and move in with his aunt, as his grandmother suggested? Or was he just visiting on that fateful day, as a cousin said? And why did people in his aunt’s house open their door to the suspect, a convicted killer released early from prison because of flaws in his case?

“From now on, we do have to take more care in who we let in and who we trust,” said Jason’s cousin, Laquanna Couplin, who lives in the house on Llewellyn Avenue where Jason was killed.

She described Dante Parrish, 35, who is charged with first-degree murder in the case, as a longtime family friend, but she would not say whether he lived there or visited.

“He was a terrific boy, and we miss him very much,” Couplin said. “We’re hoping that justice is served and that the person who is responsible for this goes to prison and doesn’t get out.”

Of Jason, she said, “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.”

But his paternal grandmother, Wanda Williams, one of the first Jason confided in about being gay and who handed him a few dollars now and then for food and clothes, questioned how other relatives could have allowed the boy to be in the same house with Parrish, given his violent past.

“I haven’t cried so much this entire life,” Williams said. “My grandson hollering for help and there is nobody there to help him.”

The day Jason’s body was found, it was Couplin who called police, at 3 a.m. Nov. 10. She reported that someone had broken into the house and stolen a television from the living room. A police officer came and wrote a larceny report.

Couplin called police again at 5:09 a.m., saying that she saw blood on a banister leading to the second floor. She also reported Jason missing.

Police found his body in the back of a second-floor closet. Charging documents say that “several witnesses were identified and positively identified defendant Dante Parrish as the person responsible for this act.” Couplin said she now believes the missing television was a diversion to make it look like a break-in.

Police arrested Parrish two days later at a convenience store on Moravia Road. A department spokesman said Parrish confessed to the killing the next day and is being held without bail.

Jason Mattison, Jr.
1994 - 2009

The article also contains some remembrances of Jason from his friends and family. (I’m blurbing. Click through to read the entire article.)

Jason was one of the most popular kids at school, his English teacher said, always first to class, always first to the cafeteria, where students fought to sit at his table, always first to turn in his homework and always getting near-perfect grades.

“He was outspoken and excited about everything he talked about,” Jones said. “Walking into school, he was the first one to share what he did over the weekend. He was very, very popular, and he was everyone’s best friend.”

Jason wanted to be a pediatrician, Jones said, and the only thing the two debated was Jason’s constant chatter.

“He was not a behavioral problem,” Jones said. “He was a talking problem.”

But after every dispute, Jason eased the tension by laughing, smiling and saying: “It’s not that serious.”

The Vivian T. Thomas school has about 425 students, about 80 percent of them female, and Jason quickly gained friends with his eye for fashion. He dressed in bright colors and scarves, and if there was a hole in his jeans, he had put it there to make a statement.

Jason hated conformity. He wanted to change the spelling of his name to “Jaysen,” and that’s how his classmates remembered him on their cards.

“Normal was ugly to him,” Jones said.

Jatia Pledger, his best friend in high school, said girls at the school stuck up for Jason when boys gave him trouble: “We all had his back.”

Jason’s grandmother said the boy’s father was out of the picture and that she became the de facto authority figure. His mother did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment.

When Jason came out as gay, there was some dissension in the family and though Williams said she stood by her grandson, his declaration caught her off guard.

“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.”

Now, Jason’s family and friends are left to mourn – informally at a memorial service at the school Tuesday night, and formally at a funeral at 11 a.m. today at Unity United Methodist Church on Edmondson Avenue.

Many of his friends learned of Jason’s death from rumors on MySpace. They didn’t believe it until they arrived at school and found his chair empty and a somber English teacher to break the tragic news.

“We were in shock,” Jatia said. “We’re still in shock.”

Remembrances have filled Jason’s MySpace page, which contains one note that seems indisputable, even amid the questions swirling around this death.

It reads: “Mood: Jason is loved.”

I goddamn hate being right.

Jorge Steven López‘s murderer, arrested this morning, has confessed to the murder. The man is identified by El Nuevo Dia (horrible auto translation) as Juan Antonio Martínez Matos. As last time, I’ve made small changes in the translation for readability.

(Spanish-speaking readers can help by translating the article directly. Leave a comment or email me from the About page.)

Confessed Murderer Juan Antonio Martínez Matos

The prosecutor stated that Martinez Matos, a father of four children, went to the area of the town of Caguas “looking [for] women.” After being rejected [by] several females, Martinez Matos allowed López Mercado, who wore a blue suit and boots – to [enter his] vehicle.

The prosecutor explained that after Martinez Matos [noticed] that his companion was a man, [there was a discussion], during which young homosexual requested money, which was denied.

Subsequently, [...] López Mercado pulled a knife, [which was] grabbed [by] the assailant and was buried in [López Mercado's] neck.

The arrested [said that he thought] the person who had [entered] the car was a woman. However, upon learning that he was a man, [Martinez said that he was] angered, recalling that he had been sexually abused in prison while serving a sentence for domestic violence.

Bermudez said that there is no doubt that the murder of López Mercado [is] eligible for prosecution as a hate crime.

That’s the Gay Panic defense, just as we feared. The victim was A Homosexual, see, and Martinez couldn’t help himself on account of being raped in prison. He’s the victim, see!

Meanwhile, the staff of the Institute of Forensic Sciences (ICF) decided to inspect the septic tank of the residence [of the] confessed murderer.

In the courtyard of the apartment was found a wig, a [burned mattress], burned PVC pipe, a knife and blood stains on the wall.

Just in case anyone has forgotten, Martinez has confessed to murdering López, decapitating him, sawing off his arms and legs, and attempting to burn his body. Martinez is no innocent victim to be pitied.

As Pedro Sarrano said earlier in the day, the bottom line is that a 19-year-old gay man has been murdered at least in part because he was gay. He’s the one whose body was cut into pieces, and he’s the one whose version of events we’ll never know. As news services, prosecutors, and police begin to cast the confessed murderer in a sympathetic light, we don’t know how much of Martinez’s story is true.

When you come right down to it, it shouldn’t even matter. A victim’s sexuality is never an excuse for murder.

An arrest was made early this morning in Thursday’s brutal murder of Jorge Steven López*, reported here yesterday. The following is an auto-translation (with obvious readability corrections by me) of PrimeraHora.com’s article about the arrest.

An agent at Pereira Headquarters confirmed that it arrested a subject at a residence in the area of Los Beatriz Huertas neighborhood and seized two vehicles for research.

The information is provided by sources close to the murdered teenager. The figure was learned yesterday after extensive questioning friends of the victim in Caguas. Apparently this is a man who offered money for sex with López Mercado.

Thank God. My only worry is that the suspect may use a Gay Panic defense when this gets to trial.

Jorge Steven López Mercado
1990 - 2009

Well, there is a second worry. In a separate article (translation), human rights activist Pedro Julio Serrano spoke about the arrest.

Even if you blanket the presumption of innocence, it is encouraging that a suspect has been arrested for committing such heinous crime. We recognize, first of all, the work of the police who investigated this horrific killing quickly. We hope the investigation proves ultimately whether this murder was committed by sexual
orientation bias of Jorge Steven and if so, is prosecuted as a hate crime, with the full weight of law,” Serrano said in written communication.

In addition, Serrano asked not to divert attention to the circumstances in which this murder occurred and not prosecute the victim but the criminal who committed such a horrible crime.

“…do not divert attention from what is really important: a 19-year-old lost his life to be cruelly murdered by someone who had no compassion, even the slightest sensitivity to human dignity. Here we have to investigate, prosecute and give him his due process the criminal law. We cannot allow the prosecution in any way of a victim who no longer lives and can not defend himself,” declared the leader.

The arrested suspect has not been identified because he has not yet been formally charged.

* Steven’s full name is Jorge Steven López Mercado. This gringo had to look up the deal with many people dropping Mercado, and dropping it is correct usage.

Brace yourself. This one gets ugly fast.

The following was published late last night through CNN’s iReport network by Christopher Pagan about Thursday’s grisly murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado in Puerto Rico. (h/t TowleRoad)

I am writing to you about a tragic murder that has happened here in Puerto Rico. It has really only made local news simply because we are on this island, but you are the voice of those that are unheard throughout the world. On November 14 the body of a gay 19 year old was found a few miles away from the town in which he was residing in called Caguas. He was a very well known person in the gay community of Puerto Rico, and very loved. He was found on the site of an isolated road in the city of Cayey, he was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both arms, both legs, and the torso.

This has caused a huge reaction from the gay community here, but its a difficult situation. Never in the history of Puerto Rico has a murder been classified as a hate crime. Even though we have to follow federal mandates and laws, many of the laws in which are passed in the USA such as Obama’s new bill, do not always directly get practiced in Puerto Rico. The police agent that is handling this case said on a public televised statement that “people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen”. As If the boy murdered Jorge Steven López was asking to get killed.

We have a gay rights activist in Puerto Rico Pedro Julio Serrano. Who does his best to defend [against] these hateful acts, but the international attention is needed for this local government to wake up and give us the needed rights and proper justice to such hateful crimes. You are the biggest beacon of hope in such horrific events to be made known.

Jorge Steven López Mercado
1990 - 2009

According to Primera Hora, friends became worried (auto-translate from Google) last Thursday when Steven didn’t show up at Road to Diva, an event at local gay club Krash that he’d told friends earlier in the day that he would attend.

Puerto Rico Para Tod@s‘s Pedro Julio Serrano released a statement (in Spanish (pdf)) yesterday that reads in part:

It is inconceivable that the investigating officer suggests that the victim deserved his fate, like a woman deserves rape for wearing a short skirt. We demand condemnation of this investigator and demand that Superintendente Figueroa Sancha replace him with someone capable of investigating this case without prejudice.

This is why we fight, folks. Other attacks and indignities LGBT people suffer look slight in comparison to this murder, but it all comes from the same fear and hatred, and far too many people in straight America quietly agree with the investigator.

My prayers, insufficient as they are, go out to Steven’s family and friends.