About 20 members of Join the Impact Austin gathered at the south gate of the Texas Capitol on Tuesday night to mourn the victims of recent hate crimes against members of the gay community.
The group formed a circle to express their emotions about the brutal murder of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, a gay man, in Puerto Rico and share their own stories of discrimination.
Mercado was found on the side of an empty road. His body had been partially burned, decapitated and dismembered. A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with first degree murder by Puerto Rican authorities, but has not been charged with any hate crime.
“It’s just absolutely appalling,” said Tiffany Bishop, a member of Join the Impact. “I feel disgusted, sad, angry. It’s just a myriad of emotions.”
She said Mercado was murdered because he was gay, and the first response by the authorities in Puerto Rico was bigotry.
“People who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen,” a Puerto Rican police officer investigating the case remarked on local television.
Bishop said this type of prejudice isn’t unique to Puerto Rico. She said she experienced this intolerance first-hand in the Navy, where she served for four years.
“‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is the policy, but they ask, and ask, and ask,” Bishop said. “I had to conceal who I really was.”
Will Finlay, a member of Join the Impact Austin, said in order for someone from the GLBT community to publicly embrace his or her community, he or she must be made to feel safe because hate crimes are meant to terrorize the gay community.
“It’s important to be able to be out and feel safe about being out,” Finlay said.
He added that authorities need a better understanding of hate crimes to prevent further violence from occurring.
“Unfortunately, there has been an increase in hate crimes in the U.S.,” said Mike Corwin, also a member of the group. “There have been vigils all across Texas.”
FBI statistics from 2009 show an 11 percent increase in hate crimes targeting the GLBT community between 2005 and 2008.
Law student Angela Brown, vice president of UT’s OUTlaw, an organization that attempts to diminish homophobia at the University’s School of Law, said there has been progress in the acceptance of gays in the U.S., but much work remains to be done.
“There are a number of law students who haven’t been exposed to the queer community,” she said.
Dana Cloud, a communication studies professor, said hate is a disease.
“I think hatred is not born in people,” she said. “Actually, it’s the way society trains and socializes us.”
Cloud said leaders must be held accountable for not doing more to prevent hate crimes.
“The best way to end hatred is to rise up and demand to be recognized as an individual and as fully human,” she said.
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