Unity against right-win lynchings
By
Steven Ceci
Los Angeles
On Oct. 12 over 200 people came to West Hollywood to
commemorate the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student
who was brutally murder by two bigoted white youths in Laramie,
Wyo., a year ago.
The Stonewall Initiative for Equal Rights organized the
rally. The theme was "Say no to hate crimes." Most of the
speakers brought home the point that the people need unity and
solidarity to fight back against bias crimes.
Speakers included Gay Liberation Front founder Morris Kight;
the family of Joseph Ileto, the Filipino postal worker who was
killed three months ago by a neo-fascist in Los Angeles; John
Parker of the National People's Campaign; and Dele of the South
Central Coalition.
Other speakers represented Parents and Families of Gays,
Bienestar, a Latina AIDS outreach group, and many others. The
high point of the rally occurred when Matthew Shepard's best
friend from high school gave a rousing speech. He explained how
Shepard always reached out to other students, particularly
those of other cultures.
And he said Shepard would be so proud to see the diversity
of the people that came out for him--Black, white, Latino,
Asian, gay, bi, straight and transgender.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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