She Didn't Have To Die
By Keith Boykin, in sexuality
Tuesday, May 13 2003, 12:48AM
A 15-year-old girl waiting for a bus in Newark, New Jersey was stabbed to death on Sunday when she told her attackers she was a lesbian. Those who claim gays and lesbians aren't discriminated against should talk to Sakia Gunn's mother. And those religious leaders who say they care about kids while they teach hatred of homosexuals should know the consequences of their hypocrisy.
Like many black LGBT teens in the New York area, Sakia Gunn spent Saturday in Greenwich Village. The area along Christopher Street has become very popular for black and Latino LGBT youth in recent years.
Sakia might have spent the evening hanging out with friends near Sheridan Square, chatting by the pier, or strolling the streets of the Village. She headed home to Newark early Sunday morning.
While waiting for a bus at Newark's Penn Station, Sakia and her female friends were approached by two men who made sexual advances at them. When the girls, ages 15-17, rebuffed the men and said they were lesbians, a fight ensued and Sakia Gunn was stabbed.
The suspects, identified as two black men wearing white T-shirts and bluejeans, fled in a white station wagon. The Essex County prosecutor's office determined that the murder was a hate crime.
That's where the official story ends from the news reports from WNBC, but the unofficial story continues.
No one knows the exact number of anti-gay hate crimes that take place each year because many hate crimes are unreported or not investigated as such. The same cultural climate that encourages hatred of homosexuals also discourages LGBT victims from reporting these incidents and creates a perception that minimizes the frequency and severity of these events.
That's why it appalls me when some conservatives suggest that gays and lesbians are seeking "special rights" by including sexual orientation in existing hate crimes laws. There's nothing special about the right to live freely.
I don't know what motivated the two men who killed Sakia Gunn, but I know they were not motivated by love. That's why we have to stop the culture of prejudice and violence that demonizes whole groups of people and then deputizes self-righteous critics and opportunistic thugs to take their lives.
It's also time to stand up to the right-wing bullies in the morality police. The religious conservatives who oppose teaching about homosexuality in the classroom so they can "protect" kids from abuse need to spend a little more time worrying about the kids who are already suffering abuse because of their sexual orientation.
We can and should pass laws to protect kids and punish criminals, but it's too late for Sakia. We live in a world of fear. It's a world where the constitution protects the right to carry lethal weapons but not the right for two women to express their love.
The only antidote to fear is love. No matter how much some people choose to hate, we can still live our lives with dignity and create a world where love is rewarded over fear. That won't bring Sakia Gunn back to life, but it will ensure that her death was not in vain.
Editor's Note: News accounts of this story have spelled the victim's name as "Shakia" and "Sakia." This article uses the latter spelling.