Police in Detroit released a sketch Thursday of the man
suspected of killing Andrew Anthos, a 72-year-old
disabled gay man whose dream was to light the Michigan
state capitol dome red, white, and blue for
Independence Day.
Anthos died
February 23, 10 days after a fellow bus rider, spouting
antigay slurs, paralyzed him with a blow from behind with a
metal pipe. Police have since questioned several
people aboard the bus, including the wheelchair-using
friend Anthos was helping through the snow when he was
struck.
"I promised two
things--that I would get the dome lit and [pass] hate
crimes [legislation]," Anthos's niece, Athena Fedenis, told
Gay.com on Thursday. "I don't think I'll be getting
enough rest till this is all done."
At Wednesday's
funeral in Center Line, Mich., Fedenis said, about 80
people gathered to share memories of Anthos and how he had
touched their lives. They included friends, loved
ones, and folks from the post office and library
branch from which Anthos used to post and e-mail his
voluminous correspondence. The Singing Librarians, a chorale
of Detroit Public Library workers, performed two
numbers, one by Gershwin and one from Show Boat
that had been sung by Anthos's beloved Ava
Gardner.
"I can handle the
R-E-E-L world," Detroit Free Press columnist
Susan Ager remembered Anthos telling her, "but the
R-E-A-L world scares me."
Melissa Pope,
director of victim services for Michigan's Triangle
Foundation, described the tribute as "very loving. Different
branches of the family had never met prior to this
horrific murder," Pope said. "They felt Andrew had
brought them together."
A candlelight
vigil is planned Friday in front of his Detroit apartment,
near where he was fatally attacked. It will be at 6:30 p.m.
at Windsor Towers, 1600 Antietam.
Anthos's family
has set up a foundation to raise funds toward his dream
of lighting the dome. Donations can be made to Andrew's
Light, P.O. Box 66164, Roseville MI 48066.
Anyone with
information on the slaying is asked to call Detroit police
at (313) 596-2260 or anonymously call (800) SPEAK-UP.
(Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)
