Vigils Held for Slain Gay Puerto Rican Teen

Vigils were held Sunday evening in locations including New York City and San Francisco to remember slain gay Puerto Rico teen Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado and to call for justice in his murder. The body of the 19-year-old was found decapitated, dismembered, and partially burned along a roadside in central Puerto Rico on November 13.

In New York City thousands of people attended the vigil held at Pier 46 on Christopher Street in the West Village. City council speaker Christine Quinn, who was joined by leaders including Jarrett Barrios of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, called for the murder to be prosecuted as an antigay hate crime under the recently passed federal statute.

Police in Puerto Rico have arrested a 26-year-old suspect, Juan A. Martinez Matos, and charged him with first-degree murder and weapons violations. Activists are concerned his attorney may attempt to use a "gay panic" defense, claiming that Matos, who picked the teen up in an area known for prostitution, thought the victim was a woman, and attacked him after he realized he was a man.