The murder of a young gay activist in Puerto Rico is reverberating in Chicago. We report from our West Side bureau.
The body of Jorge Steven López Mercado, 19, turned up decapitated and burned November 13 along a road in central Puerto Rico. Authorities are holding a suspect and prosecuting the case as a murder but, so far, not a hate crime.
That’s angering organizers of protests this weekend in more than a half-dozen U.S. cities. Ruben Feliciano is helping organize a vigil in Chicago, which has one of the country’s largest Puerto Rican communities.
FELICIANO: This is a civil-rights issue.
Feliciano says he’s also trying to counter a myth:
FELICIANO: That Latinos are more homophobic than others. We have come a long way. There’s all these grassroots movements taking place here in Humboldt Park, spaces for young LGBTQ community.
Those spaces include an AIDS outreach organization, a planned youth homeless shelter, and a new activist group called Boricua Pride.
The vigil to remember López Mercado begins Sunday at 4 p.m. at Division and California.
