Good morning, pornies. I hope you've been well. Today I wanted to share some sad news with you, although chances are you already know about this event and that it is not surprising for some, but I can't stop writing about it because it is another reason for which to keep working towards equality and educating non-queers. On July 3 of this year, Samuel Luiz was killed in what has been called a homophobic attack. Spanish police are still investigating.
On that night, he was with hanging out in A Coruña, Galicia, and had a videocall with a friend. While walking on the streets, a guy and a girl thought they were being filmed. When the guy shouted "you will either stop filming, or I'll kill you, faggot", Samuel said "why are you calling me a faggot?" Then he was beaten the first time.
A friend and a man managed to stop the fight and the couple left. Samuel asked his friend if she could get his phone back, but while she was away, the couple came back with more people, making a group of 12, and beat him to death. Samuel was only 24 years old and was working as a nursing assistant.
Samuel was a closeted gay guy to his family, and his father said in an interview that when he touched on the subject with his son, Samuel didn't want to continue the conversation. The police have said they don't rule out any possibility, but that so far they don't have any real reason to suspect this is a hate, homophobic attack. Let's point to the fact that Samuel was called "faggot," "subnormal," and "son of a bitch". That's all I'm gonna say.
This is even more surprising when we learn that Spain is one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world, the second, actually, according to Nomadic Boys, with Barcelona and Madrid being really popular as gay cities. It worries me a lot that there hasn't been any progress in the investigation, only pointing at some of the suspects, almost all of them with a violent history with the police, some even being minors.
This reminds me a lot to the killing of Alireza Fazeli Monfared, the Iranian guy who was beheaded by his own family when he was outed as a gay by a military exemption card. In this case, there was no card and no family, but both men had plans to become someone important, they were young, and were working to make this world a better place.
Samuel was a healer, a kind soul, and I have read over and over again testimonies of his friends that describe him as compassionate and noble. I can only wonder what kind of man he would have become had he not been out that night. Maybe he would have been just another gay guy in Galicia, maybe he would have been an inspiration like he is now that his life was cut short, but with the possibility to do something bigger. We can only wonder.
Samuel's Healing Prayer
Words like knives were thrown around you,
Violence was your judge and tomb,
Yet you cared for old friends and new,
Yet they used their fists like stones.
Secrets you kept in fear and pain,
Secrets you swallowed and kept in the dark,
Secrets to stay away from disdain,
Secrets that now are out in the light.
Rise and shine and fly so high,
Your name we'll write in every star,
To heal the wounds of those in silence,
Stop the wounds before they happen.
With information from:
- Huffington Post España (#1 and #2).
- Telecinco.
- Pink News.
- El Español.
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