American Civil Liberties Union

All week the ACLU of Puerto Rico has been closely following the brutal murder of 19 year-old gay man Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado. After learning the details of what happened to Mercado, the affiliate is now urging commonwealth prosecutors to investigate the murder as a hate crime.

A suspect in the killing was arrested several days ago. From news accounts there appears to be evidence that the murder may have been a hate crime. According to an article in the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, the accused claims that he hired Mercado as a prostitute whom he thought was a woman. When he discovered that Mercado was a man, the accused says a fight broke out and that it was Mercado who pulled out a knife. The accuser’s assertion that he was merely acting in self defense rings false, especially when you consider that the crime took place in his apartment and he admitted to desecrating Mercado’s body, cutting off his head and limbs. The accused, who has been arrested four times for domestic violence, confessed to the police that he hates gay men because he was once raped while in jail in 2003. The location where the accused claims to have first encountered Mercado is frequented by transsexual prostitutes. Even with the stunning admission that the accused hated gay men, the commonwealth filed murder charges and will not be prosecuting as a hate crime. Since 2002, the commonwealth has had a sentencing guideline amendment to it’s penal code that directs the court to consider more severe sentencing when it is requested by the prosecutor. Yet, no one has ever been prosecuted under the law despite belief that there have been many crimes that have been motivated by hate. Prosecuting the crime as a hate crime wouldn’t likely affect the punishment in this case, but it would send a powerful message that the commonwealth now intends to take hate crime law seriously. The affiliate has already received hundreds of e-mails and calls from throughout Puerto Rico and the U.S. asking the ACLU to put pressure on the commonwealth to prosecute the case as a hate crime. We will be turning these letters over to the Puerto Rico Secretary of Justice next Monday. But the more letters the better.

Tonight, our Maryland affiliate is co-sponsoring the premiere of a new documentary, “Maryland Voices of Equality.” The film, which is directed by noted filmmaker and African American lesbian activist Kalima Young, highlights the work of Maryland Black Family Alliance (MBFA), which is an alliance of straight African American leaders who are working to educate the black community about the importance of fairness, justice, and equality for lesbian and gay families.

If you happen to live in Maryland and would like to attend tonight’s screening at Coppin State University at 7, you can rsvp here. If you can’t make the premiere, you can watch the documentary on YouTube.

We have learned that the Department of Justice will not be seeking an appeal in transgender veteran Diane Schroer’s victory against the Library of Congress. This is, of course, great news. It means that our case against the Library of Congress is final and that the groundbreaking federal court decision ruling that transgender people are protected by Title VII will stand. It shows that the Obama administration had decided to put some muscle behind its promises to help end discrimination against transgender peoples. And it means that Diane won’t have to wait through a lengthy appeal process before getting the $491,190 that is due her from the government for the discrimination she faced by the Library of Congress.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a classroom discussion on bullying at the University of Puerto Rico High School in San Juan. Our Puerto Rico chapter is working with a number of students at the school who have developed a very effective anti-bullying presentation. I got to see the presentation being given to a 10th grade history class of about 25 students.