Puerto Rican Pop Stars Honor Hate Crime Victim's Memory

by Juliet Blalack · 2009-12-18 08:30:00 UTC
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Merengue singer Olga TanonLast month, Puerto Rican teenager George Steven Lopez Mercado's body was found burned, decapitated, and dismembered by the side of the road in the town of Cayay. The openly gay 19-year-old was murdered in what is now being prosecuted as a hate crime.

The police investigator who handled Mercado's case had this to say in a television interview: "Someone like that, who does those kind of things, and goes out in public, knows full well that this might happen to him."

Fortunately, much of Puerto Rico disagrees with this hate-crime-apologist rhetoric. Not only were there vigils in support of Mercado in San Juan, the capital city; not only did his mother, Miriam Mercado, tell the world, "When my son told me he was gay, I told him, 'Now I love you more'"; but recently, three huge pop icons from the island also spoke out against homophobia.

At the San Juan vigil held in Mercado's honor, former Miss Universe Denise Quiñones marched in solidarity with Mercado and his family and said, "It's so important that all of us give an example ... all of society, the politicians, our leaders ... to break this cycle of hate, of inequality, of homophobia."

Rene Perez, singer for the hugely successful and 10-time-grammy-nominated reggaeton band Calle 13, said at the same rally, "I am 'Homo' because I'm 'Homo-sapien', I am sexual, hence I am 'Homo-sexual' as well." Perez later posted the same phrase on his Twitter account, which has over 100,000 followers.

The island's most popular merengue singer, Ola Tanon, applauded her fellow artists for their support of Mercado, then raised the advocacy bar herself. Tanon, who has worked with stars ranging from American rapper Pitbull to Egyptian pop star Hakim, devoted all of her December 9th radio show to discussing LGBT rights.

"As artists, it is our responsibility to carry the correct message, a message of unity, of tolerance, of acceptance, of respect towards a way of being [...] To use the name of God to separate someone and treat them differently is a very ugly thing. I have fans who have told me that they do not want to go on living because of rejection from their homophobic parents and that is something we have to act upon," Tanon said in an interview with Spanish-language news website Primera Hora.

While it is impossible to see a silver lining to a hate crime, these stars' strong resolve to combat homophobia provide hope that it can be Puerto Rico's last.

"[Mercado] must be happy to see ... all the consciousness this has created," said Quiñones.

(Image courtesey of eddie_dese's Flickr photostream)


Juliet Blalack writes about LGBT rights, with a focus on international issues. She previously lived in Cairo, Egypt.
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