The Chicago City Council adopted a resolution Dec. 2 regarding Puerto Rico teen Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, who was found murdered Nov. 14 in the commonwealth. Mercado, who was gay, was found decapitated, partially burned and dismembered on an isolated street.
The resolution, signed by Aldermen Manny Flores ( 1st Ward ) and Tom Tunney ( 44th Ward ) , calls for, among other things, the council's Committee on Human Relations to conduct a study of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes in Chicago. Below is the resolution in its entirety:
WHEREAS, On Saturday, November 14th, 2009, 19-year old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was brutally murdered and found on a road in the town of Cayey, Puerto Rico; and
WHEREAS, Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado's violent murder was motivated by homophobia and transphobia; and
WHEREAS, In 2008, the Federal Bureau of lnvestigation reported 9,168 hate crimes resulting from a bias toward a particular race, religion, ethnicity; national origin, disability or sexual orientation; and
WHEREAS, The perpetrators of hate crimes seek to dehumanize their victims and to strike fear and terror on specific groups of people in our society; and
WHEREAS, It is believed that many hate crimes motivated by homophobia or transphobia are underreported or go unreported; and
WHEREAS, We should honor the memory of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado by fully assessing the prevalence of hate crimes in Chicago motivated by homophobia and transphobia; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago should strive to be a national leader in the advocacy of human rights for all its citizens, regardless of sexual orientation or preference; and
WHEREAS, It is imperative that a culture of tolerance and understanding be established to discourage hate crime, and appropriate human rights legislation be enacted to allow for the full prosecution of these crimes; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Mayor and Members of the Chicago City Council assembled here this 2nd day of December, 2009, do hereby request that the City Council Committee on Human Relations conduct a hearing to fully evaluate and analyze hate crimes motivated by homophobia and transphopia in the City of Chicago and to hear from the Chicago Police Department and from pertinent non-for-profit organizations serving Chicago's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer community.
In related news, Juan Martinez Matos, who is charged with killing 19-year-old Puerto Rican Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, has been ordered to undergo a mental evaluation, Advocate.com reported. According to an e-mail journalist Christopher Pagan sent to the Web site Towleroad, "the psychological evaluation that was performed on Juan was in the total amount of thirty minutes. ... [ H ] e was noted to have anxiety, flashbacks, nightmares, and was unable to remember the events of that gruesome night, when he beat, burned, decapitated and dismembered Jorge." The next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2010.
