I do not understand this and I pray I never will.

By Gary Konecky

I do not understand this and I pray I never will. I do not understand what type of person
or people could do such a thing. I do not understand how a police officer could condone
such an outrage. From this news report, from personally seeing the New York Police
Department in action and from seeing the Fair Lawn, NJ Police Department in action, I
do understand that the police are unwilling to enforce hate crime laws when the victim is
a gay male.

Gay Puerto Rican Teen Decapitated,

Dismembered, and Burned
http://www.towleroad.com/2009/11/gay-puerto-rican-teen-decapitated-dismembered-and-
burned.html

Over the weekend the brutalized body of gay teen George Steven Lopez Mercado was
found by the side of a road in Puerto Rico. The police investigator suggested that he
deserved what he got because of the "type of lifestyle" he was leading.

According to an iReport by Chrisopher Pagan:

"On November 14 the body of a gay 19 year old was found a few miles away from the
town in which he was residing in called Caguas. He was a very well known person in the
gay community of Puerto Rico, and very loved. He was found on the site of an isolated
road in the city of Cayey, he was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both
arms, both legs, and the torso. This has caused a huge reaction from the gay community
here, but its a difficult situation. Never in the history of Puerto Rico has a murder been
classified as a hate crime. Even though we have to follow federal mandates and laws,
many of the laws in which are passed in the USA such as Obama’s new bill, do not
always directly get practiced in Puerto Rico. The police agent that is handling this case
said on a public televised statement that 'people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be
aware that this will happen'. As If the boy murdered Jorge Steven Lopez was asking to
get killed..."

Here's a report on the murder (in Spanish) from

PrimeraHora.com. Said activist Pedro Julio Serrano: "It is inconceivable that the
investigating officer suggests that the victim deserved his fate, like a woman deserves
rape for wearing a short skirt. We demand condemnation of this investigator and demand
that Superintendente Figueroa Sancha replace him with someone capable of investigating
this case without prejudice." (my translation, please suggest a better one if you can).