Waymon Hudson, president and co-founder of Fight OUT Loud, a national non-profit organization dedicated to empowering GLBT individuals and their allies to fight discrimination and hate, shared his first hand account of the vigil held in response to the murder of Simmie Williams. They gathered at the site in Broward County where Williams was slain. The 17-year-old was killed for not conforming to gender norms, but there has been rash of anti-gay, anti-trans hate crimes in the area that drew victims of hate and community officials together, including Melbourne Brunner, who was attacked for merely saying hello to a fellow resident at a restaurant.

Yesterday’s vigil for Simmie Williams Jr, a 17 year-old gay youth murdered on Sistrunk Blvd, was truly an honor to be a part of. Seeing a community come together to mourn the senseless death of a young man, offering the family both emotional and monetary support, made me proud of the tremendous strength that the LGBT community has shown in the face of hate and violence. We truly proved that we are all one family.

We encourage people to continue to give to help offset the cost of the funeral and donate to the reward fund set up to encourage tips. Donations for funeral costs can be made to the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida and contributions towards reward money for catching Simmie’s murders can be made to Broward Crime Stoppers.

More of Waymon’s account and additional photos are below the fold.

Yesterday was not just about remembering a life, but also about shining a light on the hatred and violence the LGBT community faces on a daily basis. Hearing the heart-breaking stories of hate crimes survivors, like Melbourne Brunner, who was gay-bashed on the streets of Fort Lauderdale, and Adam Hopper, now permanently disabled from an attack in Brevard County, show the serious issues facing our community. We can no longer afford to sit silently by while members of our community are targeted for simply being who they are. Our tears of sadness must change to shouts for change.

While it was encouraging to see several political and community leaders at the vigil, it is still not enough.

Fight OUT Loud demands that all leaders, from every level of government, speak out and denounce this type of violence and hate. We call on the all the municipalities and the counties in the area to pass strong resolutions stating that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. We need all of our leaders, including Governor Crist, to step up and diffuse the growing hate and dangerous atmosphere that is brewing in South Florida and across the nation.

No one deserves to live in fear. No community should be dehumanized and degraded by violence and hate-filled rhetoric. We have now seen the all too real effects of the bigoted words of Jim Naugle and other voices of hate that speak out to marginalize our lives and demonize us. We have seen the violence that hate-speech can lead to. We will no longer stand for this.

Wayne also emailed me these personal comments (that he gave permission to share) about the violence that has struck his community.

I will say that writing a personal account of this has been extremely hard. As someone who has never fit into the gender norm and has too often been harassed for being gay, this hits so close to home. Anthony and I suffered severe backlash and death threats after this summer and I can’t help but think that this could have easily been one of us.

I think what affected me the most was seeing and speaking to Adam Hopper, who is my age and very much like me, now confined to a wheel chair after surviving a recent gay-bashing. He had tears coming down his face as he talked about the pain he lives with everyday and how scared he is of the surgeries he will soon face. The pain our community is going through is almost to much to describe.

While the sadness in my heart is overwhelming, the outrage continues to grow. I refuse to sit by and let these incidents pass by unnoticed. Our community is under attack and I cannot sit by and let more lives be shattered by hate.

I just wonder how Mayor Jim Naugle and the religious leaders who threatened to “take back the streets” from the gay community sleep at night, knowing what has been transpiring in the wake of their horrible statements. Here’s a flashback to a taste of the paranoia and homophobia in Fort Lauderdale that covered at the Blend last year.

First, the homosex-obsessed mayor, Jim Naugle, who enraged the gay community (and thinking people everywhere) with the ludicrous assertion that a timed potty paid for by the taxpayers was essential in order to stop “an attempt by gays to take over Fort Lauderdale.” He claimed that:

“We’re trying to provide a family environment where people can take their children who need to use the bathroom without having to worry about a couple of men in there engaged in a sex act.”

and

“I want to apologize to the children and parents of our community for not being aware of the problem.'’

and

“I have longtime friends in the homosexual community.”
– Naugle, in the NYT. He later goes on to say “Frankly, people have been complacent with all this inclusiveness, political correctness. Our goal is to change behavior.”

The problem, of course, was that the Fort Lauderdale Police Department said public restroom sex at the beaches was not an issue. But that didn’t stop Naugle from making new homophobic friends, including a paramilitary-clad local “man of God.”

“The NAACP is getting away from their mission . . . the organization never got involved with sex sins. Homosexuals have masterfully redefined words to suit their cause . . . theirs is not a civil rights issue. It’s the first time the branch has taken a public stand on behalf of gay rights.”
–Mathes Guice, the paramilitary-clad director of the men’s ministry at Koinonia Worship Center and former vice president of the Broward NAACP. Guice also called for a “spiritual revival” to “transform Fort Lauderdale and Broward County into the Bible Belt of South Florida’ because the LGBT community has “led the spiritual community on a collision course with Satan.”The now-deleted Myspace page for the Koinonia Worship Center featured audio of gun fire and battle sounds.

Waymon Hudson and Anthony Niedwiecki deserve kudos for putting themselves out there to give voice to the voiceless after their own headline-grabbing encounter with rank homophobia. Their grassroots effort to make a difference bolsters those who live in fear.