TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Thousands of New Yorker, including mayoral candidate, Christine Quinn, went on the streets of Manhattan as a protest of a murder of a gay man, on Monday.
"We are here, we are freak. Homophobia, got to go," chanted by the protesters to honor the death of Mark Carson.
Mark Carson (32) was killed after being shot in the head of Friday night, local time, in Greenwich Village, not far from 1969 riot site that initiated modern gay rights. He was shot to death by a man that shouted him and threatened to kill his male companion.
"You want to die tonight?" said the murder suspect, Elliot Morales (33), as testified by the witness. "It is clear that the victim was killed only because he was thought to be gay," said Ray Kelly, New York Chief of Police.
Carson murder went on viral and received great concern from New York gay community. Prior to this incident, there was "Stonewall Riot" in 1969, a threshold to modern gay rights.
"A lot of people thought, when same-sex marriage laws passed in this state, that everything would automatically get better, but changing people minds takes longer," said writer Marissa Higgins (23), who wed her wife Danielle in February.
Flourine Bompars, Carson’s aunt, was along the protesters said that the family wanted justice so that the death would not go in vain.
More than 25 gay rights groups, including GLAAD, the New York Anti-Violence Project and the Human Rights Campaign, joined the rally. Mayoral candidate, Quinn, who also heads the city council is a gay, and she invited many New York celebrities in her gay marriage.
Fabio Cotza, a gay and a member of interfaith church in Bronx, said "This murder is really terrifying me, especially that it took place in the neighborhood."
AL JAZEERA | HUFFINGTONPOS | CHOIRUL
