Reply #248: Nicholus Ray West

[Horse with no Name]

http://www.ntimc.org/newswire.php?story_id=5125

Thirteen years ago, on November 30, 1993, three thugs met Nicholus Ray West at a Tyler Texas park, kidnapped him, robbed him, stripped him, beat him, and drove him 20 miles away to a desolate road.

They shot him nine times and left him to die, which he did. The gang admitted they killed him because he was gay. The police apprehended the gang and their leader, Donald Aldrich, received a death sentence.

This outrageous event was a source of conversation all over Texas for months. East Texan gay and lesbian activists, in conjunction with the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, held a memorial and "Stop the Hate Rally" in Tyler on December 11, 1993 getting national media coverage.

It's now 13 years later and where are we? Wonderfully, there is now a campus Gay-Straight Alliance at the University of Texas at Tyler, the school has a written policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and gay, lesbian, and bisexual people are far more wiling to be open about their sexuality than before.