Jason Howard Green

Jason Howard Green

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Celebrate Black Queer Voices: Feb 20 - Sakia Gunn

 


Sakia Gunn was fifteen years old when she was murdered.  A young girl killed after a night out having fun with her friends.  After hanging out in Greenwich Village she attempted to return home when she and her friend were confronted by two men hitting on them.  Sakia adamantly declared herself a lesbian and made it clear she was not interested in their advances.  Unfortunately, these men who would not take no for an answer attacked the girls.  Sakia was stabbed in the chest and the men fled the scene. Although she was rushed to a nearby hospital, Sakia Gunn would succumb to her injury.  She died that night.

Sakia was killed in 2003.  When it first happened the crime did not receive much media attention.  But luckily, some people cared enough to not let this go away without receiving the attention it deserved.  A fifteen year old girl was killed.  Just 5 years prior, Matthew Shepard was killed. The murder of  this teenaged, cisgendered, white gay male garnered national attention and resulted in the passing of hate crime legislation aimed to protect the LGBT community.  Unfortunately, when the gay or trans person that is killed is a person of color, it seems nobody cares.

The film Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Project delves into the life of Sakia Gunn and simultaneously examines this bias against and invisibility of queer & trans people of color.  Get into the trailer below:


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