Tags
Human Rights Campaign, Lawrence v. Texas, LBGTQ, Sodomy Laws, Southern Poverty Law Center, Tyrone Garner
Reading Flagrant Conduct was an experience I treasured. I had known about the Lawrence v. Texas case for years, but the context surrounding the case had been a mystery before devouring these pages. I finished this book over a week ago, and the one thing that still plagues me is the death of Tyrone Garner. Mr. Garner died in 2006, and left without a burial for thirty-seven days. Yes, that’s right: thirty-seven days without a burial. Why? His family could not afford the cost of a burial. A fund was established to pay for these expenses, but after thirty-seven days Mr. Garner’s brother released Tyrone to the county for cremation at no cost. However, his brother did state he would like to have Mr. Garner’s remains placed in a metal urn instead of a plastic bag, and place an obituary in the paper. The fund had collected a dismal $225.00; in order to purchase the urn, and run the obituary it would cost the family a total of $430.00. Even this modest request from a community who had benefited so much from this man was not reached. To be extremely frank, this pissed me off. Where was Lambda? The legal team who had profited so much for the sacrifices he had made. Where was the HRC? Where were the gay-activists, and the rest of the community who were no longer seen as criminals because of this man, and Mr. Lawrence decided put their necks on the line and challenge their citation. Four hundred and thirty dollars was all this family was asking from a large community and we did nothing. We did nothing while Tyrone Garner sat for thirty-seven days without a burial.
In 2006 I was twenty-one years old. I hadn’t heard about Lawrence v. Texas, Lawrence, Garner, Lambda, HRC, or much else concerning the effort to include LBGTQ people in human rights. I was self-centered, paying little attention to politics or the movement. I did not know what was going on, but one of my favorite instructors, and mentor once told me, “Ignorance is not a valid excuse.” She was right. Mr. Garner deserved better by me. I benefited by his willingness to challenge the sodomy laws despite the hardship this challenge would bring to his own life. Lambda had been waiting for someone who had been cited for violating the sodomy law with another consenting adult while in a private home. They had been waiting for years. Lawrence and Garner were not part of the gay-activist community, yet when they received the call for action they answered that call. Lambda profited a great deal from Garner, yet they couldn’t be bothered in his death. I say shame.
What have I done? I do my best to be an advocate; I vote for people who support my community; I am working hard to finish my social work degree and begin helping LBGTQ adolescents; and I donate to Human Rights Campaign, and Southern Poverty Law Center. What have you done?