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Jorge Steven López Mercado laid to rest by Michael K. Lavers
National News EditorTuesday Nov 24, 2009 Jorge Steven López Mercado’s friends and family laid him to rest yesterday in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico.
"The support we have received from the public and Steven’s friends has given us the strength to bear this moment of such horrible pain," Lopez’s aunt Rubi Mercado told el Nuevo Dia between tears (as translated from Spanish into English.) "I asked Steven with his wings from heaven to help us carry on without having him by our side."
El Nuevo Dia further reported López’s aunt and his ex-boyfriend, Luis Rivera, opened the urn that contained the murdered teen’s ashes and placed a necklace and a white rose inside it at the end of the funeral Mass. The newspaper further reported López’s parents hugged their son’s friends and cried.
"We definitely hope people and society wake up and demand justice," López’s friend José Alicea told el Nuevo Dia (as translated from Spanish into English.)
López’s friends carried balloons and white roses as they walked to the cemetery. Lady Gaga’s "Poker Face" played during the procession.
This article originally appeared at Boy in Bushwick.
Michael K. Lavers has written for the Advocate, the Fire Island News, the Village Voice, WNYC and other media outlets. He has also provided commentary on LGBT and other issues to the BBC and the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. He blogs at Boy in Bushwick [www.boyinbushwick.blogspot.com]
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