khris
Senior Member
Nothing wrong with holding a vigil for someone who was murdered. He was gay, so I guess that's enough reason.
THe presumption is that he was murdered for being gay... that we do'nt know yet.
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Church-Wellesley Village
- Thread starter dt_toronto_geek
- Start date
Nothing wrong with holding a vigil for someone who was murdered. He was gay, so I guess that's enough reason.
THe presumption is that he was murdered for being gay... that we do'nt know yet.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Semi spontaneous, sponsorship free, community affirming public gay gatherings rarely happen this side of the ancient steam bath raids of 1981 and the era of the AIDS memorial, so this was one to treasure.
Skeezix
Senior Member
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Agreed. What a wonderful thing for them to have had this vigil, even if it wasn't a hate crime.
dt_toronto_geek
Superstar
Christopher Skinner Vigil
There were more than a thousand people at C+W and who walked to Adelaide Street.
Hate crime or not (that's unknown at this point in time) it was a wonderful expression of this community coming together to mark the tragic, unnecessary ending of a young life.
Slain man mourned amid a sea of candles
Hundreds walk to scene where Christopher Skinner was killed
Published On Mon Oct 26 2009
The intersection of Church and Wellesley Sts. became quiet and solemn on Sunday night, as hundreds gathered to pay tribute to murder victim Christopher Skinner.
Church St. was a sea of flickering candles, as up to 1,000 people showed up for the vigil. Skinner, 27, was killed Oct. 18 after being beaten by a group of men shortly after 3 a.m. Skinner was reportedly left lying on the pavement near a black SUV, which witnesses say was then deliberately driven over his body.
Toronto police have since released video footage that suggests Skinner may have struck the SUV with his hand while trying to hail a cab. Skinner is also gay and the slaying has triggered speculation as to whether the graphic designer might have been the victim of a hate crime.
But on Sunday, such questions were momentarily cast aside as mourners focused on remembering Skinner, who friends describe as energetic, charismatic and friendly.
"If Chris extended his hand to hail a cab and accidentally hit a vehicle, he would've been walking right up there to apologize," said childhood friend Sarah, who declined to give her last name.
"If they had spent five minutes with him, they wouldn't have done anything to him. All you had to do was spend five minutes with Chris and you would've been friends for life."
Just after 8 p.m., the crowd walked south towards Adelaide and Victoria Sts., where Skinner was killed. The walk was kicked off with comments from Matt Kenny, an acquaintance of Skinner's.
"We will push light into the darkness that was the last week," he said, with a megaphone. "Monsters that hide in the dark will be found and will be defeated."
Following a moment of silence, the crowd, which included Skinner's sister, Taryn, then began walking south on Church. After snaking west on Queen St., the crowd stopped at Adelaide and Victoria Sts., where a banner was laid on the spot Skinner died.
Toronto woman Amy Grant began singing "Amazing Grace"; she is a childhood friend of Skinner's and said the song held special significance to the two of them.
Another woman continued singing an improvised version of the song, as people began to lay down their candles and disperse.
"We are gay and straight together," she sang, holding her cap to her chest. "And we are singing, we are singing for our lives."
Source
There were more than a thousand people at C+W and who walked to Adelaide Street.
Hate crime or not (that's unknown at this point in time) it was a wonderful expression of this community coming together to mark the tragic, unnecessary ending of a young life.
Slain man mourned amid a sea of candles
Hundreds walk to scene where Christopher Skinner was killed
Published On Mon Oct 26 2009
The intersection of Church and Wellesley Sts. became quiet and solemn on Sunday night, as hundreds gathered to pay tribute to murder victim Christopher Skinner.
Church St. was a sea of flickering candles, as up to 1,000 people showed up for the vigil. Skinner, 27, was killed Oct. 18 after being beaten by a group of men shortly after 3 a.m. Skinner was reportedly left lying on the pavement near a black SUV, which witnesses say was then deliberately driven over his body.
Toronto police have since released video footage that suggests Skinner may have struck the SUV with his hand while trying to hail a cab. Skinner is also gay and the slaying has triggered speculation as to whether the graphic designer might have been the victim of a hate crime.
But on Sunday, such questions were momentarily cast aside as mourners focused on remembering Skinner, who friends describe as energetic, charismatic and friendly.
"If Chris extended his hand to hail a cab and accidentally hit a vehicle, he would've been walking right up there to apologize," said childhood friend Sarah, who declined to give her last name.
"If they had spent five minutes with him, they wouldn't have done anything to him. All you had to do was spend five minutes with Chris and you would've been friends for life."
Just after 8 p.m., the crowd walked south towards Adelaide and Victoria Sts., where Skinner was killed. The walk was kicked off with comments from Matt Kenny, an acquaintance of Skinner's.
"We will push light into the darkness that was the last week," he said, with a megaphone. "Monsters that hide in the dark will be found and will be defeated."
Following a moment of silence, the crowd, which included Skinner's sister, Taryn, then began walking south on Church. After snaking west on Queen St., the crowd stopped at Adelaide and Victoria Sts., where a banner was laid on the spot Skinner died.
Toronto woman Amy Grant began singing "Amazing Grace"; she is a childhood friend of Skinner's and said the song held special significance to the two of them.
Another woman continued singing an improvised version of the song, as people began to lay down their candles and disperse.
"We are gay and straight together," she sang, holding her cap to her chest. "And we are singing, we are singing for our lives."
Source
MichaelWent
New Member
I attended the Christopher Skinner vigil last night. I note the current symbolism of starting the vigil in the Church / Wellesley Village. For all of the talk of the decline / changing nature of the village, last night reminded me that the village is still were LGBT people identify our community's home. Church / Wellesley means something LGBT to both the LGBT community and to the larger Toronto society. The event provided, I hope, a bit of support specifically from the LGBT community, of which Christopher Skinner was a part, to Mr. Skinner's family and friends in these tragic times.
OttoSchloss
Active Member
the people involved in the murder were probably police officers hence the reluctance to call it a hate crime.
half kidding of course.
half kidding of course.
Dan416
Senior Member
I heard about this murder from a friend while I was in Boston. Needless to say I was shocked and saddened. I would have attended the vigil if I had been in town. I think it was entirely appropriate.
Roy G Biv
Senior Member
My heart likes it, but my mind can't make any sense of it at all.
Urban Shocker
Doyenne
Yes, for many gays there's still a sense of homeland at Wellesley and Church, just as there's still one for the Greek community on the Danny, or the Italian community in Little Italy, etc. - even though communities evolve, and settlements migrate or disperse. The village was where the sense of gay community space eventually settled, big time, in the '80s - after touching down briefly in bars and clubs around Yonge Street between Bloor and College in the previous decade ( when the 'out' community was much smaller ). The historical significance of the locale stretches back much earlier, of course, to the time of Molly Wood.
I'm glad the vigil didn't stay in the village, but moved to where this man was killed to pay respects. That's also part of our activist tradition, the idea that we belong everywhere - the rallying point for the anti-police-harassment march after the steambath raids in '81 was at Yonge and Wellesley, for instance, but we marched up to Yonge and Bloor where we sat down in the intersection - and then walked east to Jarvis and made lots of noise outside the former police headquarters - Madame X marks the spot. Another anti-police-harassment demo happened outside 52 Division at Dundas and University, and we were particularly loud at that one. And I recall a few hundred of us TTC-ing it up to suburban Bayview and Sheppard one winter night a few years earlier to protest Anita Bryant's appearing at a church there.
I wonder why this death, in particular, prompted such an event? Gay men are victims of violence every year and there's rarely this level of response.
torontobarfly
New Member
that's a question that has been floating around on various boards...i think a lot of it has to do with the power of the internet(word spread like wildfire on facebook and other sites) and also the fact that speculation is far out trumping the facts in this case and the number of people that are just assuming this was a hate crime is astounding...
also, reported hate crimes have doubled in toronto in the past year and there have been some high profile gay bashings in the states over the last couple of months so maybe it all came to a boiling point where this was just the right time for a march and maybe chris skinners death was the spark for it
AGTO
Banned
What was it then? An accident?
torontobarfly
New Member
until any actual evidence points to it being a hate crime it's being treated as a random act of violence over something as stupid as the young fellows hand brushing against the side of their suv as they drove by him
unfortunately random violence happens far too often in this city
last year two young guys were gunned down while sitting in their range rover for no apparent reason...violence does occur for either silly reasons or no reason at all...sadly, this goes on a lot
i don't think anyone is standing on a soap box and screaming that it wasn't a hate crime but as of right now there is absolutely nothing to confirm that it was other than rampant speculation
DC83
Senior Member
I wonder if this has anything to do with reported Internet Hookups Gone Wrong?
I've heard lots of warning from Toronto Police Services in regards to this. People set up a 'hookup' online with the sole intention of jumping/robbing the person on the other end.
Whether that's a hate crime or not, it's still scary!
threnody
Active Member
Back when I lived in Ottawa a few years ago, somebody was actually murdered in that fashion.
Dan416
Senior Member
omg scary