Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJune 28th, 2016
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 31 years old.
Joel was one of three Mexican citizens who were killed at Pulse. He grew up in the very poor neighborhood known as Colonia Fredepo, just outside of the colonial city of Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico. (Personal note: I know the town fairly well. It’s only about 15 miles east of Orizaba, where I spent my summer exchange while in high school.) He moved to Ocoee, Florida, where his brother lived, in the early 2000s. He returned to Mexico so he could be with his family, but returned to Florida about a year ago to escape the drug war that has turned the state of Veracruz into the most dangerous state in Mexico. “We came because here in the United States there are many opportunities here and because we were fleeing, because in our country there was a lot of crime, violence and death … and we expect it should be more peaceful here,” said his cousin Jose Paniagua.
He had just saved enough to pay off the coyote who brought him across the border, and was beginning to save money to send home. He kept in touch with his family via WhatsApp while living near Tampa and working in landscaping. His mother said that the last time she heard from Joel, he had not worked in a week due to heavy rains in Florida. One friend in Florida remembered him as humble, cheerful, and religious, and he loved to dance. “He was always trying to do stuff to make you feel better.”
Joel’s mother and two brothers made the dangerous trip from Colonia Fredepo to Nuevo Laredo, where they crossed the border on a humanitarian visa so they could go on to Orlando to officially identify Joel’s body. Back in Colonia Fredepo a few days later, chocolate, tamales, bread, and a mariachi band playing “México Lindo y Querido” (“Mexico Beautiful and Beloved”) greeted Joel’s return, thanks to donations from neighbors. When the casket was opened, the mariachis broke into “Mi Último Deseo” — “My Last Wish.” He was buried in a donated plot in the community’s cemetery.
Juan Chavez Martinez, 25 years old.
Juan was from Huichapan, Hidalgo, Mexico, a small impoverished village of 800 residents. Hidalgo state officials estimate that about 250,000 Hidalguienses are in the U.S., most of them undocumented. Juan was the seventh of nine children, and was just sixteen and barely out of high school when he decided to go al Norte. “There was no work, and they had to go to survive,” one relative explained. Two of his bothers had also made the trek north, but because Juan was single, he was his parent’s main financial support.
Juan lived in Davenport, Florida, where he worked as a housekeeping supervisor for a company that serviced Reunion Resorts in Kissimmee. His supervisor remembered Juan as a dedicated, hard working employee. “He was extremely friendly, very dedicated to his family, to his co-workers. … It is very difficult. Everybody loved him.” A co0worker added, “I was a housekeeper and he was a supervisor. He was very well known among us as very kind and loving. … There was nobody else like him. It is a devastating loss.”
When Juan left Huichapan nine years ago, his family’s home had a dirt floor. When he returned in a casket, the family’s home was still rustic, but at least now it was made of brick and had a real floor, thanks to the money he sent back home.
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old.
Originally from Tenanguillo de las Cañas, near Ixcateopan in Guerrero, Miguel came to America in 1991 with his family when he was four years old. He was married and the doting father of three children in Apopka, Florida, where he co-owned FajitaMex Mexican Catering. His business partner described him as hard working and compassionate toward his employees: “He enjoyed life and wanted to make sure everyone else did,” his partner said. Miguel had gone to Pulse that night with two lesbian friends. When the shooting started, his friends managed to escape, but Miguel was’t so lucky.
One more note: U.S. news outlets reported that there were three Mexican citizens who were killed that night in Orlando. This is, strictly speaking, correct. But because Mexican culture places such a strong emphasis on both family and community, newspapers throughout Mexico mourned the loss of four Mexicans. The fourth was Luis S. Vielma, an American citizen. His parents were from Coyuca de Catalán, Guerrero, and they made arrangements for his burial back home. We remembered Luis here.
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Kanealoha
June 28th, 2016
My heart is broken reading these . . . and reminded that our lgbt ohana is diverse and beautiful.
Rob
June 28th, 2016
This past Saturday, as part of our season finale, Forte, the Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus performed Melissa Etheridge’s “Pulse” in tribute to those we have lost.
https://youtu.be/8V8VFpOT1As
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