|
The
Amancio
Project |
 |
P.O. Box 4116,
Yuma,
Arizona
85366-4116
www.TheAmancioProject.org
The Amancio Project Thanks Equality
Arizona for Their Continued Help and Urges Your Help in Supporting
Them
August 14, 2007
In
May 6th, 2005, Amancio Corrales, a young gay man who
performed as a female impersonator under the name Dalila, was found
murdered in the
Colorado River near
Yuma,
Arizona.
This brutal incident sent shockwaves throughout the community I have
called home for several years.
As a local activist and community member, I felt
Yuma's lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender community needed to respond. We
couldn't just sit around and do nothing. But this is Yuma we're
talking about, and there simply aren't many resources for LGBT
people here. I knew I needed help.
That's when I received a call from a representative of
Equality Arizona (then the Arizona Human Rights Fund). This
activist from
Phoenix offered me
the support I was looking for. He and his colleague supported my
efforts to organize Yuma's LGBT community. With their guidance, I
worked to bring together local community members, along with
Amancio's immediate family members and close friends to develop a
strategy to offer aid and comfort to the family and to address the
larger issue of bias-motivated violence. Together we formed a
coalition known as The Amancio Project.
Equality
Arizona helped to
bring national attention to Amancio's murder and our efforts in
Yuma. During the months that followed this tragic crime, we
organized community vigils in Yuma and at the state capitol in
Phoenix. Representatives of national organizations, statewide
groups and elected officials (on both the federal and state level)
were involved, largely due to the support Equality Arizona
provided. This helped us apply pressure locally on law enforcement
officials to properly investigate this crime and be responsive to
Amancio's family and the community.
As
May 6th, 2007 approached, two years after Amancio's
brutally battered body was found, it seemed as if this crime was
going to go unsolved. No suspect was in custody and law enforcement
officials were reporting publicly and to family members there were
no leads. This case was being looked at as if it were a cold case.
Still, the Amancio Project continued to work to raise public
awareness and urge local law enforcement officials to keep this case
open. Equality Arizona staff put in a public records request to try
to help Amancio's family obtain documents relevant to this case.
Local media picked up the story about our renewed efforts.
The story broadcast on television news stations and was printed in
local newspapers. Then, out of the blue, law enforcement officials
announced they had a suspect in custody. More than two years after
the crime, an anonymous tip lead authorities to the suspect who is
currently being prosecuted for Amancio's death. Our ongoing efforts
to keep the story alive, supported by Equality Arizona, worked! An
individual came forward after they saw the press coverage of our
efforts.
I was humbled and honored when Equality Arizona invited me to
attend their annual dinner in 2007. When Equality Arizona's
executive director recognized me and asked me to rise during her
speech, I knew then Equality Arizona was committed to continuing the
fight in
Yuma. Amancio's family and Yuma's LGBT community must now prepare
for a lengthy and difficult trial. We can only do it with the
support of Equality Arizona. Please join me in supporting Equality
Arizona's community organizing program so we can keep Equality
Arizona in the field. The support Equality Arizona has provided to
me and the entire community in
Yuma has been invaluable. Equality
Arizona's presence
in rural communities is essential to achieving equality statewide.
Please support the fight for justice by joining Equality Arizona's
Advocacy Fund today.
Sincerely,
Michael H. Baughman
Founder of The Amancio Project |
