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I was sad to find out that legendary gay rights activist Marc Rubin (second from right next to Vito Russo, Jim Owles and Pete Fisher) had passed away on February 28th at the age of 74.I met Marc in 1994, as a recent arrival to New York City, when he was a volunteer coordinator for that summer's celebration of the 25 years since the Stonewall Riots that marked the birth of the United States gay right movement. It was among my first forays into gay rights advocacy and I could not have been luckier than to have Marc as a mentor during that amazing summer.Gay City News has an obituary that shines a light on Marc's amazing life which included stints in the Gay Activist Alliance in the early 1970's and his creation of the Gay Teachers Association in 1974. He is survived by his partner of 35 years, Pete Fisher (also pictured above on the right).
JJ posted the following comment overnight: Adrians funeral is being held today in London at 12.30pm Adrian will be laid to rest Friday 14/07/06 Church of the Holy Trinity Clapham Common - 12:30 West Norwood Crematorium - 14:00 The Daily Item of Lynn, MA, corroborates this and says that the authorities have not released a possible cause of death.
I haven't been able to confirm this through media reports but El Güero over at Razing Borders, who lives in San Francisco, tells me: Today I was walking to the gym and I saw a flyer in a store window. I remembered your post on June 8th about Luis Peña, A Colombian gay man who lived in San Francisco and was missing. Sadly, his photo and name were on the flyer, with information about a mass and memorial service here in San Francisco [on Sunday, July 9th]. The flyer didn't mention cause of death, and I haven't seen anything about it in the local gay press yet, although I'm sure it will be when the gay weeklies come out this week
So unfortunately there is no good news to report here either. The original Bay Area Reporter article on his disappearance on the night of May 30th mentioned that Peña had been "kind of depressed," according to a close friend, so it's not clear that this is a criminal case. Nevertheless, it's sad to hear the news.
A couple of hours ago the Associated Press confirmed what a few bloggers had assumed: A body unearthed yesterday from a make-shift grave in Rhode Island has been identified as the remains of missing British tourist Adrian Alun Dennis Exley. Police found the grave after Gary LeBlanc, of Lynn, Massachusetts, committed suicide, leaving a note behind with details as to where to look for Exley's body.From the moment I heard about his disappearance, something struck me about the case and the absolute silence that followed in media. I'm not sure if it was the fact that Exley had apparently flown to the United States to meet a couple of people he only knew through a leather site on the internet (something that media might have shied away from delving into), or the fact that he was a tourist with few established roots in the United States. The fact is that I only found out about it through community e-mail list postings and blogs.
Over the last couple of days this has changed drastically with the AP and other international agencies picking up on the details. A bit late, if you ask me, and it makes me wonder if such an end could have been prevented had media focused on the case the moment that the Lynn Police Department sent out its missing persons alert back in May.
An autopsy is pending as to the cause of death but the reports leading up to the finding of the body do mention that evidence at LeBlanc's house indicate he was murdered.
Some may say that here at Blabbeando we might focus a bit much on cases of violence in our communities. Maybe it's because we have first-hand experience in losing friends to violence and intimately aware on how these situations affects family and friends.
In any case, this is truly sad and I just hope that his family and friends know that our thoughts are with them.
[NOTE: Live Journaler Chaz, who has been quoted in several of the articles to which I have linked in the past couple of days, graciously re-posts my entry above on his LJ blog, and has some interesting thoughts on media, the leather community and on why he chose to speak up regarding this case. Go here if you want to read his thoughts]
THE LATEST:
UPDATE:
Following some unusual activity today on Blabbeando regarding my original May 25th post on the disappearance of British gay leather man, Adrian Alun Dennis Exley, I spent some of the afternoon trying to find additional information to confirm some apparent bad news regarding the case.
This morning someone with the blogger name of Spiderpoo left a reply that simply said "Poor Chip, will be missed xxx." I tried to check on that blogger name to see if I could contact Spiderpoo for additional info but all I found was a link to a blog in Adrian's name that has apparently been removed.That was followed by a post half an hour later by a "Mark Noble" (no contact information left either): which said: "I knew Chip very well, and he was a lovely lad. His death is a complete shock to his friends and family. he will sorely be missed. At least maybe this might show people how dangerous 'internet dating' can be."
Checking UK and US newspapers through Google I failed to find anything recent related to this story but a search of other blogs came up with "Disturbing Resolutions" posted earlier this morning by reddywhp which leads to the following two articles posted in The Daily Item of Lynn:
reddywhp writes:
Gary Leblanc, AKA rubrman, of Boston was found dead on Friday. Gary has been the lead suspect in the disappearance of Adrian Exley. The articles suggest that a note found subsequent to Gary's death had led authorities to look for Adrian's body in Rhode Island
He also finds some confirmation of these facts in this article as well:
All of which seems to confirm that there will be no happy resolution although the Lynn police website has not posted an update on their original missing persons alert.
BLABBEANDO UPDATE:
NEWSPAPER UPDATES:
- Lynn man's suicide note may be key in search of missing Brit (The Daily Item, June 27, 2006)
- Body found in Exter (NBC-Channel 10, Rhode Island, June 27, 2006)
- Body in Rhode Island may be Brit (The Daily Item, June 28, 2006)
- UK tourist's body thought to be found in R.I. park (Boston Globe, June 28, 2006)
- Man's body recovered in Hopkinton (The Providence Journal, June 28, 2006)
Death happens. No, there wasn't a terrorist attack at Penn Station last Thursday at 3pm. But some of the hurried masses must have at least stopped and wondered about (maybe helped) the young man lying on the floor. Unfortunately, according to a message I got on an e-mail list, the young man didn't make out of the famed train station alive:
Rod was a bodybuilder, model, tattoo enthusiast. He was a friend to some (a lot), and idol to most, and in general a spectacular human being. Rod passed away Thursday afternoon in NYC. According to his good friend Wayne, Rod had a major heart attack about 3pm...collapsing in Penn Station in NYC. Rod's heart had only been functioning at about 30% due to a previous illness. Here's to you Rod. We will miss your extraordinary presence. You were spectacular, and one of life's truly nice guys. We grieve the loss of you.
Now I didn't know Rod (whatever his real name was) or even knew he had been in some flicks. But if a porn star collapses and dies at Penn Station it must be some sort of news, no? You wonder who he was, what was his life like, where he came from, how many men (and women?) were his fans. Not to belittle his passing but it does bring us to the final episode of Six Feet Under on HBO on Sunday night. Rod and Six Feet Under, RIP.
I was sad to find out that legendary gay rights activist Marc Rubin (second from right next to Vito Russo, Jim Owles and Pete Fisher) had passed away on February 28th at the age of 74.
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