I wrote two previous drafts of the following words, but both of those drafts were written from a perspective that felt like I was reciting a paper written for college level English class. It was dry. It held facts. I was holding back because of the emotion that I feel for what I was writing about. I’m not too great at sharing my emotions. They peek through my writing every now and then, but I tend to hold back because that’s the type of person that I am.

What I wanted to write about for Pride 2020 is something that has been heavy on my heart for the past 13 years. What occurred those 13 years ago is something that every single part of me wishes didn’t happen. As I take a deep breath, and prepare to dig into what happened and how horror helps me cope with what happened, I hope for the utmost respect to those involved, and I hope that I’m showing the utmost respect for those involved.

In May of 2007, I received a phone call. The person on the other end of that phone call informed me that one of my friends was in the hospital, and he more than likely would not survive the next few hours. That friend was Sean Kennedy. Before I speak about what happened to him that night, I want to present Sean for who he was.

Sean was one of the brightest lights that has ever shown in my life and in this world. His light shone brightly because of his love for who he was, who he was raised by, and because his own love of life was ultraviolet. From the first moment that I met Sean, I knew that he was someone I’d want in my life, forever. I never planned on that not being the case.

In May of 2007, Sean was out with some friends. An individual - I can’t really fathom giving this being a name or a title - approached Sean with homophobic slurs. This individual punched Sean, which knocked Sean to the ground. He hit the ground hard enough that his brain separated from his brain stem, and within hours, Sean passed away.

When the opportunity arose to write for Gayly Dreadful’s Pride 2020, I’d originally planned to write about how queer people love campy horror. You know, something light and playful without a lot of depth. The anniversary of Sean’s death came about, and I knew that I had to write about it.

But how could I relate it to horror? Aside from the fact that what happened to Sean is beyond what any horror movie could portray, how could I relate it so that there’s a correlation? And then I thought of his mother, Elke Kennedy.

I’ve conversed with Elke a few times since Sean’s death, but the first time that I met her was the morning after the first time that I met Sean. I remember a full blown breakfast being cooked for us. I remember being struck by the openness that she presented for her openly gay son and his friends. Here I was, someone that she had never met, and she welcomed me with open arms and a full southern breakfast.

Elke is an amazing woman, and this is where the horror correlation comes in. I view Elke as the equivalent of a bonafide horror protagonist. She lost her son to an act of unneeded violence. Her world was torn apart, and I’m sure there were some who thought that she would never put it back together again. If she wasn’t able to, that would be understandable. The loss of a son - as she has put so many times in social media posts and more - is something that she never imagined.

Much like the horror protagonist that makes it to the final frames of a horror film, Elke didn’t just lie around. She mourned her wonderful son, but she knew that there was something that had to be done. Within weeks, she created the Sean’s Last Wish Foundation. This was a foundation that gave support to queer people who were bullied or depressed.

Just like a horror film’s final protagonist, Elke had more in her arsenal. She continuously lobbied for federal protection for LGTBQIA individuals who were victims of a hate crime. When Sean was murdered, there were no legitimate federal laws for hate crimes committed against LGTBQIA individuals in South Carolina, and in many other states in the US. Elke traveled to many places to lobby for an act that provided protections and retribution for any queer person who was the victim of a hate crime.

Due to Elke, representatives of Matthew Shepard as well as James Byrd Jr. (wrongfully murdered based on being African American), and many others, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009. This brought about a national reaction to any hate crime committed against someone based on race, gender, gender identity, sexuality, or disability.

If we look at this from a horror movie point of view, it’s like protagonists from many different horror films came together and resulted in an act that would allow protection and retribution for further victims of future horror films. It may be a warped way to view the situation, but it’s the world that I live in, and it’s the way I choose to view what came about.

So, yes, Elke is the ultimate horror film protagonist in my eyes. Sean did not deserve what happened to him, and the individual that assaulted him got off way too easy before all of this went down. That individual walks free this day. He received a maximum of 3 years after his sentence of involuntary manslaughter, but only served 12 months in prison. After that one measly year in prison, this individual was given 3 years probation along with anger management classes and other bullshit that amounted to nothing compared to the bright light that he diminished.

Thanks to Elke’s and others’ determination, a law was put into place to put the equivalent of a horror film antagonist into their place.

Some horror characters end up coming back for a sequel due to horror movie rules being loose. I wish that Sean had gotten a second chance. Although his physical light was diminished from the world, there’s a separate light that continues to shine in many other’s lives. If I may present another horror movie correlation, it’s as if Sean is my equivalent to I Know What You Did Last Summer’s Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar). We all loved her, and she fought with every ounce of her being before being offed by the hook of the Fisherman. We just all wished she’d survived to the end of the movie.

Sean is my Helen Shivers. But he’s so much more than that, and will always be so much more than that. He continues to shine his light on my life. There’s literally not a span of a few days where he doesn’t pop into my head. I wonder how he would have responded to me writing this, and what he would have said about that. I know that whatever would have come out of his mouth would have been monumental.

If you’d like to read Elke’s story, please visit here. Please visit http://www.seanslastwish.org/ for more information. Elke Kennedy is a superhuman for all that she’s done for the queer community, and I wish for more people to be like Elke. I wish for more people to be the person that Sean was.