Jorge Steven Lόpez-Mercado, an openly gay teenager in in Caguas, Puerto Rico, was slain in November 2009. Lόpez-Mercado was decapitated, dismembered and partially burned, and his assailant claimed to be motivated by "gay panic". Many are drawing comparisons to the 1998 slaying of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.

Activists in a number of American cities held public gatherings to mourn the death of Lόpez-Mercado and to protest against the continuing climate of homophobia which spawns hate crimes. In Chicago, the Gay Liberation Network, along with representatives from Orgullo en Accion and Boricua Pride/ALMA held a march in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Chicago Indymedia coverage: Photos — Hundreds gather to mourn slain trans youth activist | Learning from the lynching of Jorge Steven Lόpez-Mercado | March/Vigil for Burned and Decapitated Gay Puerto Rican Teen