It's been a little under 2 months since Stuart Walker, 28, a gay man who worked as an assistant hotel manager at the Royal Hotel in Cumnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, was found brutally murdered in an industrial area of the town where he lived. The horrible way in which Stuart Walker died will forever be etched in my mind. A victim of an obvious hate crime, he was savagely beaten, set on fire and then left to die. I dont know which angers me more - the terrible way in which Stuart Walker died or the fact that he died just because of who he was, that he died in the year 2011 because someone could not deal with the fact that he was gay. But what truly angers me the most is that Stuart Walker is not alive today and in a day-n-age when great strides are being made for the equal rights of every member of the GLBTQ community worldwide, it just blows my mind that such heinous barbarism still exists.
They caught the person who did this to him, Ryan Esquierdo, 18, also of Cumnock, Ayrshire, and he has been charged with Stuart Walker's murder so it is my sincere hope that justice will prevail; however, anyone who is a surviving family member and/or friend of anyone who has been murdered also knows that regardless if justice is obtained, it still doesnt bring back the loved one they truly miss with all their hearts and souls.
My heart goes out to Stuart Walker's entire family and all his many friends. Whenver I think of someone dying during this time of year I automatically think "Geesh, I dont know how his/her family can have much of a Christmas or a Happy Holiday Season with this being the first major holiday without them." Lord knows I realize how tough that can be to deal with from my own personal experiences; but, then again, for all any of us knows, those folks who are no longer with us coulda been fed up with the crazy holiday season that many of us get frustrated with. Still, I hope that Stuart's family realizes in their heart of hearts that nothing can ever take away the happy memories of him, that he truly will live on in their hearts and their thoughts.
Truthfully, I've always wanted to visit Scotland and not just because of the history, the literature, the culture and all that good stuff; but, because of my ships. Some of the world's most famous and most prolific liners that ever existed were built and launched by the famous shipyards of Scotland, noteworthy names such as John Brown & Company of Clydebank, who built such liners as the QUEEN MARY (1936-67) and her sister-ship the QUEEN ELIZABETH (1940-1972), the QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 (1969-2008), Denny Shipbuilders of Dunbarton, Scott Shipbuilders of Greenock, Lithgow's of Port Glasgow and the list goes on and on.
Coincidentally, one of my ultimate favorite liners of all time, the Canadian Pacific liner EMPRESS of BRITAIN (1931-40) was also built by John Brown & Company of Clydebank, so as you can see, I'm not just crazy about my ships, I'm fascinated by how they were built, where they were built and what it was like to live back then.
Yes, someday I will go visit Scotland because up until the time of Stuart Walker's murder, I've never heard a whole lotta bad things about it as a country. With the exception of the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy which took place in Lockerbie, Scotland back in 1988, the only other bad thing I've ever heard about it is that Edinburgh, it's capital, is quite a huge university town where a whole lotta majorly loud, noisey merrymaking goes on there on quite a regular basis, yet that is true about alotta college towns the world over. Aside from those things, I'm quite certain that Scotland is just like America and the rest of the world, it has it's good points and its not-so-good points.
Even though I will never have the pleasure and honor of knowing Stuart Walker, with him working in the hospitality industry and in spite of what happened to him, I'd like to think he'd want me and anyone else out there who wants to visit his country to feel most welcomed to do so.
However, when I do eventually make it over there to Scotland, I not only plan to pay my respects to Stuart Walker's gravesite, I also plan to check in with the local GLBTQ community and/or it's organizations and see for myself exactly what the attitudes and perceptions towards gay people are really like over there. If they register even the least bit unacceptable as they do in certain instances here in the States, I'm gonna say what I can say about it and do what I can do about it to make it better for GLBTQ folks over there. Granted, I'm just one person and I really have no idea what the Scottish would think of some loud-mouthed, opinionated gay man such as myself making any kind of stance over there, but I at least gotta stand up and try and you wanna know why? Because to do otherwise would be like saying it was okay that Stuart Walker was murdered because he was a gay man and sorry, it most certainly was not okay. It never will be. You'll never be forgotten Stuart Walker and I extend my most heartfelt sympathies to your family and your friends. Thank you for reading.
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