HOMOPHOBIA MARTYRS REMEMBERED ON ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH OF ANTINOUS

ANTINOUS worshipers on three continents tonight took part via an interactive online conference call in a candlelight vigil in memory of martyr victims of homophobia.

The vigil drew Zoom participants from across the United States, as well as from South America and Europe. The ceremonies coincided with the October 28 observance of the Death of Antinous on that date in the year 130 AD.

At the Hollywood Temple of Antinous, the founder of the modern religion of Antinous, ANTONIUS SUBIA, related the true-life story of how Antinous drowned in the Nile at the end of October in the year 130 AD, and how Hadrian proclaimed him the last deity of the Classical Era.

Priest HERNESTUS, participating from Germany, solemnly read out the names of martyr saints ... and linked them to the tragic death of Antinous.

With a quavering voice, Hernestus paused from time to time to remark on individuals whose names were on the list. 

He also honoured hundreds of victims of homophobic attacks around the world.

Antonius noted that the list of names represents only the tip of the iceberg ... and only one 12-month period. Countless thousands more suffer and are murdered on a daily basis around the world.

On October 28th we commemorate the death of Antinous and his descent into the Underworld.

"Antinous passes out of the world of the living tonight and enters the Underworld, where he hears the names of all these people and gathers them to him and embraces them and saves them from oblivion," Antonius told worshipers.

"I pray to Antinous to watch over them, now as his divine spirit sinks down into the place of the dead ... and when he returns, that he will bring for hope again, that these deaths will stop," Antonius said. "This is what I wish for."

On October 30th, another international interactive online ceremony will be held consecrating newly nominated saints of Antinous for 2024 and also ritually celebrating the return of Antinous from the Underworld and the establishment of the city of   ANTINOOPOLIS by Emperor Hadrian on that date in 130 AD.

INNOCENT MARTYRS:

Jacob (Jake) Carter Jacob was vacationing with his husband when an unknown gunman shot him once and fled, leaving Jacob dead at the scene. "He died in my arms," Daniel Blagovich, Jacob’s husband and business partner, told The News Tribune. The two founded their business, Howdy Bagel in Tacoma, Washington, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

John Walter Lay, USA, aged 52. He was a gay man from Florida man who was fatally shot by a 65-year-old fellow dog owner at a Tampa area park. The shooter claims he acted in self-defence, but friends say he had been harassing the victim for months with threats and homophobic slurs.

 

Nex Benedict, USA, aged 16. They were a non-binary, Native American, sophomore who was reportedly beaten to death by three older female students in the restroom of Owasso High School in Oklahoma. The school neither called an ambulance for the injured teen nor informed police of the attack until Nex was later admitted into the hospital — Nex died the next day.

 

Jesse Baird aged 26 and his boyfriend Luke Davies aged 29, Australia. The two men were murdered in their home near Sydney Australia.

 

Dime Doe, USA, age unknown. Black transgender woman Dime Doe became the subject of the first federal hate crimes trial for a hate crime based on gender identity.

 

Diamond Brigman, USA, aged 36, was a black transgender woman who was gunned down in the United States.

 

Semsem, Iraq, age unknown. Semsem was a young trans woman who was brutally stabbed to death in the streets of Diwaniyah in Iraq.

 

Gerald Don Henderson, USA, aged 72. He was a gay man who was slain by a 28-year-old and a 31-year-old who were members of the Aryan Knights prison gang who were later arrested by police in Twin Falls, Idaho.

 

 

Cecilia Gentili, USA, aged 52. Cecilia was an Argentinian trans woman who founded a drug treatment center for trans people in New York City and who appeared in the TV series “Pose”. She was murdered by two men.

 

Carlos Collins, USA, aged 25. Carlos was a gay man who died from gunshot wounds, and an axe wound inflicted by his 33-year-old ex-boyfriend in Louisiana.

Kawaski Trawick, USA, aged 32. Kawasaki was a dancer and personal trainer killed by police in his own apartment in what was called an act of police brutality. 

 

River Nevaeh Goddard, USA, 17. River was a non-binary 17-year-old who was found dead in New Hampshire, USA.

 

 

Andrea Doria Dos Passos, USA, aged 37. Andrea was a homeless transgender woman who was brutally beaten to death in while sleeping near the entrance to Miami City Ballet in South Beach Florida.

 

Pamela Cobas, Argentina, age unknown. She was a lesbian woman. She, her partner and two other lesbian were attacked when a man set fire to the room the four women were sharing in a Buenos Aires boarding house.

 

Starr Brown, USA, aged 28. She was a Black trans woman in who was found dead inside of a crashed car in a Memphis, Tennessee neighborhood.

 

Jazlynn Johnson, USA, aged 18. She was a transgender woman from Las Vegas, Nevada, She was allegedly shot by 17-year-old. He called his parents and said he accidentally shot his friend. He begged his parents not to tell the police, but they did. He told police he didn’t know where the gun was. Police have charged him with murder with the use of a deadly weapon and destroying or concealing evidence.

 

Tay Dior, USA, aged 17. Tay was a trans girl in Mobile, Alabama. She was killed by an assailant who has not yet been identified in the press.

 

Pauly Likens, USA, aged 14.  Police discovered the dismembered body parts of Pauly scattered around Shenango River Lake in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania.

Dylan Gurley, USA, aged 20. Dylan was a trans woman from Little Elm, Texas and was just a few weeks shy of her 21st birthday when police found her unconscious in a Denton, Texas, home.

 

Nombulelo Bhixa, 28, and Minenhle Ngcobo, 22, South Africa. Nombulelo and Minenhle were a lesbian couple who both worked together at a store in Edendale city center. They were shot to death as they were getting into a taxi in an act of violence being investigated as a hate crime.

 

Micah Laureano, USA, aged 19. He was a Black gay man who was killed by a 24-year-old white man who had been placed in a cell with the Green Bay Correctional Institute.

 

Savannah Williams, USA, aged 39. She was a trans woman in Georgia, who was paid to have sex with her killer.

Kesaria Abramidze, Georgia (the nation), aged 37. Kesaria was a transgender woman and a popular influencer. She was stabbed to death in her apartment in a “premeditated” attack, according to authorities, a day after Parliament passed a sweeping bill aimed at erasing LGBTQ+ identity in the former Soviet republic.

 

Honee Walker, USA, aged 37. Honee was a Black transgender woman was killed in a hit-and-run incident in New York State.

 

Andrew Wagstaff, Belgium, aged 69. Andrew was a British priest. His apparent killer was a 60-year-old Anglican priest stationed in Kalmthout, Belgium. He was arrested after his male partner, died during a drug-fuelled night of gay sex together.

 

Janne Puhakka, Finland, aged 29. Janne was a gay man who came out in 2019. He was the first Finnish hockey player to speak about his sexuality and discussed having to hide his it from teammates because of the homophobia in the sport. Finnish news outlet Ilta-Sanomat reported that he was murdered at his home in the southern city of Espoo.

AS HEROIC MARTYRS:

Ulises Salvador Nava, Mexico, 29. was head of the department of sexual diversity of the UAGro, was assassinated in the central state of Aguascalientes, on July 15, 2023, where he had participated in the country’s first National Congress of Strategic Litigation for the Defense of the Rainbow Quota.

Jesús Ociel Baena Saucedo (9 December 1984 – 13 November 2023) was a Mexican activist for non-binary and LGBT+ rights and electoral magistrate at the State Electoral Court of Aguascalientes. On 1 October 2022, they became the first non-binary magistrate in Latin American history

Baena was a prominent activist of non-binary and LGBT+ rights. Baena and their partner, Dorian Daniel Nieves Herrera, were found dead in their home by Baena's housekeeper on 13 November 2023.