Forced to the fringes

Re: Lawlor gets life in prison — Oct. 13

I followed the trial of Derrick Lawlor and his recent conviction for the first-degree murder of Mark McCreadie. No doubt, some of the details were graphic, salacious and titillating and both print and television news media were quick to report on those.

For me, the real tragedy to emerge is how this entire community may have let Mr. McCreadie, and others like him, down. In this case, Mr. McCreadie was gay. But by all accounts, he was not openly gay; he kept this aspect of his life deeply private. So private in fact that he carried no identification with him on that fateful April night that he crossed paths with the Mr. Lawlor in Victoria Park.

When a community does not accept its citizens who are different from them in whatever way, be it race, religion, looks, skin colour etc., we gradually force those people to live on the fringes of our society. And that’s where danger lurks. Our intolerance may have relegated Mr. McCreadie to areas like the outer edge of Victoria Park, out of our sight and hidden from our pretty society. In doing so, we may have helped to bring about the tragic confluence of events that placed him directly in harm’s way, precisely where a murder could take place.

Had Mr. McCreadie been free to live his life openly and not shunned, he might very well be alive today, living as he so chooses. He was a worthwhile member of this community and his loss should be felt by everyone. If, as Gandhi said, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members,” then clearly there is much room for improvement in this community. Cathy Sterling Kitchener