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Community Gather to Remember Michael

By on Saturday, August 3, 2013

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A hundred and fifty people from across the North West met on Friday evening to remember Whiston murder victim Michael Causer.

The vigil marked five years since Michael died, aged 18, one week after a violent attack that family and friends believe was due to his sexual orientation.

The hour-long ceremony didn’t dwell on the tragedy, however – instead, guests spoke about the power of friendship to overcome differences and change attitudes.

As well as representatives of the Causer family and the Michael Causer Foundation, speakers included a brother and a friend of Anthony Walker, the black Huyton teenager killed in 2005 because of his race; and a friend of Sophie Lancaster, the Lancashire teen beaten to death in 2007 because of her alternative “Goth” lifestyle.

The Liverpool LGBT Choir sang as participants were invited to write down their personal pledges of friendship (pictured).

“We are saying that diversity should be something to be celebrated and supported and not something to be attacked because someone is different from their peers,” MCF Secretary Kieran Bohan told BBC News.

Organisers had hoped for a live Skype link-up with New York’s Ali Forney Center, whose work providing shelter for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth has inspired the Michael Causer Foundation’s mission.

Technical issues prevented it, but organisers plan to revive the idea for next year’s vigil.

The vigil took place in Temple Street, in the Stanley Street Quarter, a district known as the centre of Liverpool’s gay community. The Michael Causer Foundation is back on the streets of the city today, Saturday 3 August, to join in the Liverpool Pride celebrations.

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