SAKIA GUNN — Sakia Gunn was a 15-year-old African American lesbian who was murdered in 2003 in what has been deemed a hate crime in Newark, NJ. In 2008 a documentary was released about Gunn’s murder, titled “Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Film Project.”
Gunn’s death sparked outrage from the city’s gay and lesbian community. The community rallied the mayor’s office, requesting that police officers to patrol the Newark Penn Station/ Broad Street corridor 24-hours a day, the creation of an LGBT advisory council to the mayor, and that the school board be held accountable for the lack of concern and compassion when dealing with students at Westside High School (which Gunn attended) immediately following the murder. The Newark Pride Alliance, an LGBT advocacy group, was founded in the wake of Gunn’s murder.