News came this week that the former patriarch of the nation’s chief antigay cult is nearing the end of his life, prompting discussion among LGBT circles about how his passing should be marked — protest, celebration, silence? We think the last option is the way to go. But, just as his group’s protests have been countered by pro-LGBT fundraisers and events, let’s take this opportunity to not just ignore his passing but to honor the LGBT people who have gone before us and left much more valuable marks on our world.
This week, a former Philadelphia resident, Jes Metzger, was killed in a car accident in Kansas. The 26-year-old former ICandy bartender moved to the state last year after enlisting in the U.S. Air Force. Metzger was out celebrating St. Patrick’s Day Saturday night, and she and her friends responsibly hired a sober-driving service to take them home. However, the driver suffered a medical emergency at the wheel, causing the car to speed forward, prompting Metzger to attempt to grab the wheel and steer it out of the way of oncoming traffic, saving untold lives. Metzger, the driver and two friends were killed on impact.
It’s difficult to find sense in a tragedy such as this. But it’s lives, and deaths, such as this that we should be talking and thinking about — not that of someone who devoted his life to harming others. Even in her last moments, Metzger sought, successfully, to save others.
She is being remembered from all corners of the local LGBT community as a strong spirit who always had a positive attitude. One friend recalled how she spent months tending bar on a broken ankle. She cared passionately about the ills of our community and society, participating in, among other initiatives, a photo project highlighting the diversity of the LGBT community in an effort to reach youth struggling with their identity. While she was a member of the U.S. Air Force, Metzger also had a very artistic side, studying at University of the Arts and pursuing her passion for music.
By all accounts, Metzger is someone who loved life and lived hers to its fullest. It is people like her whose names we should all know, and whose stories we should all learn about. Keeping her memory alive — through efforts such as fundraisers that friends are already organizing — is one way to keep her spirit alive. And celebrating the spirit of people like Jes Metzger — and the innumerable other LGBT people who have left indelibly beautiful legacies of their own — is perhaps the best way to counter darkness in this world.