Santa Fe confronts its image of acceptance after a brutal hate crime.
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Two words.
That's all it took to send Santa Fe's glossy image of itself as a city of diversity and acceptance tumbling off the mantle of 2005. Two words-a first name and a last name-became lodged in the community consciousness and sparked a city resolution condemning hate crimes, a series of community forums and a visit from the most reviled church in America.
The name was James Maestas.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 27, the 21-year-old Maestas and 23-year-old Joshua Stockham-both of whom are gay-were confronted by six men outside a Denny's on Cerrillos Road. The men allegedly called Maestas and Stockham "faggots" and hurled rocks at their car before tailing the pair to the La Quinta Inn on Cerrillos.
According to police reports, that's when the men-led by 17-year-old David Trinidad, 19-year-old Isaia Medina and 20-year-old Gabriel Maturin-rushed Maestas and Stockham in the parking lot. Stockham escaped the brunt of the attack but Maestas was beaten unconscious. He was placed on a respirator and remained in the intensive care ward of St. Vincent Regional Medical Center for a week.
In the days that followed, an outpouring of shock over the attack and support for Maestas swept through the city in the form of candlelight vigils, unity marches and the city resolution.
"It was a real wakeup call," says Billie Blair, president of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. "It was a huge shock for Santa Feans. It reminded us that we're not really in this idyllic bubble that Santa Fe often thinks it's in."
The city's collective denouncement of the attack caught the attention of the Westboro Baptist Church [Cover story, April 20:
]. The ***image2***infamous Topeka, Kan., congregation loudly announced-with its incendiary "God Hates Fags" calling card held aloft-plans to stage protests in Santa Fe against a community culture that had fostered what the church called a "hellish zeitgeist in which…sodomite abominations thrive."
Church Spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper tells SFR the WBC enjoyed its visit to Santa Fe, despite the fact that someone slashed the tires on their two rental cars."There were a lot of eyes on our message in that city," she says.
The WBC visit provided more fodder for anti-hate roundtables. Blair says the forums-there have been three with a fourth in the works-were sparked by the Maestas attack but have expanded to include a wide variety of tolerance issues.
Maestas is still recovering nearly 10 months after the attack. Family spokeswoman Rachel Rosen says Maestas has been advised not to publicly comment until criminal charges against all six defendants are resolved. But, she says, Maestas has remained upbeat during months of rehabilitation, using the lyrics to Chumbawamba's "Tubthumper"-
I get knocked down / But I get up again / You're never going to keep me down
-as his motivational mantra.
"James has a very strong outlook on life," Rosen says. "He will not let them win by allowing them to damage the rest of his life."
Rosen, who also is on the board of Equality New Mexico, says her organization received donations and letters of support for Maestas from all over the country. But the beating will linger with Santa Fe and the Maestas family long into the future.
"I don't know if you can ever really have closure with something like this," Rosen says. "This is something that will stay with the family for the rest of their lives. There are going to be a lot of physical and psychological scars. I think the family just wants to see justice done and be able to get back to their lives as soon as possible."
Justice is still pending.
***image4***On Dec. 6, First Judicial District Court Judge Michael Vigil ruled that Trinidad-who pled guilty to aggravated battery, battery, conspiracy and criminal damage to property in the Maestas case in August-will be sentenced as an adult offender. But Trinidad and three other defendants-Maturin, Medina and Joseph Cano-who pled guilty to various charges in September will not be sentenced until the remaining two defendants-Paul Montoya and Jonathan Valdez-go to trial in February.
"[Feb. 27] was a very shameful day for Santa Fe," Rosen says. "At the same time, the community has really opened their arms to James and the fight for equality."
