Conceived by Lee Scoboni and Sawyer Cowley in 2017 and online in 2018, Murder Village is an intelligent, candid & important voice for the people in Toronto’s Gay Village.
Murder Village is a serious labour of love that began when it seemed that in the course of just a few months in 2017 there were multiple missing and murdered people who call the Gay Village home. The Gay Village should be a refuge for LGBTQI2S+ community (and their friends, families and supporters), and it felt that we were losing that. As the community reeled from loss and fear, we wanted to start a site remembering our losses, with dignity and respect.
We know there are victim’s living family and friends who will read the stories here, and will relive the pain of loss. We are heartfelt in saying we grieve with you, as do other members of our community.
Like other small, personal websites, we are run on a shoestring budget, and we plan to keep it that way. There are no advertisements, no branded t-shirts, no paywall, no requests for donations. Keeping it simple keeps it possible.
Our posts include people of all races, classes, genders, and sexual preferences, from publically available sources. There are no gruesome images here, and although certainly some of the descriptions of the murders are graphic, we try not to sensationalize.
We extend a thank you to all the reporters who, over the years, have written the news stories we rely on for information. This includes other bloggers, historians genealogists and researchers.
Although we do our best to make this a safe space, we cannot promise that this will be “comfortable.” We aim to be honest, diligent and inclusive. We aim to tell stories. Thank you for listening.
~ Lee & Sawyer