A movement grows in Newark: the murder of lesbian teen Sakia Gunn spurred activist LaQuetta Nelson out of retirement to fight for New Jersey's gay youth.

Outraged by the stabbing death of 15-year-old lesbian Sakia Gunn in Newark, N.J., last May, longtime gay rights activist LaQuetta Nelson decided to create a place where gay and lesbian youth could find safety and get support. After learning that Gunn had been killed when she rebuffed the sexual advances of two men, the 43-year-old Nelson attended a vigil held by Gunn's friends and then decided to come out of retirement from activitism and begin a campaign to build a new community center in Newark. Nelson, founder of the New Jersey Stonewall Democrats, had retired from activism just three month prior.

Getting support for the center has proved daunting, but Nelson is pushing forward, asking others to give time and money to what she sees as an important community need. She launched the Newark Pride Alliance to organize the effort and the Sakia Gunn Memorial Fund to manage donations.

The Advocate spoke with Nelson about her recent involvement with Newark's gay youth and the difficulties she has faced in making the center a reality.

What happened when you found out Sakia Gunn was a lesbian?

That little girl inside of me connected with Sakia. And all the other lesbians I talked to felt the same thing. Because when we were 15 years old, guys hit on us all the time, and we just wouldn't say anything. We knew we would have been found dead somewhere. She was brave. Sakia's like our hero.

What was it about the vigil that drew you back into activism?

Those kids. I have never seen so many kids just falling apart. I mean, their grief and their pain was ... it was just so deep. These were mostly young African-American lesbians. And I'm wondering, Where are their parents? The kids don't have any place to go.

Shortly after the murder, Newark mayor Sharpe James offered to help set up a community center. What has happened since then?

Nothing. That was lip service, straight up. I wrote him a letter. He did answer the letter, and he basically said the same thing that he'd been saying all along, which was nothing.

Ultimately, do you need the mayor's support?.

I don't think so, if the gay and lesbian community all over put their minds to it and are determined that we deserve to have a center in Newark. What I would like to see is a GED program there, tutoring for the young gay and lesbian folks, helping them get into colleges, and helping the homeless kids to find gay and lesbian couples who will serve as foster parents so that they can have a safe family environment to live in.

Why aren't gays and lesbians in Newark more involved?

They're outraged. [But] a great majority of them are in the closet, and they are fearful of losing their jobs. We're talking about people in a lot of high positions. They're teachers, they're professors, they're big business people. But we're getting ready to rise up--and I'm talking about the African-American gays and lesbians. We're some angry people.

What kind of support are you getting from outside Newark?

Not as much as I know [we could].... Let me tell you something: For the 10 years that I was active in LGBT politics in this state, I've always talked about what's going on in Newark. And it always fell on deaf ears. The same issues between the races that exist in the heterosexual comunity exist in the LGBT community as well. We have racist gays and lesbians too.

How is Sakia's mother, LaTona Gunn, doing?

LaTona is doing well. She's going to go to school. She wants to become a sociologist, because she wants to work in the community center when we open it. She wants to help the young people.