Editor’s note: Kate Marquez posted this tribute to her brother, Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, on Instagram late Tuesday. It is reprinted here with her permission.
Hate does not get the final word.
Love does.
Yesterday, my little brother, Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, was murdered in an act of hate aimed at his very existence. But Vincent spent his life refusing to make himself smaller for anyone, and I refuse to let hatred make him smaller in death.
Vincent’s story begins with love.
My brothers and I became a family in an extraordinary way. I was adopted at birth. Soon after, my parents, Dianna and Gary Marquez, welcomed a child of their own. Then came Vincent. Then Freddy. And the four of us were whole.
If you know my parents, you know what radical love looks like. They raised us to live fearlessly, welcome the stranger, serve others, stand for what we believe, and love without judgment.
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Vincent inherited that love in abundance.
As adults, Vincent and I became each other’s safe place and advocates. He invited me into the community where he had finally found belonging, and somewhere along the way, his causes became my causes, too.
And Vincent was brave.
Friends and relatives set up a memorial at Venture-N, where Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, 42, left, and Cameron Davis Capara, 33, were shot and killed in the parking lot of the bar early Monday.
My God, was he brave.
When the world told him to turn himself down, Vincent turned himself up. When people questioned his worth, he stood taller. When people judged whom he loved, he loved harder.
No gun will define my brother. No hatred will erase his joy. No judgment will diminish the love he gave.
Vincent was a force. Complicated and hilarious. Fearless and vulnerable. Loud and loving. He showed up for people and had finally found peace living openly and authentically.
I would give anything to hear his voice one more time.
But I can still speak his name.
Vincent Anthony Siqueiros.
His life mattered. His truth mattered.
Kate Marquez and her little brother, Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, were one another’s “safe space and advocates.” Siqueiros was killed Monday in a shooting at Tucson’s Venture-In gay bar in what police said was a hate crime. Marquez was set to talk about her brother at a community vigil Wednesday night.
Cameron Davis Capara’s life mattered.
And every LGBTQ+ person who has ever wondered whether it is safe to simply exist, gather, love and live openly matters.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) night, I will stand with Tucson.
I will stand heartbroken.
I will stand afraid.
And I will stand anyway.
Because bravery is not the absence of fear. It is deciding something matters more than your fear.
Please join us Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Catalina Park in Tucson as we remember Vincent and Cameron and stand beside our LGBTQ+ community.
Kate Marquez is a longtime arts and cultural leader in Tucson and is the founder and CEO of Art State Arizona, formerly Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance.
