Arthur Warren - The Background

The Background

Arthur "J.R." Warren (1974 - July 3, 2000) resided in Grant Town, West Virginia. Warren lived with learning disabilities and a birth defect that caused him to be born with several fingers missing on one hand. He was widely regarded in his community as a "soft spoken" young man. At 16, he came out to his mother and the minister at his church, and found acceptance and support with both. After his death, his mother—Brenda Warren—addressed a hate crimes rally in Washington, D.C. and lobbied for the inclusion of sexual orientation in West Virginia's hate crimes law.

With his parents, Warren was a regular churchgoer, and attended the Missionary Baptist assembly—which split from the Southern Baptists over support for slavery. He also attended meetings of a gay student group at nearby Fairmont State College.

Read more about this topic:  Arthur Warren

Famous quotes containing the word background:

    In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.
    Emma Goldman (1869–1940)

    Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)