Newark Street Renamed to Honor Sakia Gunn, Lesbian Teen Killed in Hate Crime

A street in Newark, N.J., has been named for Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old Black lesbian killed in an antigay crime 20 years ago.

Newark’s Academy Street was rechristened Sakia Gunn Way in a ceremony held Saturday. The sign was unveiled at the intersection of Academy and Halsey streets in downtown Newark, in the area where Gunn was fatally stabbed May 11, 2003.

Gunn and a group of friends, including her cousin Valencia Bailey, were waiting for a bus that evening when two men approached in a car and began propositioning them. The young women responded that they were lesbians and therefore not interested. The men got out of the car, and one of them, Richard McCullough, stabbed Gunn in the chest. She died shortly afterward.

Two years later, McCullough entered a plea bargain in the crime, pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, and bias intimidation. He had been charged with bias murder, but that was dismissed as a result of the plea bargain. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Gunn’s loved ones have fought to keep her memory alive. The renaming of the street “means the world to me, because it’s an acknowledgement,” Bailey recently told New Jersey newspaper The Record. “It’s showing that my cousin’s legacy will never die, it’ll forever be here. Everyone will know who she is. No matter if you don’t know anything about her or her situation, if you walk down the street and you see that sign … you get online and everything’s out there.”

Gunn is “the martyr that started the modern LGBTQ+ movement here in Newark,” Reginald Bledsoe, director of the Essex County Office of LGBTQ Affairs, told the paper.

Gunn and Bailey both came out at age 12 and quickly became well-known activists in their city, as there was so little LGBTQ+ representation at the time. Gunn’s death shocked the community. “Over 2,500 people attended Gunn’s funeral; local students marched out of school for it even though many attendees couldn’t fit inside,” The Record notes.

The city has become more LGBTQ-friendly since then, with the Newark LGBTQ Center opening 10 years after Gunn’s death, but it still has some distance to go, Bailey said. “Even though we have resources, it's still so scarce and so few,” she said. “It means the world to me that this is happening, because we’re moving in the right direction.”

Bledsoe said Newark has become more open, as LGBTQ+ residents are largely comfortable being out. Queer couples can be seen holding hands outside of LGBTQ-only spaces, he said. “I feel like the strides we’ve made at the school level and local level, we’re starting to see a difference,” Bledsoe told The Record. “We have spaces where we can gather together in fellowship and love each other and support each other."

Bailey and Bledsoe were both at the renaming ceremony, along with many others, including Gunn’s mother, Latona Gunn. “It’s a great day, a great day,” Bailey said at the event, according to local news site InsiderNJ. “These are tears of joy, these are tears of …. some of the happiest thoughts that for a while I couldn’t even have for myself.”

“Sakia Gunn’s legacy serves as a powerful reminder that our identities are not separate, but rather intertwined,” Bledsoe told the site. “Our struggles for justice and equality are interconnected. By honoring Sakia’s memory, we amplify the voices of those marginalized and overlooked, shedding light on the intersectional battles we face.”

“This street dedication is more than a symbol,” he added. “It is a testament to the resilience and courage of the LGBTQ+ community of color. It stands as a beacon of hope, inspiring us to continue the fight for a world where every person, regardless of their race or sexual orientation, can walk freely, proudly, and without fear.”