Luis Martínez died on June 25th, after jumping from one of the bridges on the Rosario-Buenos Aires highway. He was the brother of Ángel Correa, a player for the Argentine national team. The media linked his death to drug trafficking, "they didn't care that Luisito jumped from a bridge, fed up with begging for the affection his family didn't give him simply for being himself." By Santiago Apezteguia*, from Rosario. Luiyi , as he was known in the neighborhood, was 25 years old and had several siblings, including Ángel Correa, a player for the Argentine National Team and Atlético de Madrid (Spain). Being  Ángel's brother was reason enough for his death to make the news. But it was his brother's doing, and what his brother and family wanted to be known. It was reported in the media that Luis “was found dead in his home,” that “his death was linked to drug trafficking and the Rosario-based drug gang Los Monos,” that “the reasons for his death were not entirely clear,” and that “investigators were following leads.” But the neighbors in the Las Flores neighborhood, who knew his pain intimately, knew that Luisito —as he was also called—had decided to take his own life, presumably due to the constant indifference and discrimination from his family. Everyone agrees that Luis was always the “black sheep,” even though he was uninterested in his brother Ángel’s money and fame. Furthermore, he didn’t hesitate to openly express his nonconformist sexuality. He didn’t care what people thought of him. Luis Martínez died at the Centenario Hospital in Rosario. It was in the early hours of Sunday, June 25, after jumping from one of the bridges on the Rosario-Buenos Aires Highway. Just meters from his home in the Las Flores neighborhood of Santa Fe, Luis Martínez was found dead. A photograph circulating on social media shows his body lying on the side of the road while someone assists him. “About 100 meters behind his body, you can see his mother’s house, but nobody saw him. Doctors say he must have been lying there for about an hour until an ambulance crew who happened to be passing by noticed him and stopped to give him first aid,” one of his friends recounted, her voice breaking, highlighting the invisibility surrounding not only Luis’s life but also his death.

"Lack of affection: a perfect combination for being discriminated against"

“What we have left is the immense joy he radiated. He was a person with a huge heart, a great friend. He loved to dance and have fun. He went to all the castings for reality shows like Big Brother, Dancing with the Stars, and Singing with the Stars,” says his lifelong friend, laughing through tears as she recalls his eagerness to stand out. She adds, “It’s known that his brother pulled strings to keep him from getting called back; perhaps he didn’t want people to know he had a gay brother who also had a personality that made him stand out everywhere. It seemed like they were ashamed of him.” We believe he turned to drugs because of his siblings' lack of affection, so it was the perfect combination for discrimination: gay and an addict, plus his outgoing personality bothered people.” Luisito had no connection to the Los Monos gang or drug trafficking. He wasn't found dead in his house. He didn't “fall” from a bridge. Luisito didn't “die.” The cause of death of “Ángel Correa's brother” wasn't unknown even when he was alive. For two or three days, there were heated arguments among Luis's friends and family between those who tried to cover up the incident and those who finally managed to tell his story, including his godmother, neighbors, and childhood friends.

Nobody cared

Luisito was killed. And he was killed several times. He was killed even after death. Various local and national news outlets reported the event in their sports sections. The media outlets that covered the story only cared that the brother of a prominent soccer player had died, but they didn't care that Luisito had jumped off a bridge, fed up with begging for the affection his family withheld from him simply because he was... be. They killed him again when they tried to hide the story, the identity, and the pain that Luis expressed minutes before making the decision to take his own life in a heartbreaking audio in which he says goodbye to his friends. Luis's death is yet another death at the hands of a society that looks the other way. a society that cares more about fame, football, success, "family" than the suffering of those who do not fit into those molds. Luis's death moved all of us who celebrate diversity, those of us who claim the right simply to be and to live freely. I hope Luis is the last. May we forge a society that stops killing us because of our gender and sexuality. And may Luis be remembered not for being Ángel Correa's brother, but for who he was: Luisito, poor, gay, and from the margins, murdered by society, killed by indifference. * Student of Social Communication and Journalism at the National University of Rosario.]]>