Simmie Lewis Williams Jr., 17, was gunned down in the early morning hours of Feb. 22 on a desolate stretch of road in Fort Lauderdale known as the transvestite stroll.
Simmie, who was known on the stroll as Chris or Beyoncé, died dressed as the pop star he idolized – in his favorite dress with a fierce pair of pumps on.
But Simmie, who loved to wear women’s clothing, was buried as a man in a sharp beige suit with white gloves.
Despite his friends’ requests, his mother, Denise King, wouldn’t have it any other way. She had searched for just the right suit to bury her oldest son in. It was the first suit Simmie ever wore.
”Simmie’s friends asked me if I was going to dress him as a woman for the funeral. I said no. I gave birth to a boy, and my baby would be buried as a boy,” says King, 38.
His friends say Simmie, who was openly gay, was a troubled boy who was bullied into dropping out of school at Hollywood Hills High in 2006. All Simmie ever wanted to be was a chef like the ones he saw on cable tv.
On Feb. 21, his mother enrolled him in the job corps where he would study to become a chef. ”Simmie loved to cook. He would watch the Food Network, then experiment,” King says. ”He was so happy because he was going to finally be able to work toward becoming a cook.” The next day he was dead.
Police have few leads in the homicide case. Broward Crime Stoppers received only two tips, but neither tip panned out. The gay community, outraged by the senseless killing, raised money to help pay for Simmie’s funeral. Gay rights leaders plan to ask the state legislature to pass school-bullying laws – with amendments specifying protection for sexual orientation, identity and expression.
”Simmie has become the most recent face… of someone hurt or killed because of who they are,” says Brian Winfield, a spokesman for Equality Florida. “People are feeling absolute anger that another young life was taken.”
Source: The Miami Herald
I would die to see him as “beyonce.” I’m not made at the mother though. I would’ve done the same.
Very sad story!
It was the mom’s perogative to bury him as she pleased. He was her child and he was still a child. Had be been an adult who had been living as a transvestite I might feel differantly. What I found strange was that the gay community is apparently assuming he was killed because of his sexuality when the authorities have said they don’t have any information on the crime.
i read about this a couple of wks ago…this is a sad tragedy…may he rest in peace…
Ia if that was my son I would’ve probably done the same thing. They may be assuming he was killed in a hate crime because he was supposedly on transvestite stroll. That is extremely sad that someone that young would be on a street like that. This is a very sad story and from what I’ve read it happens a lot. These stories just don’t make the news. RIP.
I agree…Why are they assuming it was a hate crime. There could be a list of reasons why he was killed, including being an innocent bystander, or being robbed. Lets hope it’s not, someone retaliating because he/she concealed his/her identity to someone who really thought “he” was a she.
I agree with you all, why are they considering it a hate crime. They tend to always say it’s a hate crime when someone who is gay is killed. Just like blacks are always throwing out the race card. But did they ever stop to think maybe he fooled someone into thinking he was a girl and they found out and didn’t take it very lightly.
I’ve seen things like this happen before. 2 boys were walking home dressed as a girls. Dudes that were standing in front of their apartment building were trying to holla as they walked by. They stopped and started a conversation with the dudes and even agreed to sexual activity, but when someone else walked up and said yo dude you know that’s a man right, the young men became really outraged.. So mad that they pulled a gun on them and starting firing, luckily they didn’t die but was shoot in the arm and azz.
All I’m saying is I respect gays just like anyone else, but it is their responsibility to tell someone who could possibly become a sexual pattern that they are a man. Especially when you really can’t tell they are a man dressed in womens clothes. With all the fake butt injection, breast, hair, nails how could you tell?
Not saying that’s what happened in this case. But I know a lot of cross dressers who don’t say anything about there real sex until it’s to late. And with that said.
RIP
My heart goes out to his family and friends. It doesn’t matter what he was buried in. Those are just material things covering a shell.
Hmmmm, I don’t think it was a hate crime.When it comes to gays , gays tend to think because someone shot a gay person it’s automatically a hate crime.And his mother is doing the right thing.That’s her son, she birth him which people tend to don’t understand.
In my opinion, if my son/daughter prefered to dress another way, I would have buryed them that way. Why send them home in something they would have never worn before. And to my knowledge at 17 today, you are considered an adult. RIP Simmie aka Beyonce!
“buried”
Damn thats so sad. R.I.P
My prayers go out to the family
This is a VERY sad story!!!!
My prayers go out 2 his friends n family. Especially his mother cause I know it’s hard looseing your son.
R.I.P.
I have no words, however I do pray that he R.I.P.
Lovey Lady…. you have said it all I totally agree with you!!
RIP young brother, it really is a sad day, it just seems like so much is going on in the world!! I never understood what can make a person so hateful & nasty towards another to want to take there life!! Lord help us!!
Sad.
I would have buried him as a woman…
I agree with cupcakes and abhor, he lived as a woman and should have been buried as one. In the same breathe though, it must be difficult for his mother, loosing him that way and at such a young age. My heart goes out to all that knew and loved him though.
RIP.
Indeed I would have buried him in his favorite dress and pumps. He being 17 and out there on the stroll like that, he didn’t have acceptance I imagine and I know not for everyone but if my child came out to me as gay I would rather have him safe and confident in the world than feeling what he is and wanted to be is a bad thing.
Stories like this in the year 2008, heartbreaking, while I feel for his mom, losing a child is horrific, in putting him in a suit, even to last, she refused to let him be who who was. RIP Simmie
THIS ISN’T THE FIRST CASE LIKE THIS.
FORT LAUDERDALE
Teenage boy dressed as woman shot dead
A young man dressed as a woman was fatally shot in a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood known for transvestite prostitution early Friday.
Posted on Sat, Feb. 23, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY ADAM H. BEASLEY
abeasley@MiamiHerald.com
Simmie L. Williams, 17, died after he was shot at the corner of Sistrunk Boulevard and 10th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale on Friday.
Blog | Discuss at Steve Rothaus’ Gay South Florida
Simmie L. Williams spent much of Thursday looking after his 1-year-old nephew, Jamar. He cooked dinner for his mom and told her he was going out to meet some friends.
Denise King said goodbye to her son — for the last time.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Friday, King’s daughter received a call from the hospital.
Williams, 17, had been shot dead at the corner of Sistrunk Boulevard (Northwest Sixth Street) and 10th Avenue.
The circumstances of the killing — the victim was wearing women’s clothes and gunned down in a neighborhood known for transvestite prostitution — shocked his mother and left police scrambling to find his killer.
It is believed that Williams, who also went by the names Chris and Beyoncé, was involved in an argument with two men, both dressed in black, said Detective Kathy Collins, a Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman.
People nearby heard gunshots and saw the men run off.
Williams was killed about a mile from the site of a similar and still unsolved homicide.
Timothy Broadus, a prostitute dressed in women’s clothes and a wig, was gunned down in the 500 block of Northwest 21st Avenue the morning of Jan. 8, 2003.
Witnesses at the time told Fort Lauderdale police they heard gunshots while Broadus was talking to a man in a silver or gray Honda.
The car then sped away and Broadus, who used the name Cinnamon on the street, ran for a short distance before collapsing.
Williams bears the same name as his father, a felon who was released from prison three weeks ago after a nine-year stretch.
The elder Williams has convictions for attempted murder, gun violations and child abuse. The abuse charges stem from 1988, before the younger Williams was born.
The father told prison authorities that he planned to live with his parents in Kellyton, Ala., upon his release.
However, as of Friday afternoon, the elder Williams still had not made it to Alabama, according to Mary Ann Williams, his mother.
The victim’s grandmother had just learned of the killing when she was reached by The Miami Herald.
”I am heartbroken,” said Mary Ann Williams, who last spoke with her grandson in December 2006. “It’s terrible.”
Mary Ann Williams, who lived in Fort Lauderdale for close to 40 years before moving to a rural area of Alabama, said she knew her grandson was troubled.
Family had tried to intervene, she said, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
Before he went to jail, the elder Williams’ last known address was 723 NW 10th Ave., a block from where his son was killed.
He stopped by King’s apartment Friday to pick up his other two sons.
The family made funeral arrangements Friday.
Police ask those with information to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
whether it was a hate crime or not..he was gone too soon..i hope he found the peace eternally that he couldn’t find on earth
Sorry, 17 isn’t an adult.
Anywhere. He can’t join the military, he can buy cigarettes, he can’t do many things. He’s not legal.
I’m sorry this happened to him, but if I was his mother I would have buried him as a MAN also.
God have mercy on him… (@ 2bme – *ditto*)
i agree with every word aprilshowers said, his mother remember him as a man and he was born a male and thats how she buried him…prayers to his mom and all loved ones!
I would’ve done the same thing his Momma did. I gave birth to a boy, I will have to bury my baby as a boy. God loves Simmie and God loves his mother too, for doing right for her baby. We can’t always disregard our gut feelings in exchange for popular beliefs.
Not sure how I would have dressed him if it were my child. Bottom line is a mother had to bury her 17 year old son becasue of bigary and hatred, or was it that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time? There are ppl who look more like the other sex than their gender. I see girls who look more manly than my handsome husband and I see boys/men who look more beautiful than me. Not mad at any of them. Just the stigma and the backlash has to be so hard for some to “come out of the closet”. May Simmie rest in peace and his mom find a higher power to try to make sense of it all.
The police don’t even know why he was killed so how is the “gay community” or anyone else outraged over this as a hate crime ? We should be outraged and moved over any crime and not just get ticked off when it affects our “own”.
This is very sad that he was only 17 he has such a baby face I wouldn’t have figured him for being even 17 more like 14 and he certainly has a “girly” face.
Anyway, I don’t blame his mom. Your sexual preference doesn’t change your gender. And seeing him as a boy probably gave her closure. AND he wasn’t sent “home” wearing anything; he was already deceased by the time they had the wake/funeral, clothes don’t have spirits and travel to the afterlife .
“…Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1:21