Community members lay flowers down in honor of Sam Nordquist.
Donna Aceto
Hundreds gathered for a Friday night vigil on Feb. 21 to remember Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old Black trans man who was brutally murdered in Upstate New York earlier this month.
The vigil also held space for other trans voices lost to senseless violence this year, including Black trans woman Tahiry Broom, 29, who was shot to death outside Detroit on Feb. 9.
Sam Nordquist, originally from Red Wing, Minnesota, left home to visit Upstate New York in September 2024. His family lost contact with him in early January and reported him missing on. Feb. 9. Nordquist’s body was discovered several days later, with authorities reporting that he suffered prolonged torture between December 2024 and February 2025.
The gathered mourners packed the nave and balcony of the Church of the Village, notably the site of the first Parents, Families & Friends of LGBTQ+ People (PFLAG) NYC meeting in 1973. The Church has been a well-known haven for LGBTQ+ community members and clergy since then.
The vigil was hosted by PFLAG NYC and the NEW Pride Agenda, a New York State-based advocacy group whose mission is to advance the civil rights of the LGBTQIA+ community in New York. Other partner organizations included the Ali Forney Center, New York Transgender Advocacy Group, Reclaim Pride Coalition, and Trans formative Schools.
“Know that there are places that are openly affirming, and there are places that are radically inclusive, just like this place,” Reverend Yunus Coldman, who is Black and transmasculine, said during his remarks. “Don’t let them tell you that there aren’t places to go.”
“Who are we?” the Reverend asked the room. “We’re trans. We were created for love and by love.”
During their remarks, New Pride Agenda interim executive director Kei Williams pointed out that only about 13 percent of the transgender community identifies as Black, but Black trans women make up nearly 75 percent of hate-crime victims. “We are here not just to mourn for Sam,” Williams said, “but to demand justice for him.”
Near the end of the program, PFLAG and NPA invited mourners to bring flowers to the pulpit. More than a hundred congregants flooded into the central aisle to lay flower after flower on the steps of the altar. One mourner placed a sign among the flowers: “There are queer + trans kids + adults + elders in the future.”
“I think it’s incredibly important right now that organizations not try and reinvent the wheel,” said Clark Wolff Hamel, the acting executive director of PFLAG NYC, referring to the partnership that brought the vigil to life. “A lot of the transgender executive directors in New York City are connected and we’re able to share our goals with each other in this political climate — what do we want to uplift, how do we want to work together, how do we want to support each other — so I feel really grateful that we can support each other in this time.”
Outrage at Nordquist’s death has been broadcast equally from Minnesota as from New York, with Governors Tim Walz and Kathy Hochul denouncing the horrific act of violence.
“People see New York City and New York State as very distinct from each other,” Wolff-Hamel said when asked about the importance of holding a vigil in the West Village when Nordquist’s killing took place almost 320 miles northwest of the City. “But the fact is, this city is a part of the state. We are affected by the state broadly, and this affects us all.”
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