Using Teen Tragedies for Political Gain: How LGBT Advocates and Media Collaborate

In yet another attempt to exploit and politicize the death of an LGBT teenager, GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis recently claimed on Twitter/X that the reported murder of 17-year-old River Nevaeh Goddard was directly connected to anti-LGBT “rhetoric” and Republican legislation.

She insisted, “Too often, young people, and LGBTQ youth in particular, are failed by the adults and systems entrusted to protect them, and do not feel they have anywhere to turn in times of crisis. Our leaders and our communities must do better.”

She went on to demand, “Politicians must stop dangerous anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation that fans the flames of hate and violence.”

The thing is, Goddard wasn’t killed due to bullying or alleged anti-LGBT legislation in schools or even in a hate crime. She was allegedly murdered by her 20-year-old boyfriend who reportedly stabbed her repeatedly with a sword over accusations she was cheating on him.

Shane Curry, 20, of Stow, Massachusetts, has been charged with assault and battery on a family or household member. On April 5, 2024, police arrived at the couple’s home to do a well-being check. Curry’s mother called the police after not being able to get ahold of her son for two days. Curry attempted to block the police from entering for two hours before they finally entered and found the victim dead inside their room.

The couple reportedly had an argument in which Curry accused her of cheating on him and confronted her about her drug addiction. He told police he stabbed her several times with a sword. He told police, “The bruises aren’t working … hitting her that’s not working, so ok, I have to knife her, so I do.”

Curry has a history of domestic abuse, including assaulting his mother in 2023. Goddard’s grandfather, Michael Simmons, stated he had previously spoken with Curry and that the boyfriend promised to “take care of her.” Goddard was born in prison and raised by her grandfather but was removed due to an abusive environment. She was placed in foster care with a family until she ran away when the state requested she receive behavioral treatment. Her foster family believed she was missing for the last two years.

GLAAD reported she identified as nonbinary and pansexual and used “they/them,” pronouns. She also went by River and her birth name Nevaeh. Despite this being an obvious case of domestic abuse involving drug addiction, GLAAD urged “media reporting on Goddard’s life and death to respect Goddard’s identity and explore how the growing climate of anti-LGBTQ animus, legislation, and attacks factors into Goddard not receiving adequate support in the years leading up to their death.”

They plan to turn her death into another propaganda tool, purely for politics. As was true with the recent viral death of Dagny (Nex) Benedict, there is no evidence whatsoever that alleged anti-LGBT legislation or rhetoric or even bullying had anything to do with the case. Advocate, an LGBT site, included in the story, “Goddard’s death comes just months after the death of Indigenous transgender high school student Nex Benedict, who died by suicide after being physically assaulted by their peers in a bathroom.”

As is now known about Benedict’s tragic story, the young woman was suffering from severe mental illness, was taking psychiatric medications, and overdosed in her home a little over a week after her father, who raped her as a small child, was re-arrested for violating his sex offender requirements. Video evidence of Benedict herself discussing the fight she instigated did not provide any indication she was targeted based on her various and changing LGBT identities. On the contrary, she reportedly assaulted three younger girls over a mild comment she took offense to, boasting she grabbed one girl by the hair and slammed her into a paper towel dispenser.

The story of her being the victim of a hate crime was entirely manufactured and simply repeated on a loop. In the same way, there is no indication Goddard was specifically harmed or neglected based on her LGBT identity. A family member raised her, she was removed due to abuse, and she was placed with a caring foster family. The state attempted to provide more in-depth help, and she ran away.

She was living with an older man her grandfather knew about. How did “the system,” fail her as a nonbinary, pansexual person? How did a “growing climate of anti-LGBTQ animus, legislation, and attacks,” factor into this situation? She lived in an abusive relationship. LGBT individuals have a higher rate of domestic abuse in general, with 44 percent of lesbians and 26 percent of gay men reporting intimate partner violence. Upwards of 61 percent of bisexual women report domestic violence.

The reality is that the only person squarely at blame is her alleged murderer. Yes, Goddard began life with extreme disadvantages, and her family failed her. She ran away, got involved with drugs, and got trapped in an abusive relationship. But there is no LGBT-related legislation or awareness campaign or denunciation of “rhetoric” that would have changed these facts.

Similar to Benedict’s story, LGBT media and advocates are only interested in using these tragic cases as weapons against political opponents. They want to bully, intimidate, and silence opponents using emotional blackmail and outlandish accusations. They don’t care about helping victims. They just want to exploit them to get through the next election cycle.