On Thursday evening, 80 mourners gathered at the Stonewall Inn, a New York City bar known for its pivotal role in the gay rights movement, to honor O’Shae Sibley.
Mr. Sibley, a 28-year-old dancer who was preparing to audition for the musical “The Lion King,” was stabbed to death at a Brooklyn gas station on Saturday after a group of men told Mr. Sibley and his friends to stop dancing and began to hurl gay slurs at them.
Two New York Times reporters, Maria Cramer and Wesley Parnell, wrote about Mr. Sibley’s exuberant life and tragic murder. One of the 80 mourners who came to The Stonewall Inn to honor Mr. Sibley told them, “He was just a beautiful spirit, a wonderful person, just exercising his freedom to be alive.”