Carlos Castro's young 'straight' killer was "very religious" and blames the victim.

...and will the May/December double-standard taint the story? [Via Nathan James for GBMnews] Renato Seabra, the 20-year-old Portuguese model charged in the bloody murder of TV producer and gay activist Carlos Castro, says in his confession that Castro’s “homosexuality” was the reason for his castration and killing, according to the NYPD. Castro, 65, and Seabra arrived in New York City from their native Portugal on December 29, and checked into the recently-opened InterContinental Hotel in Times Square together, sources said. Seabra’s mother, Odilia Pereirinhra, speaking on Portuguese television, asserted that her son “was not Carlos Castro’s lover. He never hid his sexuality, which is heterosexual.” Other accounts of the two men’s relationship by friends and fashion-industry insiders in Portugal, say Seabra and Castro, who paid for the trip to New York, were a couple. As a 40 something gay man who’s head is frequently and shamelessly turned by the young and the beautiful, there is no doubt what the nature of their relationship was. In an interview with a Portuguese newspaper near his hometown, Seabra (who was also a basketball star and a reality show minor celebrity in his native Portugal) described himself as "religious and shy" - yet, apparently, he thought nothing of whoring himself for "months" to advance his career. We have to wonder why he suddenly changed his mind and flipped out. After reaching the reality show finals, Seabra said, "That same night, I prayed to God, saying thank you. And the next morning, I woke up to pray again." Check out our budding killer below (courtesy Joe.My.God) Hmmm.... a tormented gay twisted by dogma and driven to bludgeon and sexually mutilate? Maybe he missed the 'thou shalt not kill' passage in the world's goriest tome. Still, this may be another possible victim of the religious brain gone awry. Raise a child with beliefs that the Bible is sacrosanct then abominable acts become reasonable - like this murder, and this. Seabra’s mom clearly is in denial, which is not unexpected or uncommon. Parents of killers alleging they were enraged by their victims homosexuality (as if it came as a sudden surprise) never admit what is clear to the rest of us – that their child willingly became involved with an openly gay MUCH older man, most likely to advance their careers by association or just for plain old hard cash. "This kid was probably looking for fame and money," said Luis Pires, editor of the Portuguese newspaper Luso Americano and a friend of Castro's in a Daily News article. "He took a chance to be very close to a man who could promote him. It was a risky relationship." If this was a hetero May/December affair — such as the infamous marriage of 26yr-old Anna Nicole and 89yr-old J. Howard Marshall – the monikers of “gold-digger” and “dirty old man” remain, yet society still sees him as a player with a ‘wink wink’, Hugh Hefner sort of acceptance that one of his age can still bag a hottie (even if with money - and Viagra). However with a same sex couple of this variety, the older man is seen by far too many as a predator — which is an infuriating double standard. Comments like this one on the NY Post article make the moronic point that these killers are somehow justified: I think Carlos drugged and abused the kid. If he indeed killed him, was probably because he noticed he was taken advantaged of. Seabra is a nice shy person! I think that if he did it, he probably had a very strong reason - after all, nobody kills for petty reasons. The word "abomination" comes to mind. It's all the religious brain hears, and is reason enough for all sorts of horror. Though I don’t believe that his religion or gay “stigma” will effect the outcome of this brutal murder in the long run, the fact that Seabra is in Bellevue as a head case instead of on Rikers Island where he belongs is troubling. Maybe Bellevue is always the first stop for deranged killers and he belongs there. Or maybe I’m just being sensitive because gay murders so often have to overcome stigma and that notorious "ick" factor to receive equal justice. Conclusions ... Carlos Castro didn’t deserve such a brutal and ignominious end to his life (just because he wanted something young and beautiful on his arm like many of us do). Some of us will now question every young beauty who enters our lives (and ascertain their religious views to weed out fundie nutcases on the edge). And Renato Seabra will have the rest his life in a cell to figure out why he threw everything away because one nice old man thought he was beautiful. ~

Comments

[Greg]

Powerful essay.

Unfortunately, Seebra is at the age when schizophrenia often strikes, I think, sometimes ballooning fairly suddenly. "Shy" might suggest the "prodromal" stage?" Most victims aren't criminally insane, but...watch out when they are.

But then, I'm on the shy side of social interactions myself, but I'm merely a little neurotic and AADD...

Just because he is likely quite insane, as with the Tucson assassin, doesn't mean that the more or less sane haters are off the hook. They push and push hate, and some of the unstable fall into the abyss, taking innocent people with them. Perhaps Seabra could have been a non-violent victim of his insanity, in a slightly better world.