Reason First: No Purpose, No Life-Andrew Cunanan

The story of Andrew Cunanan may have put a damper on the LGBTQ movemement. Much like black men who actually rape, rob and murder, groups find it hard to chant slogans in support of races and orientations. But this is only a might. Gay men especially have been able to revolutionize the culture and the actions of just one person should not be the be all and end all in the story of people who live that LGBTQ life. Instead of clumping people into groups, the goal ought to be to view everyone as individuals.

Cunanan murdered four people including the fashion impresario Gianni Versace. This has nothing to do with his sexuality. There are millions of gay men who would never commit the evils that this monster carried out in his life.

Cunanan may have been a transvestite prostitute but that does not mean that every transvestite is a lurking killer. His viciousness stemmed not from his orientation but his horrific value system. After his rampage, Cunanan ended his own life on a houseboat in South Florida.

The father of one of Cunanan’s victims never rejoiced at the death of his son’s murderer. He said, “Now no one will be able to tell me why this happened.” This speaks so blatantly to the fact that the coward Cunanan could not deal with the reality of the terror he had caused. His putrid soul could not allow him to face justice. For the men that he killed, he had no regard for their lives and no concern for his own life. His lack of self-esteem prompted him to slay these figures. Without a firm grasp of reality, Cunanan could not consider what he was doing to be life-affirming or advantageous. By not realizing the facts and acknowledging that he should have persuaded and reasoned with his victims, Cunanan damned himself. His ugliness spilled out in various ways. The murders signalled to the LGBTQ community that an evil individual does not represent their goals or ideals. Cunanan brought himself closer to vile nature with his actions void of any virtue.

His crimes, including using a claw hammer and a handgun, seemed passionate. With a hammer it seemed most obvious that his anger for Jeff Trail had bubbled over the pot. With Versace, the fact that he put two shots into the designer’s head demonstrated that he had passion for killing these men.

The way that Cunanan dispatched his victims showed that he had rejected the faculty to reason. He had the sense to use rationality but he refused to use it. The specifics of his terrible actions bring to mind a man who was insecure with his own sexuality. He had been a man hopping in one bed with a man, and then another. His promiscuous nature only served to downgrade his moral principles. His major issue remained the fact that he couldn’t achieve the same monetary status of his victims. He may have been attractive to other gay men but he had to rely on the monies that his wealthy boyfriends offered to him. This lack of purpose led to his ogrish actions. Without a steady way of producing for himself (besides his prostitution endeavors) Cunanan had no way of showing thst he was a creative figure like Versace.

No purpose spelled a recipe for disaster. He killed a sailor, an architect, property developer, and world-renown clothing designer. All of these men had a specific productiveness in this life and lived to achieve their ends through their work. Cunanan wanted none of this. For his failure to achieve a productive line of work other than being a transvestite male of the night, Cunanan possessed nothing to say that he was a creative being. His death may have been at his own hands physically but he died spiritually long before he pulled the trigger.