Luke Stanton

From Philosopedia

Stanton, Luke (1960–1993)

Stanton, a native of Trinidad who moved to New York City, was a secular humanist who died of AIDS. A member of AASH, he had helped advise others who were HIV-positive, and he owned a New York City hairdressing shop. At his memorial, which was attended by several hundred, “A Letter From Luke” was distributed which contained not only the Council for Secular Humanism’s “Affirmations of Humanism” but also stated the following:

I was raised Roman Catholic and spent the greater part of my teenage years trying to come to terms with the hypocrisies and contradictions of Catholic dogma. The realization that my sexual orientation was homosexual and the church’s adamantly homophobic position of opposing all issues that pertain to the Gay and Lesbian community finally solidified my feelings about Catholicism—this religion was not for me.

I spent some time thinking about and exploring other forms of worship and spirituality and just wasn’t convinced with their doctrines, either. I began to realize that I was very much a skeptic and held all religious dogma, including all the New Age free form spirituality, at bay.

I kept saying to myself, ‘they can’t seriously believe that people are gonna go for this stuff?’ But, yes, people do go for that stuff and sometimes with zest and vigor. This was something that I had to come to terms with. Even though I did not believe in supreme beings, deities, spirits, saints, goblins, and the hereafter, there are many people who do and it was important to me that I respected their feelings on these issues. So it became apparent that I, an atheist, could live among the masses who were believers with little or no problems.

In my late twenties I became interested in a philosophy called “Secular Humanism.” I read a few books about it, subscribed to some publications about Humanism, and even discovered that the Unitarian Church and the Ethical Culture Society were outstanding examples of humanistic organizations. The tenets of humanism were exactly how I felt about life on planet Earth as it pertained to Luke Stanton. It gave me quite a bit of joy discovering this facet of my life and today I am very pleased to call myself a “Secular Humanist.” Well, anyway, if anybody knows anything about humanism—it’s about the farthest thing from Catholicism that you can find.

Stanton instructed his companion, Michael Stanton—the two had agreed to take the same final name—that he wished to be cremated and have a niche in an outdoor mausoleum at Trinity Church Cemetery in Upper Manhattan. He further requested that Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” be played.

Close to death, he called his mother, his companion, and close friends to his bedside. He explained that in a few hours he would willingly take some pills to relieve him from the intense pain and would do it entirely alone in order that no one could be accused of helping him. Presumably, he committed suicide later in the evening.

"It didn't work!" he exclaimed in telephone calls to friends early the following morning. Soon thereafter, however, his companion informed his friends that he had been successful. Officially determined to have been a suicide, no one else was charged with his death.

(See Humanist Ceremonies.)

{WAS}