…and why putting a stigma on homosexuality really does matter quite a lot.

Cop Guilty In Gay Student's Slaying

(Columbia, Missouri) [A] Columbia police officer has been found guilty of killing a gay University of Missouri student with whom he had an affair.

The jury of nine women and three men Saturtday found police officer Steven Arthur Rios guilty of first-degree murder for the slaying of Jesse Valencia, 23,

Rios, 28, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

… During the trial prosecutor Morley Swingle told the jury that Rios killed Valencia to keep him from revealing their relationship.

"He used his badge for sex and then he used his knife to forever close the mouth of his secret lover," said Swingle.

Public defender Valerie Leftwich, however, told the jury that just because the two had sex was not proof that Rios killed Valencia.

Valencia's body was discovered on the lawn of a home about a block from his apartment near the university campus. An autopsy showed that his throat had been slashed.

The last time anyone saw him was about 3:30 the previous morning as he left a party off campus.

Shortly after the investigation into the killing began friends of Valencia said he was having a secret affair with a police officer.

The friends told homicide investigators that the officer had arrested Valencia on April 18 for interfering with officers responding to a peace disturbance in the area. The friends said that shortly after that the officer started visiting Valencia’s apartment.

Rios was arrested several days later. Under police questioning Rios, who is married, acknowledged having a sexual relationship with Valencia. Investigators said Rios killed Valencia after the student threatened to tell the police chief about the relationship.

Shortly after his arrest Rios was confined to a state mental health facility for his own protection after twice threatening to commit suicide when his affair was made public.

The night of the murder Rios worked that morning until 3 a.m. Part of his beat included the campus area where Valencia's body was found.

Again: making gay people out to be scum really does make a difference. Something tells me Jesus would not be proud