LGBTQ+ Rights Activist Found Dead in Florida Landfill
same-sex marriages.Diaz-Johnston vanished from Tallahassee on January 3, according to Miami TV station WPLG.He was 54. Police are treating the case as a homicide.Diaz-Johnston and his husband were one of six couples who successfully sued the Miami-Dade County Clerk’s Office after the office denied them marriage licenses in 2014.Detectives found his remains in a trash pile at a landfill on Saturday morning in Jackson County, Florida, which is west of Tallahassee.
Investigators said in a release that the trash Diaz-Johnston's remains were found in came from a metal bay at another landfill.
They added that any person or company has access to it. The activist leaves behind his husband, Don Johnston, and his brother Manny Diaz, who is a former mayor of Miami and is currently the Florida Democratic Party Chair.“He touched so many people with his kind and generous heart,” Johnston said in a Facebook post.Diaz-Johnston’s brother released a statement thanking community members for the support shown to his family and to Johnston.“My brother was such a special gift to this world whose heart and legacy will continue to live on for generations to come.
I am also so very grateful to the Tallahassee Police Department- with the support of Mayor Daley and City Manager Reed- who have worked tirelessly to locate and investigate the circumstances surrounding my brother’s disappearance,” Diaz said.
