Star Wars Fan Petitions to Have Orlando Victim Memorialized in Next Film

Christopher Andrew "Drew" Leinonen was one of the Star Wars franchise's biggest fans. He and his boyfriend, Juan Ramon Guerrero, were also 2 of the 49 victims of the recent massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Now, Leinonen's longtime friend and fellow fan, Joshua Yehl, is starting a petition, addressed to Kathleen Kennedy, President of LucasFilms, Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, and "all those behind the Star Wars films" to make Drew the first LGBT character in the franchise's history.

By this, Yehl means he hopes that firstly, Star Wars will create an LGBT character at all, and secondly, that said character will be dedicated to Leinonen and all of the victims of the Orlando shooting.

"I'm writing this letter to request that Drew's passing be honored by using him as inspiration for the first-ever LGBT Star Wars character to appear in a movie," said Yehl. "How this is done--using his likeness, running his name through one of those Star Wars Name Generators, etc.--is totally up to you. You are all masters of your craft, so I know that whatever you come up with will be marvelous. This character will not only honor Drew, but all of the other victims at Pulse in Orlando, including his boyfriend Juan Ramon Guerrero, and every LGBT person to ever lose their life to hate."

Yehl continued, "While Star Wars is a sci-fi fantasy world with bizarre aliens and hulking monsters, it still features characters just like us. After A New Hope, steps were taken to expand and diversify the cast, giving us the smooth-talking Lando Calrissian and Rebel pilots played by people of color. The tradition of making Star Wars more inclusive continued with the casting of Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega as Finn, the main protagonists of The Force Awakens. It's my hope that Star Wars will take another step forward by introducing their first-ever LGBT character in a movie."

Watch Yehl's video to Kennedy below, and sign his petition at Change.org.