Your Love Means More Than I Can Ever Say: Jonathan Joss, 1965-2025

The time we are living in is not safe. We all knew that, but every once in a while, something happens that really drives it home. And it is important for those of us who are not in the group being targeted at that specific moment to say that we’re aware. Because we should not stand silently by and let the evil happen to people. When the LGBTQ+ members of the community are attacked, straight allies need to stand with them, because no one group stands alone.

Jonathan Joss was an actor and musician from San Antonio, Texas. He was in that stupid-looking Luke Perry rodeo movie and a Michener adaptation and the direct-to-video Pocahontas sequel, and that’s fine; that’s your standard working actor career, not helped by being of Comanche and White Mountain Apache ancestry. And then, in 1996, Victor Aaron, the original voice of King of the Hill character John Redcorn, was killed when he was hit by a car. Joss took over the character. He played John Redcorn for most of the series run, and he’s a hoot at it.

But today is a hard day for appreciating his career, because today he has been murdered. He and his husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, were checking their mail and found the skull and harness of their dog on display. They reacted understandably. According to his husband’s statement, as they were grieving together, a man came up to them, yelled homophobic slurs at them, and opened fire. Joss pushed Kern de Gonzales out of the way. Paramedics attempted to save him and could not.

Kern de Gonzales reports having experienced two years of attacks, since he and Joss moved into their home, culminating in a mysterious fire in January that destroyed their home and killed several of their dogs. Kern de Gonzales and Joss repeatedly reported the threats—including, yes, to burn down their house—to the police. Nothing happened. Someone is in custody for the murder, but that’s too late. After the fire was too late. Clearly, the lives of two gay men, at least one of whom was a PoC, were not seen as important by the cops.

I’m sure people are out there gearing up to defend the guy who shot Joss. TMZ says that the husband’s statement agrees with what they’d already heard from neighbours. And the neighbours, by what we’re hearing weren’t all that happy with the peaceful gay couple living next door. It’s pretty horrific. When the anger ebbs, I will be able to talk about the life and career of Jonathan Joss before the events of yesterday. But I suspect the anger will take a long time to ebb.