F****t. N****r. MAGA. It's All Hate.

Empire star Jussie Smollett was attacked in Chicago yesterday because he’s a gay, black man.

Sorry; it’s true.

Shortly after arriving in the city around 2AM, Smollett got a bite to eat at a Subway. As he walked down the street two unknown offenders approached him. One shouted something along the lines of …

“Aren’t you that f****t from TV?”

And then something like …

“N****r.”

And finally …

“This is MAGA country.”

They attacked him; they hit him in the face and then poured some substance—it is assumed to be bleach—all over him. At some point one of the assailants tied a rope around Smollett’s neck.

In America, in 2019.

The offenders fled the scene and Smollett made his way to the hospital where he is said to be in good condition.

I’ll say this again …

If two people attacked Jussie Smollett and beat him up and took his wallet, that’s hateful.

But when two people shout the words “f****t” and “n****r” and then beat Jussie Smollett up and douse him with bleach and tie a noose around his neck, that’s HATE.

Hateful, however, is when many of our politicians, mostly Republicans, don’t believe that sexual orientation should be included in Hate Crimes protections. But be clear, Jussie Smollett was viciously attacked because he’s black and gay.

That’s hate.

In America.

In 2019.

In MAGA country, where the Red Hat is the new White Hood.

Be clear.

GOP Governor Stands Up For Trans People

Remember when Michael Elisabeth Pence was governor of Indiana? Remember how he liked the idea of denying service to The Gays because he’s such a good Christian and his Bible is filled with Hate?

Well, Indiana has another GOP governor in Eric Holcomb, who was also Pence’s Lt. Governor, and he is a conservative just like Mike Pence; except for one thing. As Indiana battles over a Hate Crimes law [again!] Eric Holcomb has announced that he wants to be sure it includes protections for trans people.

Yes, in a state where Republicans have killed similar bills because they have included trans people, this lone Republican is taking a stand. And, naturally, he’s facing opposition.

GOP House Speaker Brian Bosma, an epic anti-LGBTQ politician, opposes including trans people in the bill because … wait for it … he’s one of those family values” Republicans facing numerous allegations of marital infidelity and is the darling of religious leaders in the state. Sound familiar? An adulterer beloved by Christians?

Still, Eric Holcomb remembers the stain on Indiana under Pence, for his hate-filled “religious freedom” law that allowed businesses to refuse to serve LGBTQ customers. He remembers the businesses that moved away, the drop in tourism, the drop in revenue that occurs when you make hate legal, and he wants no part of it.

And while Holcomb wants the Hate Crime law to mirror the executive branch’s nondiscrimination policy—which includes both sexual orientation and gender identity—Bosma is warning business leaders and activists not to push too hard to get transgender people included because it would bring “undue attention” to a state known as one of the most unfriendly to LGBTQ people:

“The result of this and how the discussion takes place affects every Hoosier and if this is a big knockdown, drag out, RFRA-esque discussion, it is not going to help anyone, and everybody is going to go to their corner and stand firm.”

Funny; the idea of simply protecting all the people of Indiana, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or non-religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, whatever it may be, hasn’t occurred to Bosma.

Luckily, it has occurred to the governor, and hopefully the legislature will listen to him; just like earlier this year, when Republicans wanted to strip transgender people from a similar bill, but Holcomb told them to either include gender identity or don’t pass anything at all. Legislators chose not to bring it up for a committee vote rather than protect transgender people.

And so, if Bosma gets his way and trans people are excluded , hopefully the people of Indiana will listen to Holcomb and send the cheating lying so-called Christians packing.

Because Hate should never be made legal.

LGBTQNation

Gay Couple Attacked? In West Virginia, It's Not Hate

In the wake of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando last week, this story has me quite riled up … here’s the gist of what happened — from my original blog post HERE:

In April 2015, in Huntington, West Virginia, Zackary Johnson and Casey Williams, after visiting friends, were walking back to their hotel when Casey pulled Zackary in for a quick kiss on the street.

At that moment, Marshall University football running back Steward Butler happened to be riding by in a car with friends and became so enraged at the sight of two men kissing that he leapt from the automobile and being shouting anti-gay slurs at the couple before punching both men in the head.

After his arrest, Butler claimed the confrontation was in self-defense, though it’s unclear how he was defending himself against two men kissing … unless he wanted to kiss one of them? Perhaps he’s one of those self-loathing closeted homosexuals and when he saw two men, in love, kissing on the street, he decided he couldn’t stand to see them doing that when he couldn’t, so he jumped from a moving car to tell them how much he hated them for kissing … with his fists.

Whatever his reasons … Butler was charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery, and was dismissed from the Marshall University football team. Good, right? Not so fast …

Butler, left, no longer faces any charges because West Virginia, like 19 other states, does not have a hate crime law that protects people targeted specifically because of their sexual orientation; and while the US Department of Justice is weighing its options in the case, some observers say it may not fit the federal definition of a hate crime.

In his decision in the case, Cabell County Circuit Court Judge Paul Farrell said West Virginia civil rights law protects people based on sex, not sexual orientation, and said he would drop the hate crime charges against Butler in 60 days, giving prosecutors time to appeal.

Farrell’s ruling leaves two options for prosecutors: hope for a favorable appeal with the state Supreme Court, or — if they lose — lobby for changes to state law with a Legislature that typically hasn’t added LGBT protections.

Now, I get it that Steward Butler physically assaulted two men because they were gay — which, let’s be queer, is a Hate Crime — and I get that West Virginia is one of those backwoods states that doesn’t believe gay Americans can be the victims of hate just for being gay but … isn’t this exactly why we need a federal law, superseding, overriding, and nullifying, every single state law about what constitutes a Hate Crime because, and I will say this again …

If I am walking down the street with Carlos and you come up and rob me and beat me and steal my wallet, that’s hateful, but …

If I am walking down the street with Carlos and you come up and rob me and beat me because I’m gay, that’s hate.

Spot the difference.

Hopefully, in light of what happened in Orlando, the prosecutors will be able to win on appeal and charge Butler with a Hate Crime, but if not, if that animal gets no jail, and no punishment for physically assaulting two men, let’s hope this case, and Orlando, are enough to move West Virginia lawmakers to add sexual orientation to their Hate Crimes statutes.

Hate is hate, no matter who the target.

Salon

Seriously, South Carolinians, Knock It The F**K Off

It's been scarcely a month since Joshua Esskew was hit with a beer bottle and then beaten by at least five men, and, well, here we go again. 

Vonte Fuller, a 22-year-old gay man from Spartanburg, was just sitting in a bar--Sideline's Sports & Spirit's--on Sunday, just minding his own business, which I guess gay folks aren't allowed to do in certain parts of South Carolina.

Vonte says a customer simply walked over to him and a pitcher of beer on his head. When he turned around to see what was going on, he was hit in the head with a beer bottle, and then more men joined in, throwing bottles, throwing fists, throwing anti-gay slurs: "I hate you faggots and ... you punks are sick. And all ya'll going to die slow."

Finally, the club security broke up the fight, and kicked Vonte Fuller, and his attackers, out of the bar. Security did not call the police, the bar owner did nothing, and has since said nothing. Luckily, for Vonte Fuller, one patron did call an ambulance.

Taken to the hospital for treatment, Vonte Fuller was visited by a Spartanburg Public Safety officer, who never bothered to take a report. When Fuller said he didn't know the men who attacked him, the officer shrugged and said there wasn't much that could be done.

Um, how about questioning the other patrons in the bar? Bar security might have some answers. The bar owner might know the men's names. Shrug.

But Vonte Fuller didn't give up. After leaving the hospital, he and his family went to the police station to file a report. It was there he learned that the officer's failure to take a report at the hospital is a violation of department policy, according to Lt. Regina Nowak, who said, "Bottom line: a report should have been taken. We have a duty to file that report, even if [the officers] don't agree [that a report needs to be taken.]"

The officer who visited Fuller in the hospital and just shrugged has not been identified, but will be investigated by the department's office of professional standards.

And, of course, since South Carolina has no Hate Crimes Laws, the beating of Vonte Fuller isn't being designated as such by local authorities, though, and remember this is South Carolina, there could be a lynching charge, if the attackers are caught.

See, we have laws against lynching, which is a sad comment on South Carolina, but not against beating a gay man in a bar just because he's gay and you're a moron with nothing better to do.

source

Yes, We Have No Hate Crimes Laws In South Carolina

In the days following the brutal beating of Joshua Esskew [see post HERE], a gay man, that was caught on a Rock Hill, South Carolina convenience store's surveillance camera, the sponsor of a hate crimes bill that got nowhere in the state legislature last year, John King, a Democrat from Rock Hill, plans to re-introduce the bill this week and ask that it be discussed immediately by legislators.

Of course, two Republican legislators , who admit that the attack on Joshua Esskew, was "horrific," say that existing laws are enough to prosecute people who violently attack others. And spokesmorons for our asshat-wingnut governor, The Transparent Nikki Haley, say she doesn't support state hate crime laws either. Naturally.

Rep. John King

John King, however, will still ask that his bill be taken directly to the House floor when the Legislature reconvenes after a week off, because he feels that hate crimes should not be tolerated and deserve harsher punishments: "We need an all-inclusive hate crime law in this state that protects all people regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation."

Now, for those of you who think that hate crimes laws are unnecessary because we punish people who attack and mug and kill other people anyway, let me offer up a little scenario:

I'm walking down the streets of Smallville, and someone decides I must have a pocketful of money, and they hold me up at gunpoint and steal from me. Then, perhaps they don't think I'm handing over the cash fast enough, so they beat me to a pulp.

Hateful, yes. Hate, no.

But, say I'm walking down the street and some guy decides that, oh, from the way I walk, or my clothes or whatever, that I'm a big old queen, and he beats me to a pulp just for being gay.

Hateful, yes. Hate, yes.

We need hate crimes legislation, in the states and at the federal level, to protect anyone from being attacked simply because of who they are, or are assumed to be, This goes for your gender, your orientation, your skin color, your religion, your age. 

If you are attacked, beaten and killed because of who you are, then it is an attack motivated by hatred.
If you are attacked, beaten, and killed because someone wants your money or your watch or your car, then that attack is motivated by greed.

Hate. Greed,

If you hate someone enough to beat them to unconsiousness, and leave them to die, say on a fence in Wyoming, or on  street in Brooklyn, then you deserve the fullest punishment of the law.

Hate is hate and should not be diminished.

source

Just a Thought: Sticks and Stones, Kobe and Bret, Sticks and Stones

Joshua Esskew stopped at a local convenience store to use the bathroom and maybe get a soda. instead, he was brutally attacked because he's gay.

As he walked into the store last Saturday night in Rock Hill, South Carolina--not all that far from Smallville-someone called him 'faggot.' Esskew turned and asked, "What was that you said?" and then he was hit in the head with a 40-oz beer bottle.

Bad enough, right? Stopping to get a soda, being called a fag and getting a bottle thrown at you. Bad enough, right?

Surveillance video from the store caught at least eight people, who were pumping gas or doing laundry next door to the gas station, rush into the parking lot and join in the beating of Joshua Esskew. Eight people, in all, all strangers, beat a man. But, hey, he's gay.

'Fucking faggot' stepped in a 'puddle of HIV'. Right, Kobe? Right Bret?

Okay, so maybe Kobe Bryant didn't actually throw a punch at Esskew, and maybe he didn't even join the fray beating the man so badly that he spent two days in the hospital, but Kobe Bryant, and anyone else who uses any kind of gay slur, bears some responsibility.

When you mutter, utter, shout, or even mouth, the words, 'faggot', especially when you are an idolized athlete, you are telling people it's okay to hate. It's okay to bash someone in the head with a bottle. It's okay to join a fight because it's just a gay guy.

And perhaps Bret Easton Ellis wasn't in Rock Hill over the weekend, but his homophobic, self-loathing, anti-gay Tweets just might have helped those men throw punches at Esskew.

Kobe Bryant  and Bret Easton Ellis weren't actually in on the fight, but Kobe's easy use of the word 'faggot'as a derogatory term, and Ellis'tauints about gay shows and HIV, helped  to throw the first bottle. 

And because it's accepted by some to call people 'faggot'as a dirty word, or make fun of people with HIV, that South Carolina remains in the dark ages. See, even though Esskew was obviously beaten because he's gay--or at least the attackers suspected he was gay--South Carolina has no Hate Crimes laws.

It's okay to beat gays here, I guess, and it's okay for over-paid arrogant athletes to call us 'faggots' on television, and for has-been authors to Tweet homophobia. And until that stops, and isn't laughed at, or made light of, gay people will still get beaten just for being ourselves.

source

This Is What Happens When People Pick And Choose Which Parts Of The Bible To Follow

Up in Pennsylvania, a 28-year-old man has been charged with murder by stoning. Yes, stoning. Welcome to the Dark Ages.



John Joe Thomas



Murray Seidman

John Joe Thomas told police he stoned 70-year-old Murray Seidman to death when, Thomas alleges, Murray made sexual advances toward him. It's the Gay Panic! Everyone run.

Trouble is, John Joe Thomas and Murray Seidman were friends, so did Thomas know Seidman was gay? It seems so since they apparently spent every single day together in Seidman's home.

But that didn't stop John Joe Thomas from telling authorities that, after Murray Seidman's alleged sexual advances--which apparently went on for some time--he received a message in his prayers telling him to end Seidman’s life. So he beat the older man to death with a sock filled with rocks.

I guess Thomas was too traumatized to remember the part of the Bible about 'Thou shall not kill'. He did, however, know how much money Murray Seidman had in the bank, because John Joe Thomas was also the sole executor of Seidman's will.

Gay panic. Murder for money.


source

Hate Has A Name: Vicky Hartzler

Vicky Hartzler is running in Missouri's 4th Congressional District.
She opposes gay marriage; she opposes hate-crimes laws; she opposes the repeal of DADT.
Now, that doesn't really make her much different than most Republicans running for office, so, why then, is Vicky Hartzler considered the most anti-gay political candidate in America?
Well Vicky Hartzler does much more than take the standard GOP position on gay rights, she has made a name for herself as an anti-gay crusader.
In 2004, Vicky Hartzler drew national and international attention for her part in the campaign for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Missouri; the amendment was the first of its kind, and passed by a huge margin in August of that year. Hartzler was subsequently quoted as celebrating her victory for "traditional marriage."
Doug Gray, a political consultant from the other side of the Missouri amendment fight, says anti-gay bias is central to Hartzler's identity:. "It's a core issue for her. Vicky is biased. She has always been very motivated by this issue."
Of course, a Vicky Hartzler spokesman says she's "not prejudiced against anyone": "She just thinks certain things are a traditional part of society--marriage being one of them."
And Vicky Hartzler doesn't want the LGBT community protected from crimes inflicted upon us for being gay, nor does she think we deserve the right to serve in the military like anyone else.
But, remember, she's not prejudiced.
Still, to see how anti-gay Vicky Hartzler is, you have to understand that even before her fight to pass a gay marriage ban amendment in Missouri, it was already illegal for gays and lesbians to marry there.  In fact, Missouri is one of the most anti-gay states out there; you can be legally fired for being gay in Missouri; Missouri has no laws granting hospital-visitation rights for gay couples.
Vicky Hartzler wasn't fighting to protect Missourians from gay marriage, because, even if her amendment failed, it would still be illegal for gay men and women to marry there. What she was doing, however, was inciting fear ion the state by pushing the marriage ban, so no one would notice that local LGBT advocates were working towards employment non-discrimination rules and hospital visitation rights.
Vicky Hartzler manipulated the populace with fear; a typical Republican strategy.
And now Vicky Hartzler is the poster child for anti- gay victories around the nation. When voters in California passed Prop H8 in 2008, a "glad" Hartzler told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she doesn't believe gay rights issues are civil rights issues. The "color of someone's skin doesn't change," she said, because, as she believes, there is debate about whether homosexuality is a "lifestyle or they were born that way."
Get over it, Vicky. You were born straight, I was born gay; you became a hateful bigot, I chose not to go that route.
And now, in her run for office against Democrat Ike Skelton, who was an architect of DADT back in the 90s, the campaign has turned into a Who's More Anti-Gay race. While she acknowledges that she and Skelton are on the same page regarding DADT--she says repealing it "puts us at risk"--Vicky Hartzler is arguing Skelton "allowed" hate crimes legislation to be attached to a defense authorization bill in 2009 in order to advance "the extreme agenda items of the gay movement."
Anti-gay Skelton was "catering to the desires of gay rights groups," says Steve Walsh, a spokesman for Hartzler's campaign.
And, as is usual, in addition to her anti-gay-anything campaign, Vicky Hartzler is pushing for more Christian right causes. In 1999, as a state representative, she backed a bill that would have allowed for prosecutors to charge women who obtained late-term abortions with murder. Her bill would also have permitted second-degree murder charges to be filed against the doctor who performed the procedure.
Luckily, the law was vetoed by a Democratic governor.
In 2000, Hartzler also lead the fight against Missouri ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, a federal constitutional amendment that would have formally provided for equal rights for women.
In 2008, she wrote a book, Running God's Way, outlining the "Christian" way to campaign for office.
Vicky Hartzler apparently knows nothing about the :separation of church ands state."
Vicky Hartzler obviously knows nothing about human dignity.
Vicky Hartzler obviously knows nothing....but hate, masked as Christianity.

source

As If We Need Another Lesson

It's time we had another lesson in why we need Hate Crimes legislation everywhere in this country. But this class is only for those people who don't believe there is a difference between hate crimes and other violent crimes.

Out in Santa Monica, a Denny's restaurant employee was stabbed in the neck by Curtis Martin simply because the man was gay. The victim's injuries were not life-threatening and he’s expected to fully recover.

And this is how that happened.

After the restaurant was closed, Curtis Martin knocked on the window, and asked to use the restroom. He was allowed to come inside, where he met a group of Denny’s employees sitting at a table. Martin asked the victim, a waiter, if he was gay and when the victim replied that he was, he was attacked, using a knife he had brought with him.

After the attack, Martin fled, and was later apprehended and arrested.

This, for those who don't know, is a Hate Crime. It's hate because the victim wasn't targeted in a robbery, or a theft, he was targeted for being gay, and only for being gay.

If Martin had stabbed the man because he wanted the man's wallet, that would be a hateful crime, but stabbing another human being in the neck simply because they're gay is Hate.

Pure and simple.

Class dismissed.

Are They Really Saying Judy Shepard Doesn't Know What She's Talking About?

File this one under Seriously Stupid:

Matthew Shepard;s mother, Judy, has written a memoir, The Meaning of Matthew, which chronicles the 1998 hate-crimes murder of Matthew Shepard, and Judy Shepard emergence as an LGBT rights advocate. It was a New York Times’ best-seller when it was published last fall and will be out in paperback this month.

It has also been rejected from the summer reading program at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. because some people at the school say the book is considered homophobic.

Homophobic? A mother's account of her son's murder for being gay is homophobic?

Kathy Staley, an archivist at ASU’s Belk Library, wrote on her Facebook page: “Did anyone find Judy Shepard’s The Meaning of Matthew homophobic? I didn’t but ASU’s summer reading program nixed it because two readers found it homophobic.”

Emory Maiden, an English professor and director of the summer reading program, says he is unaware of anyone who found Shepard’s book homophobic, but did say that the reading group committee “wondered aloud about how her book would work as a discussion of the oppression of and attacks on those who are perceived to be ‘Other.’”

Um, because it's the story of such oppression and attack?

Maiden also said that that there were “concerns [on the committee] that a grief-stricken mother had gotten into print on a subject that she neither wholly understood nor [had] a broad experience with.”

Judy Shepard. The mother of a young man who was murdered for being gay and has since come out as a true fierce advocate for the LGBT community doesn't "wholly understand" or have a "broad experience" with the subject of her book: her son's death for being gay.

Wow. I was stunned stupefied and pissed off when I heard that. But then I learned that Appalachian State University is in the congressional district represented by Republican Virginia Foxx, who, you'll remember, called Matthew Shepard's murder "a hoax" when arguing against federal hate-crimes protections last year.

Now it makes sense.

Oklahoma Legislators Are Dumb

They don't like The Gays in Oklahomo, er, Oklahom-A.

They think we're worse than terrorists; they think we caused this economic downfall; they think we are responsible for Mylie Cyrus' career and Kate Gosselin on Dancing With The Stars. If it's bad, blame it on The Gays.

Out there in Oklahoma, the legislators have been trying to find a way to remove the LGBT from protection under Hate Crimes Legislation, because it's Oklahoma-Okay for gays to be bashed and brutalized and murdered for our gayness.

But, those Oklahoma legislators are as stupid as they are hateful. See, instead of removing The Gays from hate crime protection, they made a boo-boo and removed race and religion instead!

Yup, that's right!

If you wanna bash an African American, a Mexican, an Asian, you can do it in Oklahoma!

If you wanna bash a Baptists, a Catholic, or a Jew, you can do it in Oklahoma!

Par-tay, for the haters!

Oklahoma State Senate Minority Leader Andrew Rice said that when the Senate passed Senate Bill 1965 on March 10, it eliminated hate crime protections for race and religion. This particular bill states that local law enforcement agencies should not enforce any sections of federal law under hate crimes statutes listed under Title 18 U.S. Code Section 245 unless they are in correlation with Oklahoma's hate crimes laws. But the protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act are not listed under Section 245, but Section 249.

Rice said, in response to the error, "Numbers is hard."

Okay, maybe he didn't say that. but doesn't this make Oklahoma, home of Dingbat Wingnut Asshat Sally Kern, look even more dumb?

Quote Of The Day

"As a straight ally and as a person with many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender family members, friends and fans, I want to thank the Human Rights Campaign, Judy and Dennis Shepard and Senator Edward Kennedy for their leadership in the 11 year struggle to get the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd, Jr. Hates Crimes Prevention Bill enacted. FINALLY, with President Obama's signature, violent hate crimes against the LGBT community will be recognized and prosecuted by the Federal government. This is only the beginning, I believe that the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, as well as the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, will soon be here. Today, that light at the end of the tunnel for the LGBT civil rights movement is much brighter."

from Towleroad

Louie Gohmert: Quite Possibly The Most Ignorant Human Being On The Planet

I often wonder about asshats like Louie Gohmert, a repugnant Republican from Texas. Well, not often, I guess, mainly when they open their mouths and shiz like this falls out. It makes me wonder if the people who elected him, who made the conscious choice of picking his name in the polling booth have actually heard what he says. And, if they have, and they still vote for him, well, then the people of his district in Texas are the real asshats. For the record, what Louie says here, what he claims may happen, is an outright lie. I've read up on this, apparently, Louie has not.

Congressman Louie Gohmert:

"If you're oriented toward animals, bestiality, then, you know, that's not something that can be used, held against you or any bias be held against you for that. Which means you'd have to strike any laws against bestiality, if you're oriented toward corpses, toward children, you know, there are all kinds of perversions, [...] pedophiles or necrophiliacs or what most would say is perverse sexual orientations but the trouble is, we made amendments to eliminate pedophiles from being included in the definition. [...] But people have always been willing to give up their liberties, their freedoms in order to gain economic stability. It happened in 1920 and 1930's. Germany gave up their liberties to gain economic stability and they got a little guy with a mustache, who was the ultimate hate monger. And this is scary stuff we're doing here when we take away what has traditionally been an important aspect of moral teaching in America.

Richard Cohen, Asshat Of The Week

"The real purpose of hate-crime laws is to reassure politically significant groups -- blacks, Hispanics, Jews, gays, etc. -- that someone cares about them and takes their fears seriously. That's nice. It does not change the fact, though, that what's being punished is thought or speech. ... I doubt that any group of drunken toughs is going to hesitate in their pummeling of a gay individual or an African American or a Jew on account of it being a hate crime. If they are not already deterred by the conventional penalties -- prison, etc. -- then why would additional penalties deter them? And if, in fact, they kept their mouths shut, refrained from the N-word or the F-word or the K-word, and simply made the beating or the killing seem one triggered by dissing or some other reason, then they would not be accused of hate -- merely of murder or some such trifle. If, though, they gave vent to their thoughts, they would be in for real trouble. For the most part, hate-crime legislation is just a sop for politically influential interest groups -- yet another area in which liberals, traditionally sensitive to civil liberties issues, have chosen to mollify an entire population at the expense of the individual and endorse discredited reasoning about deterrence."

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen on Hate Crimes laws.

First off, the Hate Crimes laws does not affect thought or speech, but action.

It works a little something like this: I read asshat statements like this, from Richard Cohen, and I think he is the most ill-informed illiterate hack on the planet. And i can do that. I can also open my mouth, or my computer keyboard, and speak or write that Richard Cohen is the most ill-informed illiterate hack on the plant. That's okay, too. What I cannot do, is use my opinion of Mr. Cohen to physically attack him in any way.

That would be a hate crime.

Got it now..............................Dick?

One More Reason We Need Hate Crimes Legislation

Up there in Queens, New York, two men face felony hate crime charges after they allegedly assaulted a transgender female.

Carmella Etienne told police the two assailants chased her down the street while throwing rocks, screaming homophobic slurs and threatening to kill her. This latest incident comes a month after Leslie Mora, another transgender female, was beaten by men while she walked home in Jackson Heights, and as as the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund prosecutes a case for Lateisha Green, a transgender woman murdered in Syracuse.

Etienne told police her two alleged attackers, Nathanial Mims and Rasheed Thomas yelled “don’t ever walk that block anymore or we will slash your throat.” When she told her attackers that she would call the police, the defendants said “the police don’t care about you, they won't do anything to us,” according to Queens DA Richard Brown.

Mims and Thomas, police said, then continued the harassment and threw empty beer bottles at Etienne, one of which struck her leg causing a three-inch laceration.

“I didn’t know you could get locked up for calling somebody names,” Rasheed Thomas said during questioning, according to police. “I called her a bunch of names. I called her a faggot, but she didn’t see me throw anything.”

Walking down a street can get you killed, and we're still waiting for hate crimes legislation?

Hate Crimes Passage Not A Given Just Yet

The Matthew Shepard Act, the Hate crimes bill, passed on a voice vote yesterday.

Good news indeed, as it extends protections of the forty-one-year-old hate crimes law to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The bad news is that the Matthew Shepard Act was attached as an amendment to a defense spending bill. It is partially linked to $1.75 billion in funding for F-22 fighter jets.

Hate crimes and fighter jets? How does that happen?

President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates both oppose the F-22 program and a White House spokesperson said the president will not sign a DOD bill that continues to fund the program.

So, the Matthew Shepard Act may not pass because they attached to a bill about fighter planes. Am I the only one that finds this nonsensical?
Majority Leader and optimist Harry Reid feels a rewritten bill will eventually pass with the hate crimes amendment in place.

Urgent Action Needed: Your Call Counts!

from the GayAgenda

"Right-wing groups are now calling the Matthew Shepard Act the “Pedophile Protection Act.”
It’s outrageous. What’s more, they are flooding the Senate with calls and letters to scare OUR senators into voting against this important bill to provide hate crime protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
I just called my senators. It was really easy. It takes about 45 seconds. Will you stand with me and make a quick call?
The Senate is poised to vote on the Matthew Shepard Act THIS WEEK. But our allies are reporting an avalanche of 300,000 letters and calls from right-wing groups trying to stop it.
Anti-LGBT leaders like Focus on the Family’s James Dobson are now calling the bill “utter evil.” They’re even referring to it as the “Pedophile Protection Act.”
With a vote on hate crimes coming any day, we desperately need senators to hear from fair-minded people like you.
It takes about 45 seconds to call each one of your senators – and each one of them needs to hear from you today. It’s just as important for supportive senators to hear from us – they’ve promised to pass this bill, and they need to know we’re counting on them to keep fighting.
So make the call on your way to lunch, or stop reading this and do it right now. Whatever you do, make sure to CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY.
If you’ve never called Congress, let me assure you, it’s incredibly easy. All you have to do is give your zip code, and ask whoever answers the phone to let your Senator know you want the to vote in favor of the Matthew Shepard Act!
To find you Senator and their contact information -CLICK HERE!
It’s is up to US to win this battle against those who discriminate against us!"

Sixty-One Stab Wounds When A Simple No Thank You Would Have Sufficed

Let's do a little role-playing, shall we?

You're a straight man--I know! But you can do it-- who lives next door to a homosexual, of all things. And you think--because you're a straight men don't forget--that any time a gay man talks to you it's because he wants you, in the Adam and Steve biblical sense. Your homo neighbor may say things of a sexual nature that make you uncomfortable, like Nice shirt or Did you get a hair cut.

So, what do you do when a gay man makes those kinds of sexual overtures to you? Do you politely say Thanks, but no thanks, I'm only here for the ladies? Or do you say something like That's disgusting, queer bait? Or, as in the case of Joseph Biedermann, do you get drunk with the homo neighbor and then stab him sixty-one times with a seven inch dagger because you felt threatened?

That's what Biedermann did to his neighbor Terrance Michael Hauser last March, and then just this week he was acquitted of first-degree murder because he was just defending himself from an unwanted sexual advance.

What? No isn't in his vocabulary? To ward off sexual advances it's okay to stab someone sixty-one times?

They call it a Gay Panic. I call it an insult to the gay community that it's acceptable to kill someone because they came on to you. I call it homophobia at it's worst. I call it another hate crime piled upon a hate crime when this is accepted as a legitimate defense.

Walk away, straight boy. Walk away.

Here's To You Bishop Robinson, Jesus Loves You More Than You Will Know

"Religion in general still presents the greatest obstacles we face in full equality. Ninety-five percent of the oppression that we know in our lives comes from the religious community.'"

Bishop Gene Robinson, speaking on Capitol Hill in support of an expanded Hate Crimes Bill that would include sexual orientation and other gay rights measures.

Sorry

This has been quite the week for people saying something hurtful, and then apologizing, sort of, for it. I, myself, have felt the sting of someone else's words, and been offered an apology, but it makes me wonder:

When someone says something hurtful and then apologizes for it, do you take them at that word, or the words they said in the first place?

Judy Shepard doesn't think Asshat Award Winner, Repugnant Representative from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx was sincere when she apologized for calling the 1998 murder of Shepard's son, Matthew, "a hoax." Y'all remember that, during the House debate on the Hate Crimes Bill, the Matthew Shepard Act, Foxx said the Shepard's murder shouldn't be used to justify a hate crimes bill because it wasn't a hate crime; she said he was killed during a robbery.

But the true facts are that the young men who murdered Matthew targeted him because he was gay, pretended to be gay so they could get him outside. Sure, maybe they were looking for someone to rob that night, but their target was chosen because he was gay.

That's hate, Virginia, that's not a hoax.

Foxx says she based her statement on an ABC News, 20/20 story, of Matthew Shepard's murder. I have a small suggestion, Virginia. Read the transcripts of the trial. Read what the actual murderers said about why and how they did what they did.

Read, for God's sake, just read.

Then, pouring salt in the wound, Foxx issued an apology. She said something along the lines of I'm sorry IF I offended anyone.

If? So, you're not sorry FOR your stupidity and insensitivity and outright lies, you're only sorry IF you offended Matthew's family.

Well, Virginia, I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry you haven't been kicked out of office yet. I'm sorry you don't have the common sense to think before you speak. I'm sorry for the people of North Carolina who are no doubt shaking their heads in amazement over the idea that you represent them. I'm sorry you haven't taken the high road and resigned for being stupid and insensitive and a liar. But my apology has meaning, Virginia, yours was just more words.

You're sorry, all right, Virginia. A sorry excuse for an elected official. A sorry excuse for a human being. Just plain sorry.