Felix Pearson, age 19, Kenneth Monroe, age 27, and Darriel Wilson, age 20 were murdered in their residence in New Orleans on December 18, 2008.  The initial reports indicate that the three men were gay and one possibly a transgendered person.  Although the reason for the murder is currently unknown, the investigation has not ruled out a hate crime.

Violence against LGBT people has risen dramatically since the passage of California’s Proposition 8 and Florida’s Amendment 2, largely in part to the community outrage over the civil rights violations.

Regrettably, such violence is likely to continue to increase.  With the ideology that homosexuals deserve to die and that their “blood will be on their hands [heads]“, compassion for these crimes only exists among a minority of LGBT people and their straight allies.

Although in some parts of the country, such as California, straight allies and LGBT people compromise only a slight majority, in the Southern parts of the United States the statistics are frightening.  In Texas, for example, 72% of people are against homosexual equality leaving a meager 28% who defend LGBT people from such hate and violence.

The statistic is taken from the vote to ban “gay” marriage in Texas.  Although a slight leap from violence to marriage equality, the fact remains that those that do not support full equality for all people are encouraging the negative treatment of homosexuals and, although potentially unwittingly, “condoning” poor treatment of LGBT people.

For more information on the murders of these three individuals, please see Three Black Gay Men Killed in New Orleans, Police Hunt for Suspects.

Unfriendly, anti-gay, heterosexuals have attacked the marriage issue and the LGBT community has stood its grounprad, highlighting historical evidence, state law, U.S. law and regulations.  The community has even had to defend itself against the Bible, just like many other minorities over the years including African Americans and Jewish people.  But what is this talk of civil marriage equality really about?  Surprisingly, it’s not about marriage at all, it’s about freeing a people from the fetters of bigots, extremists and homophobic people in society.  It’s about no longer being afraid and about being allowed to live and pursue the American dreams of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Although not providing civil marriage equality to same-gender couples is unconstitutional, an argument which should be strong enough standing on its own, the issue is much more personal for LGBT people.  We have watched as our friends and family have been brutally and unforgivingly beaten, raped, attacked and/or murdered by the homophobic right wing; such attacks often being declared to be because of “God”.  It is an underlying issue for LGBT people, to believe that governmental equality under the law may help to end the social injustices we are faced with every day.

So that we may never forget what it is we have lived through and what it is we are fighting against, let’s take a walk down memory lane:

• Nazi Germany:  The “fathers” of the pink trianlge ,placed this badge upon homosexuals in concentration camps in order to identify them as such.  Homosexuals, like other groups of persons, were murdered under the Nazi reign.
• Giovanni di Giovanni, a Florentine boy, was castrated and burned on his anus with a red-hot iron by court order for homosexuality.
• Knight von Hohenberg and his lover in 1482 were burned at the stake for being homosexuals.
• Jacques Chausson (1661) was burned alive for allegedly attempting to seduce the son of a nobleman.
• The Shia death squads in present day Iraq have increased their extrajudical killings of LGBT people.  “In 2005, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa on his website calling for the execution of gays in the ‘worst, most severe way’.”
• Robert Hillsborough in 1977 - murdered by a man shouting “faggot.”
• Harvey Milk - assassinated by Dan White in 1978.
• Tennessee Williams - assaulted by five teenage boys who were inspired by an anti-gay ad ran by a Baptist minister.
• Terry Knudsen, murdered in 1979 in Minnesota.
• Rick Hunter and John Hanson who were beaten in 1982 by police calling them queers and sissies.
• Declan Flynn murdered in Fairview Park, Dublin in 1983 - his attackers received a suspended sentence.
• Charlie Howard, murdered 1984.
• Rebecca Wight - murdered by Stephen Roy Carr who claimed he was enraged by her lesbianism.
• James Zappalorit (1990) - stabbed to death.
• Julio Rivera (1990) - beaten with a hammer and stabbed to death with a knife.
• Paul Broussard (1991), murdered.
• Brandon Teena - raped and murdered in 1993.
• Scott Amedure (1995) - murdered after revealing his homosexuality on a Jenny Jones’ show.
• Roxanne Ellis and Micelle Abdill in 1995 by a man who stated he thought their lifestyle was “sick”.
• Eric Robert Rudolph bombed the lesbian nightclub, Otherside Lounge, injuring five patrons in 1997.
• Matthew Shepards beating and death from exposure after being left tied to a fence in 1998.
• The bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub which wounded 723 and killed at least 2 people.
• The murder of Pfc Barry Winchell due to his relationship with Calpernia Addams, a transgendered woman in 1999.
• The 1999 murders of Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder by Matthew and Tyler Williams, White Supremists who claimed they were “obeying the law of God.”
• The murder of Steen Fenrich by his stepfather in 2001 - his skull had “gay nigger number one” scrawled into it along with his social security number.
• Arther “J.R.” Warren in 2000 by a group of teenagers who believed that Warren was spreading rumors about his sexual relations with one of the boys.
• The shooting of 7 people in Roanoke, Virginia in 2000 (killing one) because a Ronald Gay was upset over what his surname “meant” and was told by God to find and kill lesbians and gay men.  He described himself as a “Christian Soldier” working for his Lord.
• Aaron Webster was beaten to death in 2001 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Fred Martinez, a transgendered student was attacked and beaten to death in 2001.
• Hundreds of soccer fans attacked participants of a Pride Parade in Belgrade in 2001.
• In 2002, Nizah Morris was murdered in Philidelphia, the case was dreadfully mishandled.
• Bartrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris France, was non-fatally stabbed in 2002.
• Gwen Araujo (17 years old) was murdered in 2002.
• Sakia Gunn was a 15 year old African American lesbian who was murdered in New Jersey.
• Richie Phillips was lured to his death because he was gay in 2003.
• Nireah Johnson and Brandie Coleman were murdered in 2003 because Johnson was transgendered.
• Glenn Kopitske was killed after a homosexual encounter with Gary Hirte in 2003.  Hirte believed that the homosexual act was “worse than murder.”
• Brian Williamson, a Jamaican Gay rights activist was murdered with a machete in 2004.
• FannyAnn Eddy, a gay and lesbian activist was murdered in 2004.
• Daniel Fetty was murdered in 2004 by two men in Waverly, Ohio who beat him to death with bricks and boards.
• Ronnie Paris, a THREE YEAR OLD boy, was murdered by his father because his father was concerned that Ronnie was gay and would grow up to be a sissy.
• Jason Gage was bludgeoned to death with a bottle and stabbed in the neck with a shard of glass.
• In 2005, Yishai Shlisel stabbed three marchers in a gay pride parade in Israel claiming he acted on behalf of God.
• Jody Dobrowski was murdered in London in 2005.
• In 2005, Lauren Harries, her father and brother were attacked in their home because Lauren was transgendered.
• In 2005, a Jamaican mob chased a man they believed to be gay.  The man jumped into the water to escape the mob and drowned.
• Gisberta Salce Jumior, was tortured and anally raped with sticks over a period of three days, then thrown into a pit and left to die by a group of 12-14 boys aging between 12 and 16.
• In 2006, Jacob D. Robida entered a bar, and upon confirming it was a gay bar attacked the patrons with a hatchet and gun, wounding three.
• Students in Jamaica rioted in 2006 and attacked an “allegedly” gay student.
• Richard Jefferson and Ryan Smith, CBS Evening News producer and researcher were beaten by a group of four men and two women with tire irons in 2006.
• Kevin Aviance was robbed and beaten by a group of men yelling anti-gay slurs at him.
• Six men were brutally beaten by a group of other men (one of which was a 15 year old boy) after leaving a San Diego Pride event in 2006.
• Michael Sandy was attacked and while trying to escape, was hit by a car in 2006 by a group of youths who were luring gay men via the internet.
• Gareth Williams, a gay rights activist and three gay men were stoned in Kingston, Jamaica in 2007.
• In 2007, 100 men gathered outside of a funeral in Jamaica and proclaimed “We want no battyman [gay] funeral here. Leave or else we’re going to kill you. We don’t want no battyman buried here in Mandeville.”
• Roberto Duncanson was murdered in New York by a man claiming that it was because Duncanson had flirted with him.
• Sean Wiliam Kennedy, age 20, was murdered in 2007 by Andre Moller (18) because Moller didn’t like his “sexual preference”.
• Micahel Marcil was attacked and beaten by Andrew Lefebcre and Sheri-Lee Rand in Ontario in 2007.
• Also in 2007, 30 participants at a gay pride event were attacked by multiple assailants.  They were stopped by the police before they had the opportunity to use the Molotov cocktails they had prepared for the occassion.
• In September of 2007, Osvan Inacio dos Santos, age 19, was attacked and murdered.
• Craig Gee was attacked in 2007.  His skull was reduced to powderand his leg was broken during the attack.
• In 2008, three gay men were attacked in their dwelling by an angry mob who had been threatening them to leave the community.  One of the three is still missing and feared dead while the other two survivied after hospitalization.
• In 2008, Alexandre Peixe dos Santos was attacked and beaten in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  (Approximately 2,680 gay people were murered betwen 1980 and 2006 in Brazil just for being gay).
• Duanna Johnson was beaten by a police officer in Memphis, TN.  The police were reportedly calling Duanna (a transgendered woman) a “faggot” and “he-she”.  Shortly after threatening a lawsuit against the police department, Duanna was shot by three “unknown assailants”.
• 2008, Lawrence “Larry” King, a 15 year old junior was shot by a classmate and ultimately died from the wounds.
• Lance Neve was beaten unconscious becase he was “gay”.  His skull was fractured and the attack also left him with a broken nose. (Rochester, New York, 2008.
• Steven Parris was murdered by Steven Hollis and Juan L. Flythe after they found “gay messages” on Parish’s cell phone.
• September 2008, Tony Randolph Hunter and his partner were attacked near Washington, DC.  Hunter later died from his injuruies.
• In November, 2008, arsonists burned the home of openly gay Melvin Whistlehunt.  Investigators found anti-gay messages spray painted on the back of the house.
• Lateisha Green (”Teish” Cannon) was murdered in November 2008 for being a transgendered person.

The above list is not definative (or all inclusive) of crimes against homosexuals.  It was taken in large part from information available from wikipedia.org.  Every time someone is beaten or murdered for their sexual orientation/identity, part of our humanity dies.  To our heterosexual friends who remain indifferent to our plight, I call out to you and ask that you stand up and be counted as our friends, neighbors and fellow country men.  We must stop this injustice.  We all have the right to feel safe.

A lot has been happening lately and I haven’t released a new Stupid Things People Say About Gays in a while, so without further ado, I provide this quote from Matt Barber of the ironically named “Liberty Council”.

A number of homosexuals and homosexual activists are actually calling for violence, calling for churches to be burned to the ground — churches that supported these amendments.

Mr. Barber goes on to note that these calls for violence aren’t merely homosexuals “blowing of steam” and that such violence would constitute a “hate crime” under the definition.

On one point I could almost agree with Mr. Barber - that violence against a “Christian” simply for being a “Christian” would constitute a hate crime under some state laws.  However, when the action is against someone verbally assaulting you, hate crime law is negated as you are not attacking them solely on their religion.

Now before you pull out the email and start to send me a message about my support of violence against “Christians,”  I should note that I do not believe in violence of any sort - but while you are getting riled up about the potential for violence against “Christians” and thinking you must intervene, ask yourself this question:

How many gay people have murdered Christians just for being Christian?

Now ask yourself this one:

How many “Christians” have murdered gay people just for being gay?

So before anyone else preaches at the gay community for their violent behavior, let’s remember who instigated the violence in the first place.

Sometimes, comments aren’t “stupid” in the realm of homophobia, but outright hateful and unfathomable.  What reaction should a gay man have to comments such as this one?

oh and by the way another couple of gays killed in my neighbourhood for being gay, that is music to my ears.  from a proud homophobic. —k.ltwills.r495@googlemail.com

Outrage? Fear? Anxiety? Hate?

Oddly, I read that comment and had this momentary inner peace.  My insides went silent.  I closed my eyes, laid my head back against my shoulders and breathed deeply.   I realized that because of the hate that I have dealt with in my life and because of the hate that those I know have dealt with, that I am ready to do anything it takes to stop that hate.  But how do you stop a freight train with tax shelters [the church] funding their every move?  Do we sit back and become martyrs or do we “bash back“?  Well, by posting the email address to my blog, I’m excited to know that numerous spam bot engines will sweep it up and start sending all those wonderful “enlarge your manhood” emails to k.ltwills.r495@googlemail.com.  That is my bashing back for the time being as I continue my internal debate about the philosophy of bashing back.

Statistically speaking, hate crimes dropped last year to 7,726 hate crimes overall; however, hatecrimes against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons increased by 5 1/2 %.  Due to the current political environment, that number is expected to rise markedly this year.

But what about hate crimes committed by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons against other classes of persons?  Bash Back is a group of persons devoted to the theory of “gays bash back”.  They have received a lot of criticism from all categories, including other gays and lesbians.  Most of their antics/protests have been demonstrative rather than truly violent.  I consider the group to be radical members of the gay community, a Malcolm X type of initiative.  For decades the gay community has had it’s share of “Martin Luther King, Jr.’s”, perhaps it is time for us to become “Malcolm X”.  But then we would be committing the very crimes we worked so hard to enter into the legislature.  We would be committing “hate crimes” and although the result may be that we achieve the ultimate goal of civil equality, we risk loosing our own dignity.

Recently, a group of “Christians” were run out of San Francisco’s Castro District by a “Gay Mob”.  I love the elevation this story has received in calling it a “gay mob.”  Video footage of the incident shows a group of people being escorted by police while a group of homosexuals (and/or those supporting homosexual rights) are chanting things such as “stay out of our neighborhoods if you don’t like us.”  Christian right-wing organizations are appalled and outraged that they were not allowed by this mob to express their religious freedom.  Well, there’s a taste of your own medicine for you.  This incident has inspired this issue of “Stupid Things People Say About Gays”.

Cute how they tell us to “stay out of our neighbor hood if you don’t like us” My response, stay out of my country if you don’t like us! OUR country was Christian before it was filled with fags.
They are allowed to be disgusting in public, we are allowed to pray in public.

We have the last laugh in all of this, they’re the ones with no future. — genesis311311

First, I feel the need to say (although it may be considered a “bounces off me and sticks to you” sort of argument) that the welcoming of the “Christian” group into the Castro District was very similar to the welcoming bestowed upon homosexuals by “Christian” churches.  Everyone is welcome in the “Christian” church as long as you become an “ex-gay.”  The torment the “Christian” church berated on the homosexual is far more horrifying than “stay out” if you don’t like us.

Secondly, your comment stating “stay out of my country if you don’t like us” and using the argument that the United States was founded as a “Christian” nation obviously demonstrates that you have never been to a history class outside of “Christian” school (or just didn’t pay attention), never read a book not acceptable by the “Christian” teaching and have never had an independent thought which did not conform entirely to the way you are taught.  Examples of the founding of the United States not being on behalf of “Christianity” include:

• The Declaration of Independence begins, “”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  I note that is says “they are endowed by their Creator” rather than they are endowed by my God.  Although it is unarguable that most of the founding fathers were “Christian”, it seems that they intended to leave God out of the letter of the law.
• The United States Constitution fails entirely to mention God.  It is an obvious omission and certainly was not an error.  Most historians and even theologians believe that the omission was intended to prevent a theocracy wherein the church would have more power than the President - as was the case with the Catholic church’s involvement in politics in Europe.
• “In God We Trust” was placed on currency in the U.S. during the Civil War, not upon the founding of our Nation.
• “Under God” was not in the Pledge of Allegiance until the McCarthy era [1954] when it was added.
• The Treaty of Tripoli, signed in 1797 (note: that was not long after the 1776 “founding” of our nation) by Pickering and then President John Adams  states, “As the Government of the United States…is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion–as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility of Musselmen–and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” [emphasis added]
• In 1786, an Act for Establishing Religious Freedom (Jefferson again) was passed in the Assembly of Virginia.  It stated, in parts:

…that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions…

…that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world…

…that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles, on the supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own… [emphasis added]

…that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.

See: “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Memorial Edition” (ME), Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, Editors, 20 Volumes., Washington, D.C., 1903-04. Volume II, Appendix, pp 300-303

I highly recommend those that feel the United States was founded as a religious nation to see Our Godless Constitution, by Brooke Allen and the countless books, articles and information available (and cited above).  I also refer them to the U.S. Constitution for more precedence regarding this issue.

The small amount of media coverage regarding the murder of Moses “Teish” Cannon has been confusing at best and unremarkable at most.  What is known is that Teish, who self-identified as a woman, was murdered in Syracuse, New York on November 14, 2008 after being invited by a family friend to a party.  Currently, the only motive reported for the terrible crime is that she was “gay.”

This is where the news media stumbles and I stumble in an effort to provide the proper respects to Teish’s memory.  Was Teish a transgendered person who, indeed, identified the former himself as a herself, or did Teish identify as a gay man?  The answer to this question is only relevant for purposes of writing this article and adding yet another victim to the growing list of persons murdered because of their sexuality or gender identity.

I feel great sorrow for Teish’s family and friends, and I extend my most heartfelt sympathies.  The same sorrow I have felt for countless other victims of senseless crime.

Police are still investigating the murder in order to “decide” whether it is a Hate Crime.  Well, the glass slipper fits - wear it.

News coverage of Teish’s murder has been negligible; another slap in the face to a community already feeling the effects of hate after the passage of Proposition 8 in California.  The majority has taken our rights and our children and our brothers and sisters, yet we still stand strong.  We too shall overcome.

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