As for the WND article…

1. The person involve was not a teen, he is an adult. 18 is the age of majority, thus the headline is a blatant example of spin.
2. The authorities do not charge people for pushing, they charge people for assault and/or battery.
3. Obviously the authorities do not see Mr. VanAsdlen as the victim of an assault, so obviously WND’s sources are biased regarding his role, alleged or otherwise.
4. Unless WND has proof that the police are under pressure regarding quotas on hate crimes, or has proof that these quotas actually exist, it should not be so quick to make this kind of inflammatory claim.
5. The notion that the assailant would not be facing serious charges and consequences if this incident had not involved homosexuals is patently false. Aggravated battery is a felony regardless of who the victim is. And furthermore, it is reasonable to assume any criminal charge, misdemeanor or felony, would have put Mr. VanAsdlen (or any other student athlete for that matter) under the review of the college’s athletic code of conduct.
6. How is it possible for a person who was knocked out to tell his friends to call the police? Care to explain that?
7. If WND can’t assure the accuracy of the account, why is it publishing any of these comments at all? What happened to journalistic integrity?
8. Can WND explain why this article does not mention the fact that aggravated battery is in itself a felony? Why the article instead spins the news to make it sound like the hate crime was the sole charge?
9. No, Ms. VanAsdlen, your son will not have to prove his innocence, he is innocent until proven guilty, the State will have to prove his guilt.
10. No, Ms. VanAsdlen, you are not being persecuted, your son has been charged with a crime, this is not about your religion.
11. No, Mr. Lovell, this is not a typical 18-year old, typical 18-year olds do not go around assaulting their peers.
12. No, Mr. LaBarbera, this is not fundamentally unfair, the charge is aggravated battery, the hate crime charge is not the sole charge regardless of how you attempt to spin this. And as for equal protection, since you are so quick to deny that to others, spare us of the notion that you actually believe in it yourself.

Yeah. I’ve been looking into that face for decades now and I have to say it still…amazes me. Consider it a measure of your inner character. What sort of person thinks they have every right to walk up to someone they don’t know from Adam and start hurling insults? Someone who thinks they’re more entitled to the ground they’re standing on, then the stranger is who. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God’s face…every time they look in a mirror.

That sense of entitlement is the world bigots live in, whether they’re sexist or racist or whatever. That, and the always simmering resentment that other lesser beings are encroaching on their privileges. Thank about what a joke that makes their rhetoric about “special rights”, and try not to go to bed a little angrier every time you hear the phrase.

I’m opposed to your conservative Christian son beating people up whether they’re gay, straight, female, whatever. You bet your ass he’ll be mentioned in my prayers: that he gets the justice he so richly deserves.

Best Regards!