Comments on: Salt Lake City Gay Bashings “Not Related”

By: cowboy

cowboy — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:31:33 +0000

Scott, it’s 600 West and 200 South. I know it has the new intra-modal (commuter rail/Trax lite-rail and bus) transportation hub there close by but it’s still a rather dicey part of town.

You can remember West 2nd South? That’s where a UTA bus driver pulled over and asked one of the Police Decoys if she had “group rates”. And, yes…he was arrested.

By: Scott L.

Scott L. — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:37:13 +0000

Cowboy, what part of Salt Lake did this happen in?

By: customartist

customartist — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:57:19 +0000

Nothing will happen so long as investigations are left to local-yocal-Mormon-controlled authorities.

Let’s help the poor guy out and call the FBI in to look at this.

THIS is what you can do.

http://www.fbi.gov/saltlakecity/contact

By: cowboy

cowboy — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:56:34 +0000

Two things:
1) The media (particularly the Salt Lake Tribune) didn’t report this crime for nearly a week after it happened. They blame the SLPD for some changes to our GRAMA rules.

2) This is the same police department that took DJ Bell to jail before taking him to a hospital. He and his partner were severely beaten because of a misunderstanding with their neighbors. And the SLPD and the county attorney has been doing nothing to alleviate the bad relations with the gay community.

I don’t trust walking in that part of the city but I certainly do not trust my Police Department either.

By: TampaZeke

TampaZeke — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:22:30 +0000

This is EXACTLY what the federal hate crimes law was intended to address. It’s time for the Federal law to step in. Trying to get Utah to consider anti-gay hate crimes is like expecting Mississippi to properly investigate the killing of a black man by a white robed mob in 1960.

By: Luke

Luke — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:24:15 +0000

This sounds like exactly the sort of situation the Matthew Shepard Act was designed to deal with.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:15:13 +0000

I would love to know from a legal standpoint what is the next step to getting the federal government involved because it’s obvious even to my 10yo nephew that these are related and that they are hate crimes. So what do we do if ever we were attacked in a state that doesn’t support human rights? Who do we contact at the FBI to get an investigation started so that they can see the negligence of the local police dept and to make sure it’s regarded as a hate crime when the prosecution office of the FBI takes hold? I think that would be an awesome blog posting. We need to have this information as a community.

By: Jim Burroway

Jim Burroway — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:44:50 +0000

With the passage of the Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Act, hate crimes are now federal law.

By: Scott Rose

Scott Rose — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:41:54 +0000

Utah Hate Crimes Law
Gender identity protected? No
Utah’s hate crimes law does not explicitly address gender identity. Utah law ties penalties for hate crimes to violations of a victim’s civil or constitutional rights. Utah Code Ann. § 76-3-203.3 (2002).

Sexual orientation protected? No
Utah’s hate crimes law does not explicitly address sexual orientation. Utah law ties penalties for hate crimes to violations of a victim’s civil or constitutional rights. Utah Code Ann. § 76-3-203.3 (2002).