Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyPosts Tagged As: Colorado
December 9th, 2007
As of this blog posting police were unsure if this shooting is related to an earlier shooting in Arvada (Denver). From CNN:
A gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Colorado Springs church on Sunday, striking four people, the church’s pastor said.
A black-clad man armed with a rifle opened fire on worshippers inside a Colorado Springs, Colorado, megachurch Sunday afternoon, wounding several people, church and hospital officials reported.
The gunman was then shot to death, a minister said.
Rob Brendle, an associate pastor at New Life Church, said the attack took place after a late-morning service.
Amy Sufak, a spokeswoman for Penrose-St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs, told CNN that several victims were taken to the hospital.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Rick Myers would confirm no details of the incident, calling it a “very dynamic situation right now.”
Lt. Lari Sevene, a spokeswoman for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, said the attack took place shortly after 1 p.m. and said possibly two or three people were wounded. She could not confirm the death of the gunman and referred further questions to the Colorado Springs Police Department.
But Brendle told CNN the gunman was dead.
New Life Church was founded by Rev. Ted Haggard in 1984.
Update: Other reports suggest that a suspect has been detained. Another report says that one gunman was shot, and a second possible gunman and a car full of explosives was being sought. No confirmation yet from Colorado Springs police or the El Paso Sheriff’s office on any of these reports. Obviously things are rather chaotic right now.
Update: Fox31 in Denver reports that “Police have confirmed that the shooter was killed, though they are not saying whether he was shot by police or died of a self-inflicted gunshot.” No one else is picking up this report yet, so it’s unclear whether it’s been confirmed.
Update: The Associated Press is reporting that “Colorado Springs police Lt. Fletcher Howard said a suspect had been detained in the shootings at the New Life Church, but a church member who was locked down at the church Sunday afternoon said a security guard had shot and killed the gunman.”
Update: CNN and the Denver Post confirm that the gunman was shot dead by a security guard at New Life Church. Several “suspicious devices” were found at the church. The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that a church member was also killed in the rampage in addition to the gunman, and four others were wounded. New Life had instituted unspecified security measures when they received word of the Arvada shooting.
Colorado Gunman Scared Co-Workers, Heard Voices
The LaBarbera Award: Tony Perkins
Prayers and Condolences for Arvada and Colorado Springs
Four Shot At New Life Church
Two Christian Missionaries Killed, Two Injured Near Denver
December 9th, 2007
A gunman burst into the residence hall of the Youth With a Mission center in Arvada, Colorado, outside of Denver and shot four missionaries in training. Tiffany Johnson, 26, of Minnesota and Philip Krouse, 24, of Alaska, have died. Dan Griebenow,24, of South Dakota, is in critical but stable condition with a bullet in his neck. The fourth victim, Charlie Blanch, 22, had bullet wounds to a leg.
The shootings occurred just after midnight as a Christmas banquet was ending. The gunman fled the scene and a manhunt is underway. The gunman was described as a white man, about 20 years old. He was wearing a white coat, and he may have facial hair and may have been wearing a dark beanie-style hat. No motive has been identified for the shooting yet.
Update: News reports are now describing the suspect wearing a dark jacket.
Colorado Gunman Scared Co-Workers, Heard Voices
The LaBarbera Award: Tony Perkins
Prayers and Condolences for Arvada and Colorado Springs
Four Shot At New Life Church
Two Christian Missionaries Killed, Two Injured Near Denver
September 28th, 2006
It appears that a hate crime may have been committed in Colorado Springs Tuesday night.
You may remember a few months back when the Gill Foundation kicked off an ad campaign featuring a dog trying to “moo” as a humorous illustration that being gay is not the result of a choice. Focus on the Family countered with a “No Moo Lies” campaign. Christina and Brandon Sewall of Briargate, CO., participated by placing “No moo lies” signs in their yard.
Since then vandals have damaged or stolen the signs, to which the Sewalls responded by just putting even more signs in their yard. They also started running a video security camera overnight. Tuesday evening, someone was caught on tape piling the signs, trash, and patio furniture onto the Sewall’s front lawn and setting it on fire.
The investigation is continuing. If it turns out that whoever did this was motivated by bias against the Sewall’s position against homosexuality, it may fall under Colorado’s hate crime laws protecting its citizens against bias crimes based on sexual orientation.
You read that right. You see, lost behind all of the rhetoric of “special rights”, it turns out that hate crime laws which include sexual orientation really do protect everyone. According to the FBI’s most recent hate crime report, there were thirty-three anti-heterosexual hate crime incidents affecting thirty-six victims in 2004. And I noted in our report, Federal Hate Crime Statistics: Why the Numbers Don’t Add Up, there are many reasons to believe that this is an undercount. In fact, the undercount may be quite substantial since most people assume that hate crime laws only protect the minority.
I don’t know the specifics of Colorado’s hate crime law, nor do we know what the outcome of the investigation will wind up being. But it may well be ironic that a law that has been vigorously opposed by Focus on the Family for “promoting the homosexual lifestyle” may, in fact, serve to protect a participant in a Focus on the Family action.
And while it would be ironic, it would nevertheless be appropriate, depending on what the investigation finds. Because it turns out that anybody can be a victim of hate. And everyone deserves the protection of hate crime laws.
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email: