Box Turtle Bulletin

Ministers Commit False Witness About Hate Crimes Bill

When the US House took up the “Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007,” we saw a lot of blatant dishonesty from far-right opponents. We saw them completely make up bogus hate crime statistics out of thin air. We saw them falsely claim that the legislation would “punish some crimes more severely against gay people than they would against any other person.” And we saw them putting forward the “thought crime” canard, even though the proposed legislation deals strictly with actual violence.

The bill passed the House with bipartisan support, and now the Senate is about to consider the measure. And once again, we’re seeing anti-gay extremists cranking up the False Witnessing machine once again. This time, they are renewing their arguments that the proposed hate crime legislation will compromise their freedom of religion. A group of African-American church leaders, including pastor Kenneth Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church who has been stirring up trouble in Riga Latvia, have appeared in an advertisement featuring a gagged African-American pastor to claim that hate crimes legislation would “muzzle our pulpits.”

Christian clergymen and people of faith are making a stand today for religious liberty. WE OPPOSE S.1105, “The Matthew Shepard Act.” We believe prosecutors and anti-Christian groups will use loop holes in this proposed legislation to muzzle the church. Unnecessary lawsuits will bring a chilling effect to the free speech and religious liberty of our churches and of our members.

No law can usurp the First Amendment, and the sad thing is that these ministers should know that better than anyone. Despite enjoying hate crime protections for a number of years, the African-American community continues to be the target of constitutionally protected hate speech whenever the Klan wins approval to hold rallies on courthouse squares and statehouse lawns. Nothing in the existing hate crime laws has succeeded in muzzling their First Amendment rights to free speech.

And nothing has muzzled anyone’s First Amendment rights to freedom of religion either. There are at least thirty seven racist Christian Identity groups active across America. Some even operate radio broadcasts and “prison ministries.” As patently offensive and dangerous as some of these groups may be, the First Amendment has protected their outlandish religious beliefs despite existing hate crimes legislation on the basis of race.

And like a broken record, I’ll repeat this one again: The law protects everyone equally. If you check the FBI’s latest statistics from 2005, you’ll find there were 935 anti-white hate crime incidents recorded, 58 anti-protestant hate crime incidents recorded, and 23 anti-heterosexual incidents recorded. They all deserve — and receive — protection as well.

Focus on the Family, Exodus, Family Research Council, Traditional Values Coalition, Mission America — all of them have repeated some serious outright lies about what the proposed legislation would do. And several individuals associated with these organizations have done the same.

And so here’s a challenge. I have posted the actual proposed legislation in full on my web site. You will find the text after the jump below. I dare them to do the same. And I challenge them to point to any part of the bill which would usurp the First Amendment. In fact, I challenge them to point to any part of the bill which even comes close to limiting speech. The bill only mentions violence, and it only extends penalties to acts of violence.

Unless placing additional penalties on violent acts somehow limits these pastors’ freedoms of religion, this bill won’t have any affect on them whatsoever.

So where is it folks? Tell us. Is it in the bill or are you lying as God is your witness? Pick one, because it’s either one or the other.

Click here to read the text of Senate Bill 1105

Another Senseless Hate-Crime Murder

On May 12th, 20-year old Roberto “Poncho” Duncanson was walking down the street in Brooklyn when he passed 17-year old Omar Willick.  Perhaps Roberto smiled… we don’t know.

What we do know is that Willick began a stream of slurs against Poncho and that Poncho walked away.  Willick followed Duncanson, waited outside while Duncanson visited his cousin, followed him some more, confronted him, and ultimately stabbed him four times.  Yesterday the authorities added hate crimes to the murder charges against Willick.

For some truly heart-wrenching comments by people who knew and loved Pancho Duncanson, check out this site.

Vigil for Sean Kennedy

A candlelight vigil in Greenville was held Sunday evening to remember 20-year-old Sean Kennedy, who was a victim of an apparent hate crime. Vigil organizers wanted to draw attention to hate crime bills before th South Carolina legislature and the U.S. Congress which would provide protections on the basis of gender expression and sexual orientation.

Kennedy died last month after being punched outside of a Greenville bar. According to witnesses, Stephen Andrew Moller, 18, made a comment about Kennedy’s sexual orientation before punching him. Moller is charged with murder. Kennedy’s death is being investigated as a hate crime, but there is no law on the book that currently deals with the prosecution of hate crimes.

A foundation, Sean’s Last Wish, has been set up to support passage of legislation to protect everyone regardless of sexual orientation.

Three Massachusets Teens Charged in Beating

Three Lowell, Massachussets men were charged yesterday morning in an apparent gay-bashing.  The teens alledgedly saw the man in a residential neighborhood at about 3 a.m. on Friday, and used anti gay slurs before beating him, according to authorities. James Nickola was bruised and suffered a severely cut lip.

The three men, Jonathan Artis, Jeffrey Buchanan, and Jules Rugges, all 19, were charged with  violation of constitutional rights with bodily injury, assault and battery, and mayhem. They were then released on their own recognizance.

A Hate Crime Allegation Too Far?

Anti-gay opponents often falsely claim that proposed federal legislation to extend hate crime protections to cover violent crimes based on sexual orientation would somehow infringe on their freedoms of speech and religion. Some have even re-dubbed the legislation “Thought Crimes.” Of course this is nonsense, as the First Amendment simply wouldn’t allow it.

But, they say, what about the case of a 16-year-old teen in Crystal Lake, Illinois who was arrested for passing out a flyer?:

A 16-year-old Crystal Lake girl facing a felony hate crime charge alleging she and a friend distributed anti-homosexual fliers at her high school must remain locked up until her case goes to trial, a McHenry County judge ruled Tuesday.

If this were all we knew, then this should be an open-and-shut case. There should be no hate crimes attached to distributing anti-gay fliers by themselves. This is simple freedom of speech. Obnoxious speech, perhaps, but free speech doesn’t mean anything unless obnoxious speech is free. The First Amendment should prevail.

And if this were all we knew about this case, then we might presume that what we’re seeing is an overzealous prosecutor and judge. While their actions might be unconstitutional, it wouldn’t be the first time overzealous prosecutors and judges overstepped their bounds. Recently we’ve learned of a number of innocent people convicted for rape, murder, robbery, etc. This is why we have appeals. Our system of justice is far from perfect simply because the people in it aren’t perfect.

But because a law is sometimes abused doesn’t mean the law shouldn’t exist in the first place. Nobody thinks we should repeal laws against rape, murder, robbery, etc. because prosecutors and/or judges overstep their bounds in those cases. Instead, we insist that these prosecutors be held accountable for their actions, either through the appeal process or through criminal or civil action against the prosecutors office.

So when anti-gay activists pounce on this case to justify their distortion of what hate crime legislation really means (as they will surely do), don’t let them get by with the argument that says that abuse of the law is a good reason for the abandonment of the law. It isn’t.

And if this were all we knew about this particular case, then I think I can join those who say that this is a clear miscarriage of justice in the making.

If this were all we knew. But of course, it’s not. There’s more:

Citing concerns over the girl’s home environment and her already lengthy juvenile record, Judge Michael Chmiel denied the girl’s request for home detention. Instead Chmiel ordered her held in the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center while the case is pending.

The girl’s record, Chmiel said, features 13 contacts with police, including an arrest for marijuana possession in August. McHenry County court records show that within the past year the girl also has been charged for driving without a license, consumption of alcohol by a minor, possession of tobacco by a minor, trespassing and three curfew violations.

Thirteen prior contacts with the police? That should raise some red flags. And what about the fliers?

Authorities say the fliers were directed specifically toward a male classmate — and neighbor of one of the girls — with whom they had been feuding.

This doesn’t look like the usual anti-gay fliers that teens are encouraged to hand out at school. Until we know more about what was in this flier — did it identify the classmate specifically? Did it include a threat? — it’s hard to conclude that this is a simple exercise in free speech.

This case may turn out to be an example of misapplying a state hate crime law. Or it may be a legitimate response to a serious threat. When danger signs have not been acted upon elsewhere, we’ve suffered tragic consequences at Columbine and Virginia Tech. With thirteen prior dealings with the police in this particular case, we’re clearly dealing with a deeply troubled teen.

Maybe we’re dealing with a constitutional question, or maybe we’re dealing with a teen who was caught before doing something far more serious. Right now, we don’t know. But I wonder how many anti-gay extremists will hitch their wagons to this horse anyway?

South Carolina Man Dies in Possible Hate Crime

Sean William Kennedy, 20, of Greenville, South Carolina  died from injuries he suffered in a fight an assault outside of a gay bar early Wednesday morning. Sherrif deputies last night arrested Stephen Andrew Moller, 18, who is accused of punching Kennedy because Moller didn’t like Kennedy’s sexuality.

According to the sherrif’s department, as Sean was walking to his car from the bar early Wednesday morning, Moller got out of another car and walked towards Sean. Moller made some comments about Sean’s sexual orientation and punched him in the face.

The Greenville sherrif’s office is working with the FBI to determine whether to proceed with a hate crime investigation. If so, it would be for statistics purposes only. South Carolina does not have a hate crime law which covers sexual orientation.

Conservative Christians Support Hate Crimes Bill

If we were to believe the rabid “Christian” media, we’d think that all Christians, or at least the conservative ones, are quivering in fear of being jailed for expressing their disapproval of homosexuality.  While I’m quite certain that the authors of the articles are well aware that no such danger exists, one might understand if decent but uninformed everyday church-going folk were troubled by these reports of impending doom.

But they’re not.  According to pollster Gallup (as reported in the Christian Post), every demographic identifiable supports the hate crimes legislation.

…no group identifiable in Gallup’s standard categories – including the Republicans, Independents, Democrats, conservatives, moderates, liberals, Protestant and those with no religious identity – expressed less than majority support for the legislation that some Christians fear could strip away their right to express a biblical view on homosexuality, according to the poll report.

Scotty Joe Weaver’s Murderer Given Life Without Parole

Last week, we told you about Christopher Gaines, who pleaded guilty to the grisly murder of Scotty Joe Weaver. On July 22, 2004, the 18-year-old’s burned body was found  at the side of a rural Alabama road. He had been beaten, strangled, cut, burned and robbed of between $65 and $80.

Today, the judge in the case sentenced Gaines to life in prison without the possibility of parole. By pleading guilty, Gaines was able to avoid the death penalty. Gaines’ girlfriend Nichole Bryars Kelsay, and Robert Porter have pleaded not guilty. Their trials are set for September.

Because Alabama law requires that a jury must hear evidence for capital murder cases — even when the defendant pleads guilty — several new details came out in Gaines’ trial. On July 18, 2004, Gaines, Kelsay, and Porter plotted Weaver’s death because Gaines and Kelsay thought that Weaver was interfering in their relationship. Weaver had let Gaines and Kelsay stay with him in his home for a while. Porter simply didn’t like Weaver because of his sexuality. So that evening, Porter and Gaines snuck up on Weaver as he slept. Weaver woke briefly and begged Gaines to stop as Gaines wrapped a rope around his neck while Porter held Weaver’s feet. Weaver struggled to get away, but was overpowered.

After Weaver died, Gaines, Porter and Kelsay drove around town, stopping in at Wal-Mart, Dairy Queen and Arby’s. They even stopped into Kelsay’s mother’s house and played cards for a while before returning to Weaver’s trailer where his body still lay. 

Gaines and Porter wrapped Weaver’s body in a blanket and loaded it into the trunk of a car. They stopped at a service station and filled a 3-liter bottle with gasoline before driving out to a lonely stretch of road. There, they laid Weaver face up on the blanket, poured gasoline on his body, urinated on  him, then set his body on fire.

Scotty Joe Weaver’s body was found four days later.

The Reason for Opposition to HR 1592

Conservative Christian activists have been very vocal – shrill, you might say – in their opposition to HR 1592, a bill that would include “sexual orientation” into the existing structure used to monitor and prosecute violent crimes motivated by hatred of a class of people.  And folks of good will and a desire to understand their opposition have speculated on why there is such a swirl of anger, why those in opposition are willing to make outrageous and blatantly ridiculous claims.

Some think that it might be fear of encroachment on the rights of the religious to vocalize their opposition to homosexuality.  Others think it might be the codification into federal law of the concept of sexual orientation.  Others think it simply that conservatives oppose hates crimes legislation in general and will be against ANY advancement of the concept.

While those are good and smart speculations, I believe the issue is both deeper and simpler than this.  Quite simply, I propose that they oppose the bill because gay people support it. 

The following is extracted from an e-mail correspondence I had with the author of an article who insisted that he was neither hateful nor homophobic (he was both) and that his motivation was not religious but impartial (he wrote for Catholic publications). Nonetheless, I think it is perhaps the most honest explanation of the motivation behind the opposition to this bill and indeed any bill that is viewed as favorable to gay people.

Conservative Christians, I contend, see American culture as going through a process of radical secularization, i.e., de-Christianization. They see the gay movement and its demands as part of this process. They are fighting to resist this secularization process, just as people on your side are fighting to advance it. They see you people (I mean the advocates of moral liberalism) as aggressors; they see themselves as on the defensive. According to your propaganda, you are victims of would-be “theocrats.”

…

As for myself, I have introspected (honestly I hope), and I find no homophobic feelings in my heart. Frankly, I don’t give a damn what people do in their private sexual lives. But I have a very strong dislike of the gay political movement, just as I have a strong dislike of all leftwing political movements. When I was younger I disliked Communism (I still dislike it, but it hardly counts anymore), and now I dislike moral liberalism and the gay movement. I am sorry to hear that you take this personally and feel that I hate YOU (I am assuming, perhaps mistakenly, that you yourself are gay). But I don’t plan to change my political convictions because you and other gays happen to have some misplaced hurt feelings.

I say to all of you: Grow up. Appreciate the fact that you are living in a free country in which citizens have the right to disagree with your political-cultural agenda.

The objection to HR 1592 has nothing whatsoever to do with the content of HR 1592. The opposition is part of the Great Culture War and is simply an effort to defeat the enemy and his agenda.

And gay people, by definition, are the enemy.

I readily admit that there are thinking and principled legislators out there who have estabished an opposition to the bill based on their convictions and principles. But when it comes to the anti-gay activists and the anti-gay voting block, it really doesn’t matter what we ask for. They will oppose it. Period.

This is the same reason that Exodus will leave “mortality rates” on their website for years that they know to be false. This is the same reason that Love Won Out will suggest that Nancy Heche prayed away her daughter’s gay. This is the same reason that Chuck Colson will deliberately lie with invalid statistics comparisons. (see Jeremy’s analysis at Good As You).

Because it’s war. And when in war, they believe that honesty, accuracy, truth, personal integrity, Christian charity, and basic decency are all secondary to destroying the enemy.

Bush Threatens To Veto Hate Crimes Bill

In an apparent cave to the unhinged conservative base, the White House as issued a veto threat against the hate crimes bill that is currently before the House:

The White House, in a statement, said state and local criminal laws already provide penalties for the crimes defined by the bill and “there has been no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement.”

It also questioned the constitutionality of federalizing the acts of violence barred by the bill and said that if it reaches the president’s desk “his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill.”

Update: The House just passed H.R. 1592 by a vote of 237-180. To override an expected presidential veto, they would need to pick up 55 more votes. The bill now goes on to the Senate where it is expected to pass.

Defendant Pleads Guilty in Scotty Joe Weaver’s Murder

On July 22, 2004, 18-year-old Scotty Joe Weaver’s burned body was found at the side of a rural Alabama road. He had been beaten, strangled, cut, burned and robbed of between $65 and $80. While robbery was first thought to be the main motivation, Baldwin County District Attorney concluded that the crime was actually a hate crime:

“In Alabama, we have very little violent crime against race. We’ve gone past that in our state,” said Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone. “We’re not there yet in lifestyle changes. We haven’t arrived yet to more acceptance.” …

“We have very specific evidence that indicates part of the motive involved his sexual orientation,” said Whetstone.

Whetstone noted that the wounds on Scotty Joe’s body indicated “overkill,” a common feature of anti-gay hate crimes.

Robert Porter, 18, Nichole Bryars Kelsay, 18, and Christopher Gaines, 20 were arrested and charged with capital murder. Gaines and Kelsay had been Scotty Joe’s roommates.

Gaines appears to have been the most cooperative of the three defendants. Shortly after his arrest, Gaines’ lawyer at that time said that Gaines told him that Porter “spoke openly of wanting to kill the guy because he was gay.”

Yesterday, Christopher Gaines pleaded guilty to capital murder. A shortened jury trial will begin Monday to determine whether he receives the death penalty or life without parole. It’s uncertain whether he will testify against the other two defendants when they stand trial later this year.

Alabama’s hate crime law doesn’t cover sexual orientation, but prosecutors said it would be a factor in determining if they would seek the death penalty. Scotty Joe Weaver’s murder was not included in the FBI’s hate crime statistics for 2004, representing another example of the gaps in the FBI’s hate crime reporting program.

A Brutal Beating Death In Indiana

Three suspects have been charged in the brutal beating death of 35-year-old Aaron Hall in Crothersville, Indiana. Garret Gray, 19, and Coleman King, 18, are charged with murder, and Robert James Hendricks, 21, was charged with assisting a criminal.

According to Jackson County Sheriff’s Detective Robert Henley, the suspects told police that they beat Hall because he made an “obscene motion and homosexual suggestion” to King. That’s when King “went crazy on Hall,” and started beating him with fists. Gray joined in, and at one point King removed his boot and started hitting Hall with it.

The beating continued for several hours. At one point, Gray and King paused to take pictures of themselves with their arms around Halls beaten body. The photo showed Hall with a swollen lip, a black eye, and appeared badly beaten. They sent that text message photo to Gray’s friend, who later called police

Afterwards, Hendricks helped King and Gray to drag Aaron Hall out of the house by his feet, with his head hitting the stairs on the way out. They loaded him into Hendrick’s truck and dumped him in a ditch. According to one report, Hall was still alive but his breathing was labored. Days later, King, Gray, and Hendricks retrieved Hall’s body from a nearby field, wrapped it in a tarp and hid it in Grays garage.

Police found Hall’s body in the garage on Sunday.

Three Tennessee Teens Charged With Vandalism

Last week we mentioned the vandalism of Neal Anthony’s historic 1851 home in McMinnville, Tennessee. The house was riddled with 81 paintball shots, anti-gay graffitti, and rocks thrown through windows. Now comes reports that three teens have confessed to targeting Anthony’s house with the paintballs because he is gay. They denied responsibility for the graffitti or the broken windows.

Neal Anthony’s home has been vandalized twice in the past two months.

“Thought Crimes”

The Family “Research” Council continues to sound the drumbeat of “Thought Crimes” in their latest e-mail action alerts, and the “Thought Crime” meme is spreading among anti-gay lobbyists and activists around the country. Focus on the Family is also spreading the word:

“It’s fair to call it a Thought Crimes law,” said Caleb H. Price, social-research analyst for Focus on the Family. “Ultimately, it punishes those who hold politically incorrect thoughts and beliefs about homosexuality.” 

This is a shockingly shameless distortion of what the proposed hate crimes legislation actually says. It’s a distortion so twisted, it’s fair to call it a bold-faced lie — an expression I virtually never use. It’s not about “thoughts” or speech; it’s about violence. Are any of these “thought crimes”?

• “Fags deserve to die” and “you’re mother is hell bound” were spray-painted on a gay man’s home in Irving College, Tennessee.  Three weeks earlier, people drove yelling anti-gay epiteths and shooting about 80 paintballs at his home, breaking a storm window.
• Fifteen year old Anthony Hergesheimer of Pueblo, Colorado was beaten by six fellow students as he was walking home from school. He suffered a black eye, severe damage to his face and a broken nose. He underwent surgery on his nose and forehead.
• Cecily Gonzalez, 17, and Uriah Smith, 18, were sentenced for the kidnapping and all-night beating of an Edgewood, New Mexican youth. He had been “kidnapped, tied up and beaten by three men and a woman, allegedly in an effort to make him straight.” “I couldn’t even recognize his face,” his mother said. Added his sister, “I sat in the hospital room and listened to him cry in pain for what those people did to him.”
• Kurt Feudale and fellow Chico State student Rob Felicano were attacked in downtown Chico, California after Feundale put a friendly arm around his buddy. They’re not gay, but seven or eight other men assumed they were. They pinned the friends against a wall and beat them, proving that even straight people can be victims of anti-gay violence.

The proposed legislation will not set up “special rights” for a select few. It will protect everyone, including Feudale and Felicano. When it says regardless of sexual orientation, it really means regardless of sexual orientation. What part of regardless do they not understand?

Scandinavia: Homophobia Free?

Many anti-gay American activists distort statistics from Scandinavia to portray gays and lesbians as a danger to marriage. And when they do, they inevitably claim that “homophobia” doesn’t play a role there, as if it didn’t exist. But if that were true, how would they explain this?

Neo-Nazi convicted of gay-bashing
The leader of a neo-Nazi group in southern Sweden has been jailed for three months for an attack on the local headquarters of gay rights group RFSL in Kristianstad….

Prosecutor Christofer Ramkvist had earlier told the court in Kristianstad that the incident was a “typical hate crime,” and that the people in the RFSL building had been attacked because of their sexual orientation.

Nope. No anti-gay prejudice there.