Box Turtle Bulletin

Joe Murray on Hate Crimes Legislation

If you haven’t already, you really should read both interviews between Pam Spaulding and Joe Murray. Murray’s a former lawyer and columnist for the American Family Association, and he has now publicly repudiated the AFA’s campaign against gays and lesbians. In a recent column in The Bulletin he goes after the Family “Research” Council’s distortion of proposed hate crimes legislation:

The Family Research Council (FRC), one of the largest pro-family groups in the district, has already declared war on “homosexual activists” via an Internet Web site dedicated to stopping the expansion of the hate crimes law.

Decrying hate crimes as “thought crimes,” Tony Perkins, FRC president, hints that the hate crimes law will lead to the criminalization of Christianity – an argument he supports with Swiss cheese evidence.

Murray tears apart the FRC’s arguments, echoing the same points I’ve made about the deliberate distortions anti-gay groups have been making about the bill. Murray’s points are well worth reading.

Medical Examiner: Andrew Anthos Was Not Attacked

From a surprising twist, the Detroit News reports that Andrew Anthos may not have been attacked after all:

Medical Examiner Dr. Carl Schmidt said evidence did not support the report of an attack on Anthos and said a head injury likely came from falling.

Anthos suffered from a degenerative condition known as spinal stenosis. Anthos probably flexed his neck, which caused arthritic spurs to compress his spinal cord enough to paralyze his legs, the Detroit Free Press reported. After surgery, the paralysis spread through his body, and he died of respiratory failure, the medical examiner said.

This is sure to come as stunning news to many who followed the reports last month. Police had been looking for a man who had reportedly hit Anthos in the back of the head with a pipe after verbally assaulting him on a bus about his sexuality. Investigators were publicly treating the incident as a hate crime. Based on an eyewitness, they had even released a composite sketch of the suspect. At this point, it’s somewhat unclear how all of this could have happened.

Investigators now say the case will be closed due to a lack of evidence. Meanwhile, Anthos’ family continues to believe that he died due to injuries from an attack. This latest report clearly raises far more questions than it answers. Stay tuned.

TVC, Concerned Women, and Focus Completely Make Up Hate Crime Statistics

Update (3/27/2007): This post was revised to account for the official definition for “intimidation.” The original version of this post did not have that definition.

The Traditional Values Coalition and Concerned Women of America are propagating more hate crime nonesense, with Focus on the Family acting as the enabler. Get this:

Homosexual advocates who support the bill say violence against homosexuals is on the rise. They contend 14 percent of the 1,000 hate crimes reported in 2005 were due to sexual orientation.

“They claim that this is an epidemic, [but] one third of the ‘hate crime’s statistics’ are for ‘name-calling,’ ” Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, told Family News in Focus. “This is not a reason to bring in the federal government. The ultimate objective is to use the [prosecution] of hate speech against people of faith.”

The article’s subtitle claims, “The House is considering a measure that would make opposition to homosexuality a crime.” That is ridiculous. The First Amendment makes prohibiting opposition to anything illegal. Remember that the next time you see a Klan rally in the news. And everything else in that article is demonstrably false as well. And you don’t even have to believe me because it’s so easy to look up the data for yourself, thanks to the Internets.

First, go to the FBI’s 2005 Hate Crime Statistics web site. Bookmark it because this won’t be the last time Focus, TVC, or anyone else will lie about these statistics.

Now, see where it says, “Incidents and Offenses”? Click on where it says “Access Tables”. That’s where all the data is. From there, click on “Table 4”. Have a look around.

First of all, you will notice that there were 8,380 total hate crime offenses for 2005. Scroll down and you’ll see that it includes 1,171 offenses based on sexual orientation. Look below that for my personal favorite statistic: the 23 anti-heterosexual offenses. You’ll also see 58 anti-Protestant offenses and 935 anti-White offenses. So much for “special rights” for “more valuable victims.” Now you see why I keep saying that line of argument is complete hogwash.

Anyway, there weren’t 1,000 hate crimes reported in 2005, there were 8,380. But yes, the 1,171 offenses based on sexual orientation were 14% of the total. But now scroll back up and look accross the top. Do you see all of the categories of hate crime offenses?

I see murder, I see rape, I see, …. Oh, here it is. Intimidation. Is that “name calling”? Nope. The FBI defines “intimidation” this way (PDF: 71KB/29 pages. See page 23.):

Intimidation — To unlawfully place another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

So no. It’s not name-calling. It’s making a specific threat of bodily harm. And according to the statistics there were 301 intimidation incidents based on sexual orientation. Let’s see, 301 divided by 1,171 — why that’s only 26%. Not a third. Wrong again.

So it turns out that they didn’t get any of their statistics correct — except the 14% figure.

But let’s go ahead and humor them a little bit. Let’s remove “intimidation” from the totals and see what happens:

Did you notice what happened? The percentage of hate crimes based on sexual orientation actually went up when “intimidation” was removed from the statistics — as does the percentage of hate crimes based on religion. That’s right, it gets worse without “intimidation.” And why is that? Well, it turns out that while “intimidation” makes up 26% of all hate crime incidents reported both for sexual orientation and religion, it makes up 33% of all hate crime incidents for race and 32% for national origin.

In other words, victims of sexual orientation-motivated hate crime incidents are just as likely to claim “intimidation” as are victims of religously-motivated hate crime incidents.

But that doesn’t really matter because when it comes to the proposed federal hate crimes legislation that the TVC, Concerned Women and Focus are so upset about, the whole “name calling” thing is not just a red herring. The proposed legislation only applies to violent crimes — murders, assaults, kidnappings, rapes, etc. It doesn’t even apply to property crimes or intimidation. And I don’t expect you to take my word for it. The bill’s text is online so you can see for yourself.

It’s time for everyone, including those espousing “traditional values”, “families” and “concerned women” everywhere to just stop lying about what hate crimes are all about and simply debate the issue on its merits. That, however, appears to be something they are utterly incapable of doing.

Another Death, More Silence

On March 20, The San Francisco Chronicle reported on a murder victim whose naked body was found near a freeway. According to the news report, Inspector Karen Lynch of the San Francisco Police’s homicide detail “said it appeared the victim had been in the process of becoming a woman.”

That same day, Mike Savage (real name, Michael Alan Weiner), a San Francisco-based syndicated talk radio host, reacted to that news report this way:

[San Francisco police inspector Karen] Lynch said it appeared the victim had been in the process of becoming a woman…

And then they go into “she said transgender victims” going on and on “extremely violent” going on and on “are frequently left partially clothed or completely nude, it’s making a statement and humiliating the victim,” blah-blah-blah. I am so beyond fed up with freaks….

…But you know what? You’re never gonna make me respect the freak. I don’t want to respect the freak. The freak ought to be glad that they’re allowed to walk around without begging for something. You know, I’m sick and tired of the whole country begging, bending over backwards for the junkie, the freak, the pervert, the illegal immigrant. All of them are better than everybody else. Sick. Everything is upside down.

He goes on like this for several minutes, on a program that is carried nationwide on more than 300 radio stations, including KVOR 740 AM in Colorado Springs and WDBO 580 AM in Orlando.

I bring up those two communities specifically because they are homes to Focus on the Family and Exodus International respectively. And as I mentioned previously, Mike Haley — who is not only a director of gender issues at Focus on the Family’s Public Policy Division, but also the board chairman for Exodus International — had this to say about hate crimes at the Love Won Out conference in Phoenix:

I think, too, we also have to be just as quick to also stand up when we do see the gay and lesbian community being come against as the Body of Christ. We need to be the first to speak out to say that what happened to Matthew Shepard was a terrible incident and should never happen again. And that we within the Body of Christ are wanting to protect that community and put our money where our mouth is…

I brought this up previously when Andrew Anthos was murdered and nobody “put their money where their mouth is.” Some have suggested that this incident may be too obscure for them to notice. Okay, maybe. Although as I pointed out then, they are perfectly capable of scouring up some pretty obscure stuff when they want to.

But this is not obscure. Michael Savage is a national broadcaster. His show is carried on more than 300 radio stations across the country. He often shares the same airwaves with other popular talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlessinger, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. These are not obscure radio stations and he is not an obscure radio personality. He is the third most popular talk radio host in the nation.

And yet, Focus and Exodus remain silent as a very popular conservative commentator spews what can only be described as hateful filth across the airwaves and into hundreds of homes across America. Someone was brutally murdered, Michael Savage justified it, and Focus and Exodus remained silent.

(Well, not entirely silent. Focus on the Family did take the time today to re-iterated their opposition to hate crimes legislation by trotting out the same old “special rights” nonsense — even though the FBI reported that in 2005 there were 23 anti-heterosexual, 58 anti-Protestant and 935 anti-white hate crime incidents. Are their rights “special”?)

Christ said, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’.” The meaning is clear. If you say you’re going to do something, then just do it. Don’t say something ought to be done simply because it will make your audience think the kinder of you. Say what you mean and mean what you say. This is all anyone has a right to ask.

Denouncing Savage’s hatred should not be that difficult. You should not have to think about it. There’s no controversy in it, is there?

Is there?

Randy Thomas Still Doesn’t Understand Hate Crimes

Slow learners, that bunch. Exodus Vice President Randy Thomas is at it again, spreading his total misunderstanding about how hate crimes legislation works. Well, near total anyway. He now acknowledges that hate crimes laws cannot infringe on speech in America, but he’s still worried about some sort of slippery slope effect. But his first two paragraphs are whoppers in cluelessness:

We have been saying that hate crimes laws are inherently unfair in that they punish some crimes more severely against gay people than they would against any other person. If I were attacked, my attacker would get more of a punishment 15 years ago when I identified as gay than they would now that I don’t.

Plus, if a gay identified man or woman attacked me (some have threatened to do just that), they would get less of a sentence than if a truly homophobic person attacked them along the exact same lines.

Rest assured Randy. If anyone were to attack you because of your sexual orientation — regardless of your sexual orientation — then that is a hate crime. When the law reads “regardless of sexual orientation”, it means exactly that. And if you think I’m wrong on this, then please explain why the FBI bothered to count twenty-three anti-heterosexual hate crime incidents in 2005? (2005 is the most recent year for which statistics are available.) I think it’s also important to note that there were 935 anti-White incidents and 58 anti-Protestant incidents during the same year.

These laws aren’t about special protections available only to a select few. They about recognizing that particular types of crimes based on motivation have particular impacts on society. We already distingush between capital murder and manslaughter. Our laws also distingush between ordinary assualt and aggrivated assault. Same with robbery. The law already takes into account the fact that some crimes have a more far-reaching impact than others.

Hate crime legislation simply says that crimes in which victims are singled out by race, sexual orientation, religion or national origin deserve special protection because there is a special history of people being singled out solely for those reasons. And the great thing about it, the proposed legislation recognizes that the tables can always be turned. Which means these protections are extended to your race, sexual orientation, religion or national origin, whatever they may be. Because everyone — yes, even you Randy — deserves to be protected whenever anyone lashes out against them based on their own self-righteous, misguided beliefs.

Focus On The Family: Say One Thing, Say Nothing Else

Andrew Anthos, the 72 year old gay man who was beaten after getting off a bus Feb. 13 in Detroit, will be laid to rest this afternoon. The attack left him paralyzed from the neck down, and he died last Friday from those injuries. His killer has not been found. State Senator Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) will do what he can to see that Anthos did not die in vain:

Clarke said Tuesday he will introduce the hate crime legislation in the next couple of weeks. He also will talk to Capitol officials to make sure that Anthos’ desire to get the Capitol dome lit will come true.

“I believe Mr. Anthos death will be a watershed,” said Clarke, who was a co-sponsor of similar hate crime legislation that didn’t pass last year. “It’s going to be successful.”

When I attended the Love Won Out conference in Phoenix on February 10, the question of hate crimes legislation came up in a Q&A session. Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, and Mike Haley, of Focus on the Family both stated their opposition to hate crime enhancements for violent crimes like this one, characterizing it as an attack on freedom of speech. This, of course, is nonsense. Hate crimes legislation targets violent crime, not speech. Our First Amendment — the very same First Amendment that permitted neo-Nazis to march in Skokie, Ill., and allows the Klan to hold rallies wherever they feel like it — will always permit Exodus and Focus to say, print, and broadcast whatever they want.

But I was pleased to hear Mike Haley close that discussion on what I believed to be a somewhat positive note:

I think, too, we also have to be just as quick to also stand up when we do see the gay and lesbian community being come against as the Body of Christ. We need to be the first to speak out to say that what happened to Matthew Shepard was a terrible incident and should never happen again. And that we within the Body of Christ are wanting to protect that community and put our money where our mouth is…

While I thought that was a very positive sentiment at the time, it appears now that it was just an empty platitude. Andrew Anthos was attacked just three days later. There was no comment from either Exodus or Focus on the Family.

Ten days after that, Andrew Anthos died. Again, the Body of Christ — at least that portion of it represented by Focus on the Family and Exodus — has not spoken out.

Today, two full weeks after he was beaten with a metal pipe and left paralyzed in the cold Detroit snow, Andrew Anthos is being laid to rest. The silence from Focus on the Family and Exodus is deafening.

Now let me be clear. I don’t believe for one second that there is anyone at Focus on the Family or Exodus who feels anything but profound sorrow for Andrew Anthos’ brutal death. But I can’t help but notice that in the very same week when Focus had a chance to reach out to the gays and lesbians that they professed to love at Love Won Out, they chose instead to scour the Internet and find an extremely obscure, unpublished, non-peer-reviewed study — from China, of all places — to figuratively bash gays and lesbians here at home.

So this begs the question: Does Focus on the Family and Exodus say one thing to their Evangelical base and something else to the rest of us? Mike Haley’s right. They need to put their money where their mouth is. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s exactly what they did.

I’ll share my observations on how they tailor their messages based on their audience in greater detail next week. Meanwhile, you can see a few examples of that in action in the latest video from Ex-Gay Watch.

Andrew Anthos, 72, Dies After Brutal Assault

Andrew Anthos, 72, who was beaten by an assailant with a lead pipe at the back of the head, died Friday of injuries sustained during a horrendous hate crime incident that occurred the week before:

He had been riding the bus that evening (Feb 13) from the public library back to his Detroit apartment when another passenger annoyed with his singing approached him and asked if he was gay.

Anthos left the bus and helped a wheelchair-bound fellow passenger through the snow, only to be followed by the assailant who hit him in the back of the head with a metal pipe and fled.

He was taken to a local hospital, where he was reportedly paralyzed from the neck down and had difficulty speaking. He was able to provide a brief description of his assailant to police before slipping into a coma Wednesday. He was given Last Rites Thursday evening.

Andrew was known around Detroit and Lansing for his quixotic twenty-year campaign to light the Michigan State Capital’s dome in red, white and blue for Independence day as a mark of patriotism in honor of military veterans and police officers.

It takes an incredibly cold-hearted, animalistic brutality to beat an elderly man, and to leave him for dead in the cold snows of Michigan. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has offered to pay for Mr. Anthos’ funeral at the request of the Triangle Foundation of Michigan.

Ted Haggard: “I’m Not Gay”

It’s a miracle! After three whole weeks of “intensive psychological therapy” — yes, that’s right! Twenty-one days to examine a life of some fifty years — we can now be assured that Ted Haggard most definitely is not gay:

[Rev. Tim] Ralph said three weeks of counseling at an undisclosed Arizona treatment center helped Haggard immensely and left Haggard sure of one thing.

“He is completely heterosexual,” Ralph said. “That is something he discovered. It was the acting- out situations where things took place. It wasn’t a constant thing.”

Nope. Not homosexual. Nothing to see here. According to Haggard’s advisors, all we gotta do now is figure out why he “chose to act out in that manner”.

How about his: He paid a lot of money to have sex with another man. He went back to that man again and again. Could it be because he liked it?

This news comes on the same day that we learn that Astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak is being charged with first degree murder after having attacked a rival for another astronaut’s attention. Nowak, mission specialist on a Space Shuttle Discovery flight last summer, was found in Orlando wearing a trenchcoat and a wig, and she had worn diapers so she wouldn’t have to stop on the 1,000-mile drive from Houston.

Now, mind you, NASA has some pretty sharp psychologists on staff (Dr. Bellows notwithstanding). Astronouts undergo an enormous battery of psychological and physical tests to make sure they are fit to perform their missions. NASA can’t afford to have a nutcase on the shuttle or the space station. And yet, these sharp psychologists apparently missed the ticking time-bomb that finally went off in Nowak’s mind.

But all Haggard’s “therapists” needed were three weeks to figure out he’s really a heterosexual after all.

Daniel Gonzales at Ex-Gay Watch has a great observation in all this. He notes that Dr. Joseph Nicolosi (Daniel’s therapist back in his ex-gay days) believes there are no such thing as homosexuals:

This he’s heterosexual with a homosexual problem of acting out sounds an awful lot like NARTH president Joe Nicolosi who said:

“There is no such thing as a homosexual. Homosexual is a description of a condition, it’s not a description of the person. We are all heterosexual, some heterosexuals have a homosexual problem.”

Much as I too was able to convince myself I was a heterosexual with a homosexual problem that could be dealt with whenever attractions came up, we shall see how long Haggard is willing to keep up the exhausting charade after the honeymoon ends.

I don’t know which ex-gay ministry Haggard went to. But I think it’s time they drop all pretenses of “therapy”. This looks more like a really bad characature of “name it and claim it” theology in action. He calls himself a heterosexual, therefore he is.

And you want to know the really amazing thing about it? His next step is to get an online degree in psychology.

See also:

The Megachurch, Mike Jones, and the Suspension of Disbelief
“There Is A Part Of My Life So Repulsive and Dark…”
Blessed Are The Opportunists
Haggard Resigns; “I Know What You Did Last Night”
Prayers and Assistance for the Haggard Family
I Did Not Have Sex With That Man!
Jones “Fails” Lie Detector?
Fall of the House of Haggard

Focus on the Family Lies About Proposed Hate Crimes Bill

Focus on the Family is running around with a twisted interpretation of the proposed hate crime legislation before Congress. But before we delve into what they have to say, let’s take a look at what the proposed legislation actually looks like. It’s in legalese, but bear with me. Here’s the text of H.R. 254:

Section 245 of title 18, United States Code, is amended–

(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:

`(c)(1) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person–

`(A) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, or fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

`(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or fined in accordance with this title, or both if–

• `(i) death results from the acts committed in violation of this paragraph; or

• `(ii) the acts committed in violation of this paragraph include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

`(2)(A) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, or an explosive device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability of any person–

`(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, or fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

`(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or fined in accordance with this title, or both, if–

• `(I) death results from the acts committed in violation of this paragraph; or

• `(II) the acts committed in violation of this paragraph include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

`(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the circumstances described in this subparagraph are that–

`(i) in connection with the offense, the defendant or the victim travels in interstate or foreign commerce, uses a facility or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, or engages in any activity affecting interstate or foreign commerce; or

`(ii) the offense is in or affects interstate or foreign commerce.’.

Focus on the Family won’t quote from the proposed bill itself. Instead, they make stuff up by saying things like this:

“We oppose hate-crimes laws because they do not equally protect all Americans as the U.S. Constitution demands,” said Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy for Focus on the Family Action.

Wrong. The proposed legislation protect all Americans, just as the U.S. Constitution demands. It protects everyone regardless of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. That includes white people, evangelical protestants, men, straight people, and able-bodied people. They are protected against violent bias-motivated crimes as well. The FBI reported that in 2005 there were 935 anti-white incidents (including one murder or manslaughter), 58 anti-Protestant incidents, and 23 anti-heterosexual incidents.

And these incidents are all either violent crimes or property crimes. Name-calling and letters to the editor aren’t crimes and aren’t counted. As I noted in Federal Hate Crime Statistics: Why the Numbers Don’t Add Up, there are many reasons to believe that these numbers represent an undercount. In fact, the undercount may be quite substantial since most people assume that hate crime laws only protect the minority. But that’s a problem with poor training and law enforcement, not a problem with the law itself.

And hate crimes protects everyone equally in another way: they protect everyone even if they are perceived to be something they are not. In other words, a straight man can be attacked by someone who simply thinks he’s gay. That’s what happened to National Guardsman Matthew Ashcraft two years ago in Newport, Kentucky:

Steven Ard, 38, of Newport, is accused of attacking Matthew Ashcraft on the evening of June 26, following a dispute outside Woolly’s on Monmouth Street. He is charged with assault and faces up to 20 years in prison.

Ashcraft, who is straight, and two gay friends were heading to the nightspot on June 26 when they saw Woolly’s customer Leon Hughes being harassed outside. When Ashcraft intervened, Ard left, then returned with a baseball bat and beat him, Campbell County prosecutors said.

Focus on the Family continues:

“The job of our law-enforcement agencies and courts is to punish crime, not thoughts. We must seek justice for those who are victims of violence, absolutely, but not by passing a law that tramples Americans’ right to free thought.”

Wrong again. Re-read the proposed legislation. It is all about violence: sexual assault, bodily injury, kidnapping, murder. Nothing in the proposed legislation even comes within five miles of “trampling American’s right to free thought”.

And as for Alan Chambers’ objections, we’ve already dealt with his strawman arguments.

Focus on the Family and Exodus both have tried to derail this bill by acting like Chicken Little, crying that our constitutional sky is falling. It isn’t. But Exodus and Focus may end up with egg on their faces.

Where Does It All Lead?

Non-stop profanity-laced taunts and a torched car. This is what Zack, who has two fathers, experienced at Harper Junior High School in Davis, California:

Harper Junior High School student, Zack, hasn’t been to school in almost a month. He says after years of being teased because his father is gay, one day, it went too far.

Several students were disciplined, from detention to suspension. But Zack’s father says it’s not enough, especially when his son went back to school and was teased again…

To complicate matters, the family’s car was torched in front of their South Davis home in October. While police say there’s no evidence of a hate crime, Zack and his father say they fear what could happen next.

Appropriately enough, Tam K. Dao and colleagues addressed the consequences of adolescent bullying on the psychological well-being of young people in the August 2006 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. They examined 186 middle-school students — students who are approximately Zack’s age — and they were able to confirm the link between persistent experience of aggression (either verbal or physical) and non-specific psychological distress. These researchers note in their discussion that this sort of stress can have serious long-term consequences:

One component of PEV (Past Experience of Victimization) among adolescents is the negative experiences often associated with chronic exposure to victimization. These negative experiences include feelings of greater unhappiness, greater social isolation, and decreased levels of self-esteem. As a result, these negative feelings over time might cause intense physiological reactions, such as posttraumatic stress. It might be that the perception of possibly re-experiencing the event of being victimized by another student leads to feelings of vulnerability and in turn, to depression or other psychosomatic problems.

I imagine that seeing the family car burned in front of your home might have just such an effect.

The problem of bullying is one that many anti-gay activists have dismissed or downplayed. Many have opposed anti-bullying measures which specifically address LGBT-directed taunts, bullying or violence. They complain that efforts to protect LGBT students and others like Zack (and as far as I know, Zach is probably straight — he’s being taunted because of his gay parents), that these efforts somehow infringe on their free-speech or religious-liberty rights. But what about basic Zack’s right to an education? And what about his right to simple safety?

As we learn more about what students like Zack go through, it leaves open the very real question: What would these opponents to anti-bullying measures propose instead? That Zack and his family simply disappear? For some, that may be precisely the answer.

The Priest, the Levite and Focus on the Family

It’s getting hard to keep up with the statistical spins coming out of the Focus on the Family factory lately. They’ve become so productive, I’m beginning to wonder of maybe they’re starting to outsource their work.

Last Thursday, they issued a CitizenLink release claiming that the “FBI finds few sexuality-based hate crimes.” They pretend to examine the FBI’s hate crime statistics and conclude:

Near the bottom of the list? Hate crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation. …

Fifty-five percent of hate crimes were committed because of racial bias, while 17 percent were on religious bias.

“And once again, sexual orientation as a category of hate crimes comes in well behind crimes based on race and religion,” said Caleb H. Price, a gender issues analyst for Focus on the Family. “The problem is, when gay activists come to the table to play their victim card — they are bluffing. The card isn’t even in their hand.”

Bottom of the list? Out of five categories, hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation came in third. Where I learned to count, that would place sexual orientation square in the middle of the list.

I have constantly preached that when it comes to statistics, nobody should take anyone’s word for anything. And since the FBI’s Hate Crime Statistics are very conveniently posted on their web site, I invite you to have a look at Table 4, where they present offense types by hate crime motivation. (You can also download the Excel file so you can do your own math.)

Overall, the break down of hate crime statistics by bias motivation goes like this:

As you can see, sexual orientation trails religion by a mere two percentage points — that’s a funny definition for “well behind” crimes for religion.

Now let’s look further at the FBI’s Table 4. This table breaks down hate crimes according to different types of personal crimes and crimes against property. And when you look at who is at the greatest risk of personal crimes — assaults, rape, bullying, etc. — the trend is considerably more disturbing:

So according to official statistics, when gays, lesbians and bisexuals are singled out for hate crimes, they are are more likely to to suffer from personal attacks than any other group except Ethnicity/National Origin. And sexual orientation accounts for the second largest category for personal attacks behind race. That’s hardly “near the bottom of the list.”

Anti-gay activists often claim that many hate crime allegations are nothing more than name-calling. Since the intimidation category is so poorly defined, let’s take that away from the statistics. This leaves only the truly violent crimes:

Now we can clearly see that when gays, lesbians and bisexuals are victims of hate crimes, they are far more likely to be victimized by serious acts of violence than any other group besides the disabled. And sexual orientation is still firmly in the number two spot behind race.

When gays are singled out for hate crime attacks, the attacks are more likely to be personal and violent, and less likely to involve property crimes. This may explain why gays are more likely to suffer from depression, anger, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress when they become hate crime victims.

This makes Focus on the Family’s callous dismissal of this suffering especially inexcusable. Instead of trying to deny that a very serious problem exists, it would be better if they would instead join all of us to find a solution.

But like the priest and the Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan, they don’t want you to see the suffering of the stranger on the side of the road. Their acting in the role of the Levite and the priest instead the Samaritan speaks volumes about the values at Focus in the Family.

2005 Hate Crime Statistics

The FBI just released the Federal Hate Crime Statistics for 2005. Overall, the report shows some good trends.

There were 7,170 total hate crime incidents in 2005, which is down about 6% from 2004’s 7,649 hate crime incidents. For hate crimes based on sexual orientation, there were 1,018 hate crime incidents in 2005, which is down about 15% from the previous year’s 1,198 hate crime incidents motivated by sexual orientation. As I noted in my report, When Words Have Consequences, some of the harsh rhetoric surrounding the Federal Marriage Amendment and various state ballot initiatives may have raised the number of hate crimes against gays and lesbians during that contentious political year. If these numbers are to be believed, then perhaps 2005 represents a welcome cooling off period.

While this year’s statistics are encouraging, it should be noted that they are not comprehensive. Many jurisdictions refuse to participate in the hate crime reporting system. This omission can be critical. Barely 10% of Alabama’s population is covered by these statistics; Georgia improves slightly to 21% coverage (up from 18% in 2004), Mississippi falls to 30% coverage (from 35%) and Illinois holds stead at 40% coverage. With Hawaii’s continuing refusal to participate, this rounds out the bottom five states in hate crime reporting participation. Meanwhile, nine states and the District of Columbia are in the 100% club, and participating law enforcement agencies in seventeen states bring those states’ coverages to 95% or greater.

But what’s even more startling is this: none of the hate crimes in New York City or Phoenix were reported. Other notable no-shows include Louisville, Buffalo, Charleston, S.C., and surprisingly, Santa Fe, N.M. (where James Maestas was beaten). As I demonstrate in Federal Hate Crime Statistics: Why The Numbers Don’t Add Up, this uneven participation can very easily underestimate the scope of hate crimes against gays and lesbians. This also means that some very high-profile cases like the James Maestas beating in 2005 or Daniel Fetty’s murder in 2004 can go uncounted altogether.

One final note: In a demonstration that hate crime protections are not special protections for minority groups, the FBI reports that there were 828 anti-white, 57 anti-Protestant, and 21 anti-heterosexual hate crime incidents in 2005. This provides further proof that anybody can be a victim of a criminal act of intimidation based on race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or disability.

Richard J. Heakin (1954-1975)

Our local afternoon paper, the tiny but intrepid Tucson Citizen ran a great article yesterday about Richard J. Heakin, Jr., a gay man who was visiting Tucson from Nebraska. In June 6, 1975, the 21-year-old was attacked and killed by four teenagers while leaving a local bar near downtown.

Outraged that the 15- to 17-year-old killers received only probation for what was termed a hate crime, Tucson pressed for change and introduced anti-discrimination laws, new organizations and pride events celebrating the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

Then a Tucson committee decided on a memorial and tried to reach the Heakin family. But a dishonest friend supposedly said they wanted nothing to do with it, the family later learned.

The family remained in the dark about the impact Richard’s death had in Tucson. It led to Tucson becoming one of the first communities in the nation to pass anti-discrimination laws based on sexual orientation a few months after his death. It also led to the establishment of Wingspan, one of the largest LGBT community centers in the country for a city our size. (Tucsonans like to point out that Phoenix doesn’t even have one.) And every year, on June 6, Richard’s death is remembered with a gathering at the Richard Heakin Memorial in Tucson’s Presidio Park.

And now, thanks to the Internet, Richard’s family has learned about the great impact his death has had in our community. His niece tapped his name into a search engine, and a whole world opened up for her and her family.

Heather Ryan typed into an Internet search engine the name of an uncle four teens beat to death in Tucson and discovered a world unknown to the family…

While Lori Ryan, Heakin’s sister, was at bingo, her daughter spent the night at their Missouri home tracking down e-mail addresses that resulted in a phone number exchange, which led to a talk with Rowan Frost, one among the group that tried to reach the family years ago.

“We probably still would not have known if she hadn’t . . . gone on the Net,” Ryan, 49, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “Making that phone call made all the difference.”

So came the tender and thrilling moment when Ryan received a mass of newspaper clippings about various events commemorating her brother. She booked a flight to Tucson so she could get to know the city that has spent decades keeping his name alive.

Tucson’s main morning newspaper, The Arizona Daily Star followed up with another story in Ernesto Portillo, Jr.’s column:

She wasn’t emotional as she walked up to the shaded memorial bearing her dead brother’s name Thursday, but Lori Ryan seemed tentative nonetheless.

It was understandable.

It was the first time Ryan or anyone from her Nebraska family had been to Downtown’s Presidio Park to see the 4-year-old plaque bearing the name of her older brother, Richard J. Heakin Jr., a victim of hate and intolerance….

“I never realized his death made such a difference,” said Ryan, 49, several hours after her plane landed at the airport. “It’s incredible to know that people who didn’t know him went through all this.”

Most gay communities celebrate Pride during June to commemorate the Stonewall riots. But Tucson waits until October, when the temperature will more reliably remain below 100. This year’s Pride is this weekend and Richard Heakin’s family will be in attendance. The original grand marshal of the parade even stepped aside so Lori Ryan could have the honor.

Kahlil Gilbran once wrote, “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” Some of our greatest advancements are born through terrible loss. Richard Heakin’s senseless death more than thirty years ago brought about a great transformation in a small city in the desert. This weekend, we will celebrate our pride in ourselves and in our community’s transformation. And we will remember the suffering.

How Hate Crime Laws Can Protect Everyone

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.

The Cypress Project

Yesterday, I wrote about the apparent exodus of gays and lesbians from Virginia. Fortunately, there is a flip side to that story.

The Washington Post published an article about the shocking vandalism to Heyward Drummond and John Ellis’s home in Aldie, Virginia. More than 170 trees and boxwoods were either ripped out of the ground or cut down, the word “FAG” was spraypainted on the driveway, mailbox, fence, and on the street in front of their home, and gasoline was poured on the lawn in a trail leading up to the front door.

A local gay-rights activist noted that the intended message behind this vandalism was clear: Get out! And many are heeding that warning. But others, including Heyward Drummond and John Ellis have another message: “I live here, and I’m out and I don’t believe in hiding.”

A local group has formed to offer a similar response:

We believe that the best way to respond to such a hateful act is to transform it into its opposite: a project that brings a broken community together and leaves it stronger than it was before.

The Cypress Project was formed to bring the community together,”in the restoration of not only Heyward and John’s property, but their sense of safety as well.” On Saturday, October 14, 2006, they will work to help Heyward and John replace the trees that were cut down.

I think this is a wonderful idea. And once those trees are restored, I hope the Cypress Project doesn’t go away. It seems that with the rising tide of violence and vandalism that often comes with gay marriage debates, their work will be needed all the more.

When the Soulforce Equality Ride stopped at Lee University, a Pentecostal school in Cleveland, Tennessee, their bus was vandalized with anti-gay graffiti. Several students from the university came by to offer consolation and to help clean up the damage. Alexey Bulokhov, a rider, observed, “The act of defacing our bus was a symbolic gesture by some Cleveland residents. So was the act of others volunteering to clean it up.”

The Cypress project can be a similar opportunity for everyone, regardless of personal political or religious perspectives, to come together and say no to hate.