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 lobbyAugust 22nd, 2011
A nineteen-year-old youth died Sunday afternoon following an attack and severe beating early Friday morning. Marcellus Richard Andrews was officially pronounced dead after life support was removed at an Iowa City Hospital.
According to friends, it all began when Andrews was at a friend’s house late Thursday night:
She said the problems started at about 12:45 a.m. Friday when she and Tudia Simpson, her cousin, went for a walk down the street. Andrews opted to stay behind, waiting on the enclosed porch, she said.
The two women hadn’t made it as far as Adams Street a block away when they heard yelling back at the house. They ran back and found a truck stopped in the street, and the occupants were taunting Andrews, calling him “faggot” and “Mercedes,” a feminization of his first name, Simpson said.
The arguing and name calling continued, said Simpson, who admitted throwing the first punch, striking a girl.
“She kept saying it, and I hit her,” Simpson said.
At one point in the ensuing melee, Andrews fell to the ground. Simpson tried to help him up but another male kicked him in the face. She tried to help him back up again after the fight ended, but he wasn’t able to get up. Another girl called 911. When paramedics arrived, they found Andrews with severe head trauma and had him flown to Iowa City for treatment.
Police are investigating. No arrests have been made.
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JesterKatz
August 22nd, 2011
Times like this I think we should show this story to people like Tony Perkins, or Maggie Gallagher, why beating the shit out of a kid like this, to death no less, all because he had attraction to guys, is considered to be human, American, and “thinking of the children.”
And while we’re at it, I think we should also ask these people whether this is the future they have in mind for said children.
Demo
August 22nd, 2011
So tragic…
Val Kalende
August 23rd, 2011
Isn’t this world big enough to accommodate us all?
marc adams
August 23rd, 2011
This is why HeartStrong’s Youth Empowerment Project exists!
Tanukisan
August 23rd, 2011
JesterKatz; I’m afraid the Tony Perkins’ and Maggie Gallaghers of this world would just mouth some platitudes about how “tragic” it was that this young man died and then spout off about how his “lifestyle choices” had probably contributed to it. They are so divorced from human compassion that I doubt they would feel it for anyone; not even themselves. They’re so sick they don’t even recognise it as sickness.
David
August 23rd, 2011
Are people so threatened by the fact that love is love no matter who you are in love with or attracted to that they resort to hatred and killing?
John in MN
August 23rd, 2011
And people like Maggie Gallagher say gay people are not persecuted??? Maybe she needs to learn how to read.
Chuck Farley
August 23rd, 2011
I’m sure the people who were responsible for this senseless beating believed they were doing Gods work.
Erin
August 23rd, 2011
As a teen, I was often angry at others to the point I wanted to fight, probably because I was taunted for my sexuality myself. But if I ever knocked someone to the ground, I would never never never kick anyone in the face while they were down. I would know, even as a young teen that such a violent blow could cause severe trauma. This is a reckless disregard for human life, just as we saw in the video of the transgender woman who was beaten in the McDonalds. Not only is it a cowardly cheap shot, any idiot must know the damage it can cause. This has gone beyond anti-gay animus and into the world of psychopathy.
Regan DuCasse
August 24th, 2011
Anyone who doesn’t think this isn’t right up there with the mob mentality of Jim Crow, and casual anti black violence is stuck on stupid. Some of our detractors are old enough to remember that time. Hell, I am and I’m not THAT old!
One CAN compare the fact that devaluing human life with propaganda so constant and present, with direct connections to street violence like this.
We CAN compare the systemic injustice and discrimination of that towards other groups in the past.
I keep saying I’m not comparing attributes, but the injustices that are the same.
That keep a vulnerable minority FROM being self reliant, contributing and responsible and all the protections that go with being so.
It’s one thing to be a minority that inherently couldn’t do it, as opposed to one that would but for discrimination.
And the moral implications of that are clear, but not to the very people who claim moral clarity.
Gay males especially cannot make casual contact with anyone, without risking violence on themselves just like this. Even straight males are at risk as well.
That bright Jim Crow line is STILL there for gay people and I’m outraged by those who want to keep it there at all.
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