Lez Keep It Real

This time next year, the 2008 election will be in full swing and we’ll all be weighing the final pros and cons of the candidates in order to make our selection for the next President of the United States.

Considering the past eight years, you’d think I’d be excited about the prospect of change. You’d think I’d feel encouraged and optimistic about the next administration to take control of the White House and guide us out of the mess our country has become. You’d think I’d be happy to have anyone but Bush addressing the country via satellite, knowing embarrassing verbal blunders will be a thing of the past.

You’d think … but I’m not. I’m not at all encouraged. I’m not at all optimistic. And I’m not at all reassured. What I am is apathetic. And here’s why.

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Being gay isn’t the easiest thing in the world. It’s confusing and tormenting, yet at the same time it’s both beautiful and wonderful. It’s a mixture of things really, a blender filled with endless thoughts and emotions all thrown together to form one, whole individual. That’s the best way I can describe it.

As hard as being gay is sometimes, or was since it really hasn’t been hard for me lately, I know that it wasn’t as close or as hard I guess, to being transgender.

I’ve always been enamored with the transgender aspect. For a time being, I thought I wanted to be a boy. I remember even pretending that I was a boy to other kids I met in the neighborhood who didn’t know any better. I, and don’t ever repeat this, even stood up in front of the toilet to try and pee like a boy! I don’t know why, all I know is that I wanted to be one. It could be because I had two brothers and no sisters, so that’s all I knew. Or it could be the fact that all of my friends were boys because the neighborhood I grew up in lacked other girls for me to play with. Whatever it was, I eventually grew out of it.

My attraction to girls never wained, but as I grew older I began to appreciate my body. There was nothing inside of me that yearned to be the opposite sex, other than the simple fact that I liked to wears boy’s clothing more than the frilly girl’s clothing. There was no longing to have a different anatomy either, I was perfectly content with my breasts and vagina. The penis frightened me actually. What would I want with that thing?

Growing up and finally becoming comfortable in my own skin, I realized that I was a lesbian. But the wonderment and intrigue into transgender issues always captivated me.

I thought, imagine being trapped in the wrong body? Imagine having to deal with that concept. What if I hadn’t grown “out of” wanting to be a boy? What would I have done? How would I have handled it?

The fact is that I have more respect for trangender people that I do for most. They are brave, they are beautiful and yes, they have it harder than I could ever imagine. So why do they keep getting the short end of the stick?
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I listen to podcasts at work sometimes. A friend of mine told me to listen to one in particular this morning. It was a discussion on NPR about the ethics of outing. Meaning, is it right to out someone for political or personal agendas?

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I stumbled upon this well-written “our view” editorial from the Idaho Statesmen, Idaho’s #1 website for news and information, this morning. For those of you who don’t know, Sen. Craig pulled a George Michael-esque stunt in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. This editorial puts Craig on the hot seat and asks, “What the heck was really going on?”
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I touched on the democratic forum that was held on LOGO yesterday, and while I still am not ready to endorse any candidate just yet, I thought I’d stay on topic and highlight one of the most awkward moments of the evening.

For those of you who didn’t have an opportunity to catch the ground-breaking event, I hope that you will see it on a rerun because it is so very important and a key piece to the upcoming Presidential election. The panel of inquisitors consisted of Melissa Etheridge, Johnathan Capehart (from the Washington Post) and Joe Solmonese from the Human Rights Campaign. Bloomberg News columnist Margaret Carlson mediated. Every question was phrased appropriately and obviously researched for each particular candidate. However, there was one question in particular (posed by the raspy “Yes, I am” singer”) that made me feel uncomfortable even though I was sitting thousands of miles away on my worn-in couch, with my feet up, and a nice glass of red wine in my hand - I still felt the need to shift my body.

Before she asked any of her questions, Melissa was courteous, almost over complimentary, self-depreciating and at times, even innocently cute when introducing herself or speaking candidly with each candidate.

But, with Gov. Bill Richardson, Melissa wasted no time with small talk. Johnathan Capeheart captured the “Oh, no he didn’t moment” brilliantly while also touching on some key points in giving us an overall assessment of the forum itself.

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I’m all about giving props to people who I feel deserve a nice, sound pat on the back for a job well done. John Corvino, a columnist for 365gay.com and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, wrote a column about Hairspray, not the aluminum can but the movie, and examined the relationship between race and homosexuality. It was such a well-written and extremely thought-provoking piece that I wanted to share it with the Lez Keep it Real audience.

When I was in junior high I used to sit at the “black” lunch table in the cafeteria, much to the shock (and occasional ridicule) of my white schoolmates. The seating was not officially segregated, but with rare exceptions African-Americans sat together, and I sat with them.

It wasn’t a grand political statement or a conscious act of solidarity or anything high-minded. On the contrary, it was a reluctant acknowledgment of my outsider status. While members of the white, mostly affluent student majority called me a “fag,” the black students were nice to me, and I felt more comfortable around them.

Some years later I started going to the gay beaches on Fire Island, where I noticed a number of interracial straight couples. Interestingly, the “straight” part stuck out more than the “interracial” part—which, I later learned, was their main reason for choosing the gay beach. “We get a lot of flak at the straight beaches,” they told me. “But gays are cool about it.” Fellow outsiders, once again.

I thought about both of these events recently as I watched the movie Hairspray, the 2007 incarnation of the 1988 John Waters film (later a Broadway musical). One of the film’s most poignant moments occurs when Penny , a working-class white girl, and Seaweed, a black male, reveal their relationship to Seaweed’s mom, Motormouth Mabelle (played by Queen Latifah).

“Well, love is a gift,” Mabelle responds. “A lot of people don’t remember that. So, you two better brace yourselves for a whole lotta ugly comin’ at you from a never-ending parade of stupid.”

Many have speculated about whether and how Hairspray counts as a “gay” movie. Of course, there’s the John Waters provenance, the drag lead character (originated by Divine and played on Broadway by Harvey Fierstein), and the inherent campiness of movie musicals. But the most profound connection lies in its message of acceptance: Hairspray celebrates forbidden love in the face of “a never-ending parade of stupid.” It’s a theme gays know well.

Gay-rights opponents often object to comparisons between the civil-rights movement and the gay-rights movement. Race, they say, is an immutable, non-behavioral characteristic, whereas homosexuality involves chosen behaviors; thus it’s wrong (even insulting) to compare the two.

Even putting aside the fact that “civil rights” are something we’re all fighting for—equal treatment under the law—this objection flounders. It misunderstands the nature of racism, the nature of homophobia, and the point of the analogy between the two.

Although race is in some sense “an immutable, non-behavioral characteristic,” racism is all about chosen behaviors. The racist doesn’t simply object to people’s skin color: he objects to their moving into “our” neighborhoods, marrying “our” daughters, attacking “our” values and so on. In other words, he objects to behaviors, both real and imagined. What’s more, discriminating on the basis of race is most certainly chosen behavior. Calling race “non-behavioral” misses that important fact.

At the same time, calling homosexuality “behavioral” misses quite a bit as well. Yes, homosexuality (like heterosexuality) is expressed in behaviors, and some of those behaviors offend people. But one need not be sexually active to be kicked out of the house, fired from a job, or verbally or physically abused for being gay. Merely being perceived as gay (without any homosexual “behavior”) is enough to trigger the abuse.

Even where chosen behaviors trigger the abuse, it doesn’t follow that they warrant the abuse—any more than blacks’ choosing to marry whites (and vice versa) warrants abuse. So the insistence that race is immutable whereas homosexuality is behavioral, even if it were accurate, misses the point. Gays, like blacks, face unjust discrimination, often in the name of religion, that interferes with some of the most intimate aspects of their lives. Hence the analogy.

I’m not denying that there are important differences between race and sexual orientation (or between racism and heterosexism). Gays and lesbians do not face the cumulative generational effects of discrimination the way ethnic minorities do, and we have nothing in our history comparable to slavery or Jim Crow. On the other hand, no one is kicked out of the house because his biological parents figured out that he’s black. There are plusses and minuses to the lack of generational continuity (as well as the other differences)—and little point in arguing over who’s worse off.

Early in Hairspray, the young lead character announces, “People who are different—their time is coming.” We “different” people have much to learn from one another, as the never-ending parade of stupid marches on. ~365gay.com

Coincidentally enough, I just saw Hairspray last week and loved every musical minute of it. John Travolta was … um, quite scary, Amanda Bynes was incredible cute and hilarious, Zack Effron was perfect, and James Marsden was surprising. But, my favorite performance was given by the Queen herself, Latifa. And my favorite line of the movie came straight from her character’s motormouth.

“Well, love is a gift. A lot of people don’t remember that. So, you two better brace yourselves for a whole lotta ugly comin’ at you from a never-ending parade of stupid.”

hairspray, queen latifa, motormouth mabelle, 365gay.com, john corvino, zach effron, amanda bynes, james marsden, john travolta

CHARLESTON, South Carolina — Democratic presidential candidates faced questions directly from voters on Monday in the first CNN/YouTube debate.Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Gov. Bill Richardson listen to a YouTuber’s question.

The lights and cameras were focused on the eight candidates, but it was the personal, heartfelt and, at times, comical nature of the user questions that stole the spotlight.

Questions included one from a father who lost a son in Iraq and wondered if he would lose another, a gay couple asking why they shouldn’t be allowed to marry and a woman stricken with breast cancer who asked if her chance of survival would be better if she had health insurance.

In all, 39 questions were asked from the 3,000 submissions YouTube said it received.

Most observers agreed that none of the candidates debating at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, particularly outshined their rivals, doing nothing to challenge Sen. Hillary Clinton’s position as the Democratic race’s front-runner. ~ CNN.com

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The lead-off question was posed by a voter name Zach who, upon approaching the mic, said simply, “Wassup?” Then, “Can you as politicians … actually answer questions rather than beat around the Bush?”

My assumption is that the pun was fully intended.

The answer of course, was yes. As the debate went on, a slew of rather blunt and colloquial questions were asked. Each candidate answered candidly to questions such as, “Are you feminine enough,” “Are you black enough,” and my personal favorite, “How are you going to do be any different [than the current administration]?”

That’s exactly what I wanted to know.

I’m not a democrat. I’m not a republican. But I am a citizen of this country whose vote counts just as much. For me, it doesn’t come down to party affiliation. It comes down to who I think would be the best person for the job, and who I think would make choices and decisions based on what was best for the people of this country and not based on their own religious doctrine, party affiliation, the fattening of their pockets or their own political agenda.

I’m a pretty positive person, but I must admit that I’m not too optimistic about the current direction our government is going. Like the rest of the people in this country who have become numb to politics do to the consistent appalling, scandalous and self-righteous acts of our President and other government officials, I need to see some kind of change for the better. I need to see less talk and more action. I can’t just go on the word of Obama or the promises of Hillary. I need to see it to believe it folks. And until I do, I can only take their words at face value.

Here’s a clip from the debate that includes the question of gay marriage. If you missed it – take a gander. It’s worth it.

cnn, cnn.com, democratic debate, hillary clinton, barack obama, john edwards, bill richardson, you tube debate

There were two things I wanted to tackle with my pen today (or keyboard as the case may be) and I couldn’t decide which topic tickled my fancy more. So, I decided to comment on both.

First, CNN. I rarely check the top news media sites such as CNN or Fox unless I’m insanely bored or there’s a certain event occurring that I need to gain a little more insight about. Otherwise, I think both media outlets have gone a little awry. However! What I happened upon while perusing CNN’s website made me say, “Hey, look at this! Go CNN!”

CNN has a feature called I-Report, where they explore a certain topic or issue as a special report. The thing that made me say, “Neato!” though, was the fact that they often use the public eye as the source of information. Hence the clever name, I-Report.

The I-Report that interested me the most was the one called, “Fighting for Acceptance”

The feature focuses on the GLBT community, highlighting coming out stories, pictures and e-mails, polls, articles and video clips about gay and lesbian life. The brilliant producers of this special I-Report even break down the major issues concerning the GLBT community. which will most certainly weigh heavily in the upcoming election.

CNN –

THE ISSUES

Job discrimination:
While a growing number of companies in the United States provide benefits and protections for their LGBT employees, it is still legal in 33 states for an employer to fire employees based on their sexual orientation, according to the Human Rights Campaign, and legal in 42 states to do so based on gender identity. Several members of Congress in April introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007, the latest version of some three decades of federal legislative efforts to address the issue, none successful.

Hate crimes:
There have been more than 113,000 hate crimes since 1991, according to the F.B.I., which says that 14 percent of them were motivated by a bias against sexual orientation. The House of Representatives voted in May to add gender, sexual orientation, and disability to the categories already covered by federal hate crimes law. President George W. Bush has promised to veto.

Military service:
In the two recent CNN-sponsored debates, all eight Democratic presidential contenders indicated they wanted to change the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy so that gays and lesbians could serve openly in the military; all 10 Republican contenders said they did not.

I would just like to personally give CNN a pat on the back for doing something that most other media outlets would be afraid to touch. Could you imagine a feature like this on Fox News? I doubt it. The heads over there would rather focus on big, scary lesbian gangs and fostering the fear of homosexuality in as many middle Americans as they can. I have never, ever (and I do watch both CNN and Fox News from time to time so that I can have an unbiased view of the same news report being one station leans more liberal while the other leans more conservative) seen one single news broadcast on Fox that shows a homosexual or a homosexual organization in a positive light.

I was so impressed with CNN that I even participated in the I-Report feature by sending in a photo of my own. It’s up on their website, let me know if you find it!

For more on CNN’s I-Report, go here.

Second, Rosie O.

I admit it. I check Rosie’s blog. I find her amusing, smart, courageous, overbearing, clever, risky, and sometimes sad. The thing is that she is real. Even when she’s saying stuff that most of us would put a foot in our mouths before we ever got it out, she’s being real. Whether I agree with her or not, I admire her spirit. I wanted to share with you all a little haiku she wrote about the President’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s jail sentence.

When I found out that good, ol’ G-Dub decided to spare his comrade, I almost puked. I think that Rosie sums it up pretty well here:

PARDON ME

only commutation
of obstruction of justice sentence
by a president
ever

so basically
they can do whatever they want
blatant disregard
for everything our country is about

cheney is an evil man
baby bush a horror

armitage takes the fall
thinking it would end it all
scare the truth away
out the wife

but then fitzy showed up

holy shit
what to do about patrick
ask libby
he’ll do anything

dick says do it
i will get u out
scooter says ok
guilty

and like cheney promised
ka boom
libby is free
lil georgie said he can go

that smug smirk
privileged pampered fool
this is like a bad movie
really pathetic

THE GUYS IN CHARGE R CRIMINALS
IMPEACH CHENEY THEN BUSH
ASAP

In the words of Forest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about thaaatt.”

cnn, rosie, i-report, gay issues, scooter libby, president’s commutation, impeach cheney, forest gump, fighting for acceptance

My father loves Bill O’Reilly. Hey, we all have our flaws.

Seriously though, I don’t mind O’Reilly that much. He doesn’t affect me because I don’t watch him nor do I really care about what he has to say on a daily basis. I don’t blindly judge him either, as some people do who have never even watched his show. I have watched it before, and therefore can make an honest, balanced assessment of him. I think that sometimes he makes some good points and other times he’s talking out of his ass. To me he’s like an old I Love Lucy rerun. If absolutely nothing else is on and it’s a pretty good episode, I’ll watch it, which happens maybe once a year. Otherwise, I could care less if I miss it.

Last weekend my father was visiting and stayed with my girlfriend and I. My father and I ended up relaxing on the couch after a happy hour stint at his favorite hang out, and of course he wanted to catch O’Reilly. So, I humored him. It just so happened to be the episode in which the king of the “no spin zone” brought up the topic of lesbian gangs. (Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?) I watched it thinking … huh? Is this for real?

Then I thought, no wonder a lot of conservatives have poor or stereotypical prejudices about gay people. This is what they see on the news. This is what is shown to them. Forget the mainstream gays who make up most of the gay and lesbian population like myself, who live a relatively boring and simple life. No, the media wants middle America to see the 1 percent of the gay population that are apart of lesbian gangs, wear leather chaps at gay pride festivals and make a living in the gay porn industry.

This is what aggravates me the most. I think that there wouldn’t be all these preconceived notions about gay and lesbian people if more people like me were visible. But, I’ve gone off on a little tangent here. Let’s get back to the task at hand - regarding lesbian gangs.

Unfortunately, gangs like this do exist. But it isn’t as widespread as O’Reilly or the media wants us to believe. This isn’t a rising epidemic. Gangs and groups such as this have been around for ages.

I never touched upon the subject of lesbian gangs because: A. I thought it was ridiculous and there were plenty of other important things to write about. And B., so many other GLTB blogs did a pretty good job of analyzing it anyway.

This isn’t a recent issue, either. I stumbled upon a gay conservative blogger that had written about gay and lesbian gangs in August of last year.

The writer makes a solid point, being that a group of lesbians beating up a straight guy could be seen as a hate crime as well. What it comes down to, basically, is that violence doesn’t solve a damn thing - from either side of the coin.

By now you might be wondering, so what’s the deal with lesbian gangs? Are they a real threat or just a right-wing spin on a few isolated incidents?

Well, as far as being a real threat - that’s just silly. Going to war with Iran, that’s a real threat. This is just a group of gay individuals using violence as an outlet and the gang atmosphere to feel a part of something, to belong. Are lesbian gangs as widespread as the vicious gangs of Compton, LA? Hardly.

As for being right-wing spin, I don’t think there’s a conspiracy going on here either. News is news, and when something like a physical beating of an individual by a group of lesbians comes into the spotlight, the news is going to want to report on it. Where I think O’Reilly went overboard however, is having a so-called criminal analyst on his show to embelish the incident and cast a shadow of fear in the hearts of the 40 to 60-age middle Americans that make up most of his audience.

Here’s the news segment:

What I would prefer to see as a “back of the book” segment, is a report on a gay or lesbian group or individual that is making a positive impact in society. There are plenty of them out there doing wonderful things day in and day out. Yet, middle America doesn’t hear about them. Instead, they are being spoon fed fear in the form of such reports as “lesbian gangs” and “perverted pride events.”

Thankfully, my father has a real live lesbian daughter who’s relatively laid back, moderate in her political views, and has a keen sense of humor to form a solid opinion from. Otherwise, he’d have to form his opinion from the likes of O’Reilly and Ann Coulter.

Is it any wonder that gay and lesbian stereotypes, prejudice and hate crimes still exist?

lesbian gangs, bill oreilly, prejudice, hate crime

Lee Quillian took hold of the zipper that had become her tongue and unzipped her mouth, letting loose the long-held secret that she was not only gay, but a decorated Navy officer. After serving 20 years under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, Quillian courageously and proudly told her story of silence to over 100 members of Congress.

The Advocate -

“I didn’t want to lie about my life, but I didn’t broadcast,” Quillian told The Advocate Wednesday in a phone interview. “I had to be quiet about the people I was spending my time with back home.”

Invited by Massachusetts Representative Marty Meehan and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, Quillian, with three other service members, discussed with members of both houses of Congress the implications of being a gay service member under the military’s ban on openly gay service personnel.

While in the Navy, Quillian earned two commendation medals and four achievement medals and performed missile interception operations at the beginning of the Iraq war.

Her longtime partner, whom she met in the Navy, was discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Quillian has spent a lot of time educating her colleagues, and now members of Congress, about the policy and its enforcement.

“There is a misunderstanding about the policy, about how it is interpreted,” she said.

Representative Meehan’s bill to repeal “don’t ask” currently has 125 Democratic and Republican cosponsors in the House. At least 218 House votes are needed to pass the bill.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network director of communications Steve Ralls said that the Senate could have a matching bill by the end of the year.

A House hearing focusing on dismissed lesbian and gay Arabic-speaking linguists has been requested. Committee chair Ike Skelton has not yet granted that hearing.

“Educating key decision makers in Congress is essential to continuing to build momentum for repeal, and this week’s briefing went a long way in doing just that,” Ralls said.

“The voices of those who have served are the most effective way to garner support, and the four veterans present on Tuesday helped immeasurably in moving our cause forward.”

Asked if she thought “don’t ask, don’t tell” will be repealed, Quillian said, “I feel that it could be. Maybe not within this current administration, but repealing it has to start within the ranks.”

While I do agree with the banning of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” I wonder if it would lessen the acts of violence and discrimination on gays in the military by other servicemen. Maybe the government needs to take it a step further and offer diversity courses as part of the required military training regiment. Unfortunately, being out in the open in a military environment might possibly attract even more acts of discrimination.

What do you think?

gay military, gay navy officer don’t ask, don’t tell, hillary clinton, lee quillian, discrimination, banning don’t ask don’t tell, the advocate, marty meehan

Excuse my ignorance, but I thought that our forefathers built this
nation on one sound principal, paving the way for future governing bodies to abide by in order to maintain a sense of balance and unbiased decision making. I thought that separation of church and state was still a known and active governing rule. My bad.

It seems that now more than ever, the whole idea of separation of church and state is falling by the wayside. Even on the Democratic side of things, 2008 candidates are being pressed about their religions beliefs. If separation of church and state really mattered, then why would people care if Hillary’s (now portraying herself as a martyr) faith in God got her through her marital strife? They wouldn’t wonder if Barack Obama practiced Muslim or that Mitt Romney was a Mormon.

But people do care. Otherwise it wouldn’t be all over the news.

Gay.com - The personal faith of candidates has become a very public part of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Seven years after George W. Bush won the presidency in part with a direct appeal to conservative religious voters — he cited Jesus Christ as his favorite philosopher during one debate — it seems all the leading presidential candidates are discussing their religious and moral beliefs, even when they’d rather not.

Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have hired strategists to focus on reaching religious voters. Obama’s campaign holds a weekly conference call with key supporters in early primary and caucus states whose role is to spread the candidate’s message to religious leaders and opinionmakers and report their concerns to the campaign.

Democrats in general are targeting moderate Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants and even evangelicals, hoping to enlist enough voters for whom religious and moral issues are a priority to put together a winning coalition.

Next week, Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards are scheduled to address liberal evangelicals at a forum on “faith, values and poverty.” READ MORE

Liberal evangelicals? Isn’t that an oxymoron? I digress. The point is this - the equality issues facing the gay community, issues that are influenced, determined and set forth as policy and/or into law by our government (i.e. gay marriage, gays in the military) are directly affected by elected officials who let their religious beliefs play more of a role in their political decision making.

As part of the homosexual population, and well-aware of how some religions abhor the very life I lead, I’m a tad bit concerned about the the influence of religion on the 2008 campaign which carries a wealth of weighty implications.

Separation of church AND state. What’s next to go? All men are created equal?

At least the Democratic candidates oppose “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
What’s that pearl of wisdom Hillary shared with us the other day … “You don’t have to be straight, to shoot straight.”
Personally, I think that should be the new slogan for Army.com

democratic campaign, 2008 campaign, separation of church and state, religious implications, barack obama, hillary clinton, mitt romney, john edwards, don’t ask don’t tell, george w. bush, gay marriage, gays in the military

In light of the post I wrote yesterday and the amount of responses and attention it garnered, I thought that today I would do a bit of a follow up post – not so much on Erin and her “fag bug” but on the crime committed against her itself. Or should I say, “hate crime.”

There were many people who commented yesterday (not below but on other sites) about the term “hate crime” and what it meant or what it claimed to mean.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to revisit this term and define it properly.

According to the dictionary, a hate crime can be defined as a “crime, usually violent, motivated by prejudice or intolerance toward a member of a gender, racial, religious or social group.”

What happened to Erin’s car was definitely a crime, as her car was vandalized. What made it a hate crime is the fact that there were homophobic slurs used. Had someone simply written “u suck” or “dumb ass” on the car, it would have been different. But the culprit, or culprits as the case may be, made a point to attack Erin’s sexual orientation and to demean her for it.

The motivation behind it came from hate – hate for homosexuality and for her lifestyle. The fact that something as simple as a rainbow sticker can incite such behavior boggles my mind. I see plenty of bumpers with slogans that I abhor but as much as they bother me, I wouldn’t go buy a can of spray paint and vandalize their car because of it. People have a right to express themselves, and to have pride in who they are whether that be through race, religion, sexuality, etc.

Current legislation allows federal prosecution of a hate crime only if the crime was motivated by race, religion, national origin, or color. In addition, the assailant must intend to prevent the victim from exercising a federally protected right. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999, passed by the Senate in July 1999, seeks to expand federal jurisdiction over these crimes.

Some people think that a crime is a crime period. But would you say that getting arrested for drunk driving is the same thing as seeking out someone on the street because they looked differently from you, beating them senseless and leaving them for dead?

I’ve been asked, “What makes a crime any worse that say if I murdered someone for money or murdered him or her because they were gay?”

First, it doesn’t matter either way for the victim because both situations are horrible. With that being said, the difference to me is the motivation behind the crime. Targeting someone simply because you hate their lifestyle, race, religious beliefs or what not is extremely upsetting to me. When a person commits a crimes based on hating someone, they are saying, “You are lower than me. You do not have a right to walk the streets I walk or share the same air as me. You are below me.” What gives any person the right to judge someone in that matter? Don’t we all come from the same pool of life? When someone is born a different color, does that make him or her less of a person? When someone is born gay (yes, I believe we are born this way) does that make him or her less of a person? What’s worse … does that make them deserving of an attack of some kind, physical or otherwise?

In today’s society, the way we define or phrase things is tricky. You can easily find yourself stepping on toes or stumbling over your words by accident. And when talking about hate crimes, you are often treading a fine line. I agree with the fact that crimes, all crimes that is, are inexcusable. But, and maybe this is because I am gay and know what it is liked to be looked at differently because of something that I am unable to control or change, I think that any crime committed out of hate is unforgivable.

I leave you with the following examples of a hate crime and I ask, do you think these people would still be alive had they not been targeted out of hate? To me, that is the difference that matters.

Matthew Shepard
On October 6, 1998, 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyoming, pistol-whipped, then left for dead in the freezing night. He died six days later.

Danny Overstreet
On September 22, 2000, a man looking to “waste some faggots” entered a gay bar in Roanoke, Virginia and opened fire, killing Danny Overstreet, and injuring 6 others.

JR Warren
On the fourth of July, 2000, JR Warren, 26, who was black and gay, was beaten to death by three men in West Virginia, then run over by a car to make it look like a hit and run.

PFC Barry Winchell
Barry Winchell, 21, was beaten to death by fellow service members while sleeping in his cot on July 5, 1999 at Fort Campbell, Ky. His Army colleagues thought (correctly) that he was gay, so they killed him.

Billy Jack Gaither
Billy Jack Gaither, 39, of Sylacauga, Alabama was bludgeoned to death by two men on Feb. 19, 1999, then set on fire with automobile tires because he was gay.

- provided by hatecrime.org

hate crime, erin davies, billy jack gaither, jr warren, pfc barry winchell, danny overstreet, matthew sheppard, fag bug, racial crime, homophobia, homophobic, hate crime legislation