The 14 Characteristics of Fascism, Part 3 continued

THE FOURTEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF FASCISM PART III: IDENTIFICATION OF ENEMIES (Essay 1: The Cultural War Against Gays By SweetPea (Daniel) SECTION 3

Who Suffers? We Do.
The Inevitable Results of Threats and Hate Speech

The verbal attacks continue. Gays and lesbians are compared to everything from rats to Devil worshipers, which makes me wonder, what kind of effect does this have on the society at large? Well, we a lready know, don’t we? It creates an atmosphere in which those who are less than balanced, in which the highly disturbed feel free to act on their violent impulses. Can you say Matthew Shepherd? Can you say Harvey Milk? They were individuals who were quite literally murdered because of their sexual orientation, and they aren’t the only ones who have suffered such a tragic fate.

*Nicholas Ray West, a 23-year-old Southern Baptist singer was kidnapped, tortured and executed in a gravel pit because he was gay. [21]

*January 1994, Michael Benishek, another gay Texan, was found dead in San Antonio. The coroner was uncertain if he died from a severe blow to his head with a blunt instrument or from a knife slash across his throat. [22]

*February 1994, Tommy Musick, age 48, a gay hairstylist from Midland, Texas, was shot four times in the head. His 18-year-old killer, Ramsey Harrell, received a mere twelve year sentence because the jury held an an obvious bias against gay people. [23]

*In March 1994, police discovered the body of Joe Trevino, another gay man who had been strangled and bludgeoned to death in his home by two teenagers. [24]

*April 1994, John Anthony Burwell, age 26, was shot to death by a 16-year-old youth from San Antonio. The youth dragged Burwell’s body to his pickup truck, drove his victim’s body to a nearby creek, where he dumped his victim off a forty foot birdge into the water below. [25]

*June 1994, Paul Quintanilla’s body was found in a field near Dallas Texas. The young man had been stabbed twelve times and his genitals had been slashed. [26]

* “On May 8, 1995, Bill Clayton, 17, committed suicide after having been brutally assaulted for being bisexual. [27]

* “Born Teena Brandon and raised as a girl, he was living as a man known as Brandon Teena in Falls City, Nebraska, when he was murdered at age 21. In December of 1993, two men who discovered his gender raped him. His attackers later shot and killed him after learning Brandon had reported the rape and was to help police in the investigation.” [28]

* “On August 7, 1995, Tyra Hunter died after DC fire department emergency medical technicians called her epithets, backed away, and refused to render treatment on discovering that she was a transgendered woman.” [29]

* “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.” [30]

* “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. [31]

* “Pfc. 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.” [32]

* “On September 22, 2000, a man looking to “waste somef aggots” entered a gay bar in Roanoke, Virginia and opened fire, killing Danny Overstreet, and injuring 6 others.” [33]

*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.” [34]

The upshot to all of this is that despite what the radical religious right says about homosexual men being more violent than heterosexual men, the truth of the matter is that there are more heterosexual on homosexual crimes than there are homosexual on heterosexual crimes.

In 2004 there were 738 incidents of anti-male homosexual hate crimes; 164 incidents of anti-female homosexual hate crimes; 245 incidents of anti-homosexual hate crimes; 33 incidents of anti -heterosexual hate crimes, and 17 incidents of anti-bisexual hate
crimes. [35]

In a similar vein, there were 855 anti-male homosexual offenses; 201 anti female homosexual offenses; 297 anti homosexual offenses; 35 anti-homosexual offenses; 35 anti-heterosexual offenses, and 18 anti-bisexual offenses. [36]

There were 902 male homosexual victims; 212 female homosexual victims; 314 homosexual victims; 36 heterosexual victims, and 18 bisexual victims. [37]

There were 832 offenders who acted out against homosexual males; 163 against female homosexuals; 224 against homosexuals; 22 against heterosexuals; and 17 who offended against bisexuals. [38]

THE PHONY EXPERTS

Where does this garbage come from? Usually from bona fide quacks in professional garb. The most deplorable of which is Paul Cameron. “On December 2, 1983, the American Psychological Association sent Paul Cameron a letter informing him that he had been dropped
from membership. Early in 1984, all members of the American Psychological Association received official written notice that “Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a
violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists” by the APA Board of Directors. Cameron has posted an elaborate argument about his expulsion from APA on his website, claiming that he resigned from APA before he was dropped from membership. Like most organizations, however, APA does not allow a member to resign when they are being investigated. And even if Cameron’s claims were accepted as true, it would be remarkable that the largest professional organization of psychologists in the United States (and other professional associations, as noted below) went to such lengths to disassociate itself from one individual.” [40]

Moreover, Cameron, who falsely claims that he is a sociologist, was also dropped by the Nebraska Psychological Association, which adopted a resolution stating, “formally disassociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality.” This is important because Cameron repeatedly states that homosexuals are pathological, that we are perverted; essentially doing everything in his power to dehumanize gays and lesbians. (For more information about Cameron’s insane rantings please be so kind as to see the links in the source given in Footnote Number [39] In Conclusion

So here we are, two years later, and we have a flip flopping president who once supported gay rights, but who now sides allies himself with the most visceral and rapacious haters that the House and he Senate have seen since the run up to the Civil War. Consider the following comments by United States Senator John Boehner, R-Ohio:
“This unconstitutional bill would effectively give the federal government authority to punish American citizens for ‘thought crimes’ - a concept that has Big Brother written all over it. There are already state and local laws on the books that punish violent crime against any and all Americans,” said Boehner…” [40]

Senator Boehner should talk about Big Brother. He’s the one who is engaged in Orwellian Doublespeak. He’s the one who is trying to revise the issue into something else. Obviously the attempt here is to convince the American people that the government will try to arrest people based entirely on what they think, when in fact hate crime legislation only goes into effect after a a violent or abusive event has taken place–a minor detail that the Senator seems to have omitted. As Church Lady might have said, “How con-VEEEEE-nient.”

Other arguments claim that hate crime legislation violates the 14th Amendment because it puts the federal government in a position where it favors one group over another. Not so. If a group of homosexuals were to commit murder based on the fact that the victim was a straight man or woman the hate crime legislation wold come into play. In other words, whenever the perpetrator is trying to terrorize an entire community, the hate crime legislation would kick in. The only thing that matters is whether or not the act was intended to send a message to the victim’s community as a whole. It has nothing to do with the federal government taking sides.

Even worse is the phony suggestion that hate crime legislation has been designed to silence Christian speech. In many ways this is a return to the old Nazi argument that Jews want to hurt Christians. As stated above it has now been revised to read that gays and lesbians want to hurt Christians. It’s sheer and utter foolishness on the part of fanatical paranoiacs, but the point has to be covered. The hate crime legislation is primarily concerned with violent crime and what the perpetrator intended at the time of the attack. Period. Granted, I can’t blame some Christians for worrying. As I have already demonstrated, some of their rhetoric isn’t only ugly, moronic, and paranoid. It can, and is, at times outright hateful. But that doesn’t mean that the federal government has a right to silence the speech. Indeed, I want the public to hear what these people are thinking. I don’t want to drive their insanity underground where it will only grow and fester like a deadly fungus. I want their hurtful sermons, their half baked sermons exposed to the light of day where it can be debated and countered with better speech. But, as I said earlier, I don’t have to like it. I can tolerate, even celebrate their right to freedom of speech, but I suspect in my heart of hearts that this is a right that they do not treasure as dearly as I do.

Sources

[1] From: Wikipedia
List of Capital Crimes in the Bible
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capital_crimes_in_the_bible
Last updated on 6 December 2006

[2] From: Southern Poverty Law Center
Intelligence Report/Watch Your Mouth Slide Show
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=522

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] From: Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right
Pages 109-110
By Mel White
Published by the Penguin Group
Copyright 2006 by Mel White

[6] Ibid
Page 108

[7[ From: Religious Tolerance.org
Professional Associations Statements About Christianity
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_prof.htm

[8] From: hatecrome.org
Matthew Shepard Online Resources
Nazi Anti-Jewish Speech vs Religious Anti-Gay Speech
http://www.hatecrime.org/subpages/hitler/hitler.html

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] From: Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Danger of the Christian Right
Page 237
By Mel White
Published by Penguin Group
Copyright 2006 by Mel White

[12] From: hatecrime.org
Matthew Shepard Online Resources
Nazi Anti-Jewish Speech vs Religious Anti-Gay Speech
http://www.hatecrime.org /subpages/hitler/hitler.html

[13] Ibid

[14] From: Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Danger of the Christian RIght
Pages 235-236
by Mel White
Published by Penguin Group
Copyright 2006 by Mel White

[15] Ibid
Page 238

[16] From: Hatecrime.org
Matthew Shepard Online Resources
Nazi Anti-Jewish Speech vs.Religious Anti-Gay Speech
http://www.hatecrime.org/subpages/hitler/hitler.html

[17] From: Facts About Homosexuality and Child Molestation
Copyright 1997 to 2007 by Gregory M. Herek PhD
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html

[18] From; hatecrime.org
Matthew Shepherd Online Resources
Nazi Anti-Jewish Speech vs Religious Anti-Gay Speech
http://www.hatecrime.org/subpages/hitler/hitler.html

[19] Ibid

[20] From: Facts About Homosexuality and Mental Health
Copyright 1997-2007 by Gregory M. Herek PhD.
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_mental_health.html

[21]From: Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Danger of the Christian RIght
Pages 307 - 309
by Mel White
Published by Penguin Group
Copyright 2006 by Mel White

[22] Ibid

[23} Ibid

[24] Ibid

[25] Ibid

[26] Ibid

[27] From: hatecrime.org home page
Hate Crime Victims List
http://www.hatecrime.org/index.html

[28] Ibid

[29] Ibid

[30] Ibid

[31] Ibid

[32] Ibid

[33] Ibid

[34] Ibid

[35] From: infoplease
Summary of Hate Crime Statistics 2004
(Source: Crime in the United States, 2004,
FBI, Uniform Crime Reports.)
Copyright 2000-2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Infoplease
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004885.html

[36] Ibid

[37} Ibid

[38] Ibid

[39] From: Paul Cameron’s Biosheet
House OKs Bill to Expand
Copyright, 1997-2007 by Gregory M. Herek PhD
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_cameron_sheet.html

[40] FOXNews.com
House OKs Bill to Expand Hate Crimes Law to Attacks on Gays
Thursday May 3, 2007
Copyright 2007 FOX News Network
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269853,00.html

Sphere: Related Content