NY NEWSDAY: Gay men's home burns, with epithet left behind

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

Paul Day and Christopher Robertson knew life as gay men in Polk County could be rough. They had been called names and taunted by neighborhood teens before.

Day, 25, said he even had a mailbox riddled with shotgun pellets once when living near the Green Swamp in the north part of the county.

The couple never thought it would get so bad as Monday, when they returned home from errands to find their house in Kings Manor Mobile Home Park in Lakeland torched and the words "Die Fag" spray-painted on the front steps.

Statewide, though, there is an upward swing in the amount of violence reported toward people because of their sexual orientation. In the latest state report, for instance, hate crimes based on orientation accounted for a higher percentage of all hate crimes than ever before.

Monday's case is an arson with burglary, Lakeland Fire Department spokeswoman Cheryl Edwards said. But officials remain tight-lipped about the investigation.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/orl-locgayburning29072905jul29,0,1350058.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

"They came for the Other, and I said nothing - when they came for me, there was no one left to speak for me."

[Puglover]

1. No doubt

the knuckle dragging thugs that did this have large sexual orientation issues of their own.

[LissaM]

2. I bet

I'll bet it was those same idiots that have such great morals and values. Puke. My sympathys to the couple... I'm sorry that people are jackasses.

[blue sky at night]

3. The Repugs have the replaced the boogey man.....

from the folks with slightly darker skin to people who have a different sexual orientation. Again, welcome to Bushworld. I hope the "investigation" actually finds the brave souls who did this. I hate to say it, but a shotgun would tend to put a stop to stuff like this. I don't own a gun, but when the time comes when they are rounding up the liberals for detention, I don't plan on going quietly.

[redqueen]

4. The Bush Effect.

He pushed gay marriage into the spotlight so he could get close enough to steal another one (read about OH and FL lurking dumbasses)... and as a result hateful dumbasses everywhere have been emboldened...

How can these people sleep at night?

[htuttle]

5. Ambien

[Parche]

6. bush effect

Its "Who" do they sleep with at night
They are a bunch of closet cases

The new Bushworld order....where compassionate conservatism means
hate.

[getmeouttahere]

10. Emboldened is THE WORD!

BushCo's election emboldened the Christian right, who as far as I'm concerned are right there with these people, regardless of their religious stripe. With you hatred, Fundies, you have emboldened those whom you may not advocate, whom are prone to violence. You aid and abet them!

[area51]

38. "How can these people sleep at night?"

B/c they have no conscience. They are psychopaths.

[arwalden]

7. Because The POPE And BUSH and FALWELL Create An Anti-Gay Climate...

... they are openly hostile to homosexuals and they encourage it from others.

Oh... but I forgot... I'm not Catholic, so I shouldn't care what the Pope has to say about gays. :eyes: (You know who you are and what you were going to say... I just said it for you to save you the trouble.)

[kweerwolf]

8. Insignificant subhuman pukes started the fire ...

But it's the words and actions of BushCo, Falwell, Dobson, Phelps, and the other fun-D'uh-MENTAL-ist leaders who poured the gasoline.

[Unforgiven]

9. Only

in florida. If it happens, it happens here first.

[Deja Q]

11. Sorry folks, homophobia has existed for a few centuries now...

Phelps and his ilk didn't start it, but he's only encouraging it.

I was hoping, after 9/11, more heteros would feel how we homos have for all that period of tim and grow up.

Apparently not. It seems we were to blame for 9/11. (I didn't know of any meetings and if I had I'd have said "NO!" to them.)

[bluestateguy]

12. This is why I reject gun control

One of these days I want to see some of these gay bashers taught a lesson, and I'm not talking about a lesson that is taught by cops and courts either.

[Voltaire99]

30. Which jury do you think will agree with you?

A jury drawn from the peers of homophobes?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

13. This administration has fertilized the hatred

And it's growing like kudzu.

This is terrorism if you ask me. Sadly, no one is asking.

[Romulus]

14. awful, just awful

my heart goes out to these two . . .

[DBoon]

15. it's getting worse

"Patrick Jones, 40, of Equality Polk County, an organization devoted to human-rights issues, said he thinks things are getting worse in the area for gay and lesbian people, whether actual crimes are reported or not."

[Chovexani]

16. You know

These fuckers would bring back witch burnings in a heart beat if they knew they could get away with it.

[OKthatsIT]

17. I wish Gay and Lesbian folks would explain why....

being in the closet, like Hoover was, can become such a dysfunctional secret played out in such horrific ways.

I have my own ideas but I'd rather hear it from folks who have done a lot more thinking and experiece with this. If Bush, Rove, McClellan, Rumsfeld, Ken Star, Ashcroft, (and many others in Washington) are closet Gay men... what does this type of repression to do to men like this?

Wouldnt they be a different human being if they 'came out'? Do you think they've created this Washington mess to ultimately be found out...and be forced out of the closet?

Is it the shame of being a coward? Or do they realy believe that they're attraction to other men is evil and shameful? Do they believe they are going to Hell because they are Gay? If you believed you were going to Hell when you die...wouldnt you trash all your christian morals?

Please...tell me what is going on here.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

18. Would take a while.

Because the sex drive, esp. in men, is overpowering and needs an outlet. So even when a gay man hides their sexual orientation, they are going to still want to have sex with other men, and will find it - in the park, at the gym, wherever.

Read about Roy Cohn, the "straight" man who just "had sex with guys". If people could come out without fear of repercussion, then yes, gay mean would generally be a lot more psychologically healthy. As it is, sociological research over the last 50 years has demonstrated unequivocally that society's stigmatized groups, such as gays, will exhibit pathologies in far higher incidence and frequency than members of non-stigmatized groups. Also consider people like Andrew Sullivan, who, according to Michelangelo Signorile, apparently wrote favorably a while back about bareback sex, or some openly gay personalities who suggest that the more a man hates them, the more they want to have sex with them.

Andrew Holleran wrote 30 years ago in "Dancer from the Dance" that there were only 17 gay men in New York, and it's still true today. Everyone else is closeted or "bicurious" or a tourist, not looking for a "gay" relationship. That just the reality.

In this culture, gay men are raised to have little to no self-respect. So I'm sorry, but when they engage in self-destructive behavior or exhibit psychopathologies, heteros who don't support them or defend them when they are under attack are also part of the problem.

Hope that helps. :hi:

[motely36]

19. I am not sure what you are asking here.

I don't really believe bush, rove, et al are gay.

I think there is a cowardice about not coming out.

I was lucky, even though I didn't tell anyone, I knew it was okay that I was gay beause my mom had gay friends. I never had to pretend to be straight.

I think fundementalism gets bashed into peoples head that they cannot give it up so easily.

[M155Y_A1CH]

40. Strawman

"Bush, Rove, McClellan, Rumsfeld, Ken Star, Ashcroft" are NOT closet gay men. To say that is sooo bigoted against gays. Also those calling all violent gay-bashers "closet cases" offend me very much. What's up with that????
So a couple of them...what percent???? Gays are everywhere.

[progressoid]

20. I'm sure the WH will issue a comdemnation of this type of terrorism too...

NOT.

The last line says it all, "It's a little terrifying, I have to tell you," he said.

[rateyes]

21. May the people responsible (all of them) for this...

be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and pay for their horrible crime. And, people who call themselves Christians ought to be the first (not the last, not the never) and loudest to condemn this immoral, godless act of terror.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

22. If muslims who fail to condemn terrorism are complicit, then I guess

the same logic would apply here, no?

[rateyes]

23. I agree...didn't mean to single out Christians...

except that they seem to be the ones shouting the loudest in the opposite direction, IMHO.

We do need Muslims to denounce terrorism..in fact, heard today of a Fatwa (sp?) pronounced by a Muslim cleric in Georgia, today.

Edit to add: BTW, re-reading your post, I now understand, I believe that you were, in fact, agreeing wtih me?

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

25. Yes, I was in agreement with you. People

who attend any kind of gathering led by those who speak approvingly of homophobia are effectively agreeing with that homophobia is acceptable.

[EFerrari]

24. This is terrible news.

And this was in a mobile home park. Where were the neighbors? They are ALL complicit. No way this was done without someone seeing the arsonists.

[KamaAina]

26. But, but, but they don't need the protection of hate crime laws! (sarcasm)

All they're doing is whining and asking for special rights! :sarcasm: It's not like anyone is lynching them or burning crosses on their lawn... oh wait a minute...

[sakabatou]

27. This is just sad

How pathetic people can be with their emotions...

[merwin]

28. Uh, that's a hate crime, not just arson and burglary, right?

[ninkasi]

29. The rise of the right wing fundies

has a lot to do with this. The article says "Statewide, though, there is an upward swing in the amount of violence reported toward people because of their sexual orientation. In the latest state report, for instance, hate crimes based on orientation accounted for a higher percentage of all hate crimes than ever before."

And some people don't feel that violence toward gays should be classified as a hate crime? Bush and his disgusting fundy base are to blame for this. I am not implying, by the way, that crimes like these are committed only by Christian fundamentalists. They could also be committed by any person, regardless of religion, who has been getting the message that it's ok to degrade, defame, and destroy, a segment of the population who are only trying to live the lives as they were born to live.

By making such a big deal out of gay marriage, though, it has given much publicity to the idea that being gay is wrong, and that allowing gays to marry would somehow lead to the destruction of civilization as we know it.

It's people like Bush, and his whole gang of thugs, and the religious fundamentalists who are extremists on the other side who are destroying the world. They are not doing it by permitting gay marriage, they are doing it with bombs, guns and any other thing that can kill and destroy.

I hope this couple will be able to have a nice home in a neighborhood that isn't so hateful.

[Voltaire99]

31. Well said. This is Christianity's more than Bush's doing.

Right wing Christianity is an integral part of Bushism, to be sure, but its hatred for gays and lesbians long predates the chump from Texas.

And it's more than evangelical fundamentalism. Catholicism is right alongside it in persecutory glory.

While the cultural is held in sway to ignorance and intolerance from the pulpit, all the secular advances we can make in civilizing American society will do us limited good. Religion's the thing...

...wherein you'll catch the conscience of the ding-a-lings.

[BobbyinPortland]

32. Sue the POTUS for inciting hatred and violence.

I think if there could be a class action law suit started for reasons of inciting hatred, intolerance and less than equal rights perpetrated by the Shrub, it should be done ASAP.

I'm 39 years old and have NEVER expierenced a hate crime, but lately my partner and I have been verbally attacked by so called "Christians" that needed to inform us we're going to hell and that Gawd doesn't approve of our 13 year relationship.

That's pure and simple brainwashing from a group of rethugnicans that think they own the world.

One more thing, I think the Log Cabin Republicans are probably the most self loathing people on the planet.

[queerart]

33. There Will Always Be Thugs...

Even If They Wear Suits, And Hold Political Office.....


Sad Little Men That Don't Want Society To Know That They Are Fags....

They Want To Banish That Filthy Queer They See Every Morning In The Mirror...

[calimary]

34. Okay, guys - repeat after me:

"THAT'S what you get when you vote republi-CON."

It just needs to be said. The idea needs to be planted. And spread. And repeated. So it can take root in the subconscious.

Anything horrendous, intolerant, backwards, hateful, etc., needs to be EPOXIED to the GOP. They need to be surgically attached so people will start automatically and instinctively associate the worst ideas and attributes with the republi-CONS. The idea being... so fewer and fewer people will be able to vote republi-CON in good conscience. POISON THE WELL.

[Maven]

35. I couldn't agree more.

Or something more on the order of:

"This is the true face of the Radical Republican Right."

Some alliterative phrase like that that rolls off the tongue.

[calimary]

36. Exactamundo!

It has to be pushed again and again and again. Plant the seeds. POISON THE WELL.

[Maven]

37. calimary, i was thinking

What the DU Activist Headquarters needs is a "Meme-O-The-Week" post every week to collaborate w/r/t LTTEs to force circulation of a particular message, i.e., with the same language. Lefties are not group thinkers, obviously (YAY!) but we could do with some group solidarity on the framing front.

I would like to organize it but I'm still semi-new and it may be received more readily if done in collaboration with a more seasoned DUer.

:shrug:

[wickerwoman]

39. Why isn't it attempted murder?

If I set a suburban home where a nice, white family of four lived and spray painted "Die Breeders!" on the front porch, don't you think I'd be up for attempted murder?

[Obamarama]

41. Figures. I wouldn't expect anything less from the "sunshine" state.

[LeftyElvis]

42. Shameful

and shameful we have an administration that green lights this bigotry.

[undergroundpanther]

43. Dammit..

How long until we find our homes ransacked our partners killed ourselves beaten? And the cops turn the other way?

The right wing FUNDAMENTALIST CHRISTIAN church has deliberately stoked these bullies to desire to hurt people,Falwell ,Dobson,O'lielley,Savage,Coulter All of these bully pundits with a microphone and air time to spread hate need to be held accountable for their hatred.Hate speech is about not free speech. Because hate speech destroys freedom to exist and to live un harassed buy bigots and bullies who These pundits create a culture of hate that keeps these thugs "company"