The West Virginia Supreme Court will decide if Steward Butler, a former Marshall University football player, can be charged with violating the civil rights of two gay men he is accused of assaulting after he saw them kissing on a city street.
The Herald-Dispatch reports that the request is from Cabell County Circuit Court in the case of Steward Butler.
The 24-year-old running back has pleaded not guilty to two counts of felony civil rights violations stemming from the alleged incident that took place in April.
The lower court is asking the justices whether the state’s civil rights code includes violent actions directed at another person based solely on sexual orientation. Prosecutors contend the violation is based on the victim’s sex, not sexual orientation.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Butler is charged in the April 5 beating of two men, moments after they kissed on a Huntington street. The complaint alleges Butler witnessed the kiss, exited a passing vehicle and proceeded to shout anti-gay slurs at the two men.
Butler then struck the face of both victims with a closed fist, the complaints charge.
Huntington Police Detective Chris Sperry said one of the victims captured the attack on video.
A trial date has been tentatively scheduled for January 26.
H/t: LGBTQ Nation
Brian
If this alleged incident happened as described, it’s appalling. It shows that there is a lot pent-up anger out there. It’s especially concerning when a member of the black community is alleged to be the perpetrator of violence. One wonders what the United States would be like if the African homophobic mentality was common place.
Bryguyf69
The blogger should have made clear that the issue of Sex vs Sorientation exual Orientation is crucial because West Virginia doesn’t recognize sexual as a civil right. So if it is proven that he attacked them for being gay, then he cannot be charged with civil rights violations. Prosecutors are then using an intellectual “trick” to make the charges stick. And they are technically correct, had the victims not both been male, they would not have been attacked, The hurdle for prosecutors is to prove that, sex, irrespective of any other factor (i.e. kissing), was the primary cause of the attack. This case illustrates why all hate crime laws need to include sexual orientation,
Kieran
Being gay in many parts of the United States is the legal equivalent of being a despised Jew in Nazi Germany. If these men were verbally attacked and physically assaulted for being black, Hispanic, Muslim or Jewish their attackers would automatically be slapped with hate crime charges.
martinbakman
@Kieran: On the other hand, Kudos to the prosecutor in West Virginia for pursuing this.
I hope this hateful @sshole from Florida does plenty of time, where he can think about what he’s done.
Luis H. Lopez
Another anti gay violent thug!
Kevin J Desmond
Ok so a black guy assaults two gay men and he thinks it’s ok, but if a guy assaults him for being black that’s a crime. The bastard should be charged with assault and battery along with a hate crime and he should get at least 10 years in prison.
butchqueen
This is preposterous. I want to yell “WE SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING, A$$HOLES!”
psionicomniverse
@Brian: This hilarious considering the many forms of White/European hatred that are in practice and still are, no one should be forced to accept someone’s sexuality because someone else wants them to.
psionicomniverse
@Kieran: That’s not the same thing as being a race, stop pretending it is. This Gay mentality thing is being silly as in the way it tries to super cede all things and draw correlations in things it shouldn’t
psionicomniverse
Watch now how many of these posters will comment immediately with biased racial statements while “opposing hatred” the irony.
psionicomniverse
As usual the queerty staff can only find something to post about someone of African descent when its relating to some type of crime while mindlessly making articles about shirtless generic white males. Makes me wonder, no bias at all huh? Even with the video that was posted in which the man was attacked by 2 white gay males, they refused to correct the article or anything at all and just pretty much ignored the full video.
TampaZeke
@psionicomniverse: Which is EXACTLY what you’re doing, but in reverse.
You, like this man, are a closet case trying to convince yourself that you’re not gay by attacking gay people.
You’ll be much happier if you just come out and accept that you’re queer.
Maleko
@psionicomniverse: Nobody is required to accept anything they don’t want to accept; nobody said you have to accept anything about the gay community. But you are required to follow the law no matter what you believe. It is obviously illegal to physically attack another person as it obviously should be. Punching a couple of gay guys out because you saw them kiss is clearly against the law no matter how you cut it. The attacker has no excuse for his actions; there is no concept in the law that allows you to physically hit another person, no matter what you saw them do. His hatred of gays will be no legal cover in the courts. He will be found guilty of 2 felony counts for attacking two people. That will likely mean prison time, but in any event he now has to live as a convicted felon and that greatly restricts what he can do in the future. He screwed himself and he will soon find that out.
Giancarlo85
@Maleko: Exactly. And I am not white. So race has nothing to do with this. This man viciously attacked two gay men for no reason at all.
@psionicomniverse: What on earth are you talking about? This man committed a crime by physically attacking two gay men. Stop making excuses for his actions.
Gaymikey1960
These hate crime thugs are going to bite off a bit more than they can chew one day when they get hold of the wrong people they want to beat up, I do not carry pepper spray or mace as i only carry wasp and hornet spray to spray into their eyes. #1 it stops them in their tracks and the pain it causes brings the toughest man to his knees, #2 it will send them to the hospital or they go blind from the damage the acids cause. If someone is going to try a hate crime with me they better be ready for the wrath i cause. I have found out that wasp and hornet spray is very effective on stopping violent Thugs like them, Hot Shot is the best to use and more effective than pepper spray or mace!
Gaymikey1960
@psionicomniverse: it is not just the African Americans who do this it is all those who hate that does this, even the communist Republican presidential hopefuls that are doing it as well by spreading the hatred. Don’t sit there and say your race is the only race they are picking on because they are NOT!!!! it is you who are bringing race into this when clearly it is all races who hate Black, White, olive skin, every race who hates is the root cause and the communist Republican parties are not helping as the only incite hatred and condone hatred!
Gaymikey1960
Steward Butler does belong in prison for doing what he did to those men, it don’t matter if they are gay or not because wrong is wrong! You don’t want to accept gays then so be it but don’t go around trying to kill us because we are just as human as anyone else in this world! We have the right to be happy as anyone else here in the 21st century because if you want to live in the 19th century then i believe you need to be singled out like the haters are singling us out! Butler and everyone else like him belongs in prison for no less than 10 years and get all haters off the streets who intend to do us harm just for being gay of which it is not a choice but the way we were born, just like it is how a hetero is born and not their choice to be attracted to women! it has NOTHING to do with race, I have plenty of African American friends who i would lay down my life for to keep them safe and they would do the same for me.
but unfortunately even my gay African American friends know i do not find them attractive and would never have sex with them for any reason, just as i would not be intimate with a hetero man for any reason what so ever. Every state in the United States Of America needs hate crime laws and punished very severely and to the fullest extent of the law!
martinbakman
The r@ce of the victims and the perp has nothing to do with the legal case, yet most seem to want to go there.
West Virginia is determining whether the assault is actionable under their hate crimes law. The prosecutor argued that Butler attacked because they were 2 guys i.e. because of their sex. I’m glad to see that in a Bible belt state, the system is at least attempting to bring justice.
This seems like an important precedent to be decided in W.Va.
martinbakman
@Gaymikey1960: why does Butler belong in prison?
He did far less damage than the Philly bashers, those Catholic kids out for a night of fun, and they will likely not go to prison.
Both cases hinge on lack of hate crime protection under the law, and unless W.Va. decides for the prosecution, Butler won’t serve time in prison for misdemeanor battery.
dinard38
@Gaymikey1960: “ld lay down my life for to keep them safe and they would do the same for me.
but unfortunately even my gay African American friends know i do not find them attractive and would never have sex with them for any reason, just as i would not be intimate with a hetero man for any reason what so ever.”
What the Heck was your point of making this statement? Your non-sexual attraction to African Americans have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this article, so why make the comment?
NoCagada
@psionicomniverse: Oh, swallow it, Gwendolyn…you know we all love a good Mandingo prison movie.
psionicomniverse
Meanwhile these comments are rife with “race-based” subtle insults and stereotypical usage of “thug” to define black people and so on. In other things, you don’t see the same people using “thug” to define the crimes white people commit onto others
psionicomniverse
@Gaymikey1960: You entirely missed what I said, and by your comment you’re heavily biased which makes debating with you entirely pointless on any regard.
psionicomniverse
@TampaZeke: No, I’m talking about how the gay community attacks the black community or displays them in the worse way possible, you seemingly avoided all the points I made and instead stuck to what you could find that you were comfortable with. Please tell me why it’s only when a African american commits a crime that he’s only up here, and its usually against a member of the gay community, it’s typical “American media presentation”.