Hatebook Postings

Man Jailed After Homophobic Facebook Threats Against Openly Gay Seattle Mayor

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Along with duck-face selfies and giving status updates while drunk, a Seattle man has given us yet another example of what not to do on Facebook.

32 year old Mitchell Taylor is now in jail after more than he posted more than 20 threatening and antigay messages on openly gay Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s Facebook page.

The most terrifying of the messages was an invitation for the mayor to “meet Harvey Milk,” referring to the politician and LGBT hero who was murdered in San Francisco in 1978.

Apparently not just content to spout off homophobia, Taylor also targeted City Councilmember Kshama Sawant with hateful and violent sexist rhetoric via Facebook, sharing his opinion that feminists should “get raped and die.” Lovely. After the postings, Sawant told police that she was “concerned for her safety and the safety of her family.”

Taylor’s defense attorney argued that his behavior is exacerbated by Asperger Syndrome and he was off his meds at the time, and Taylor has admitted to police that he found the Facebook postings offensive and that they could be considered death threats.

He’s currently being held on investigation of two counts of cyberstalking and two counts of malicious harassment, and bail is set at $600,000.

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