Sean Kennedy's family isn't taking the 20-year old's death lying down. The South Carolina homo died after being punched by a man identified as 18-year old Stephen Andrew Moller. Police are unsure whether Moller will be charged with murder or if he'll face the music to the tune of a hate crime. Kennedy's kin hope the latter.

In light of their third child's death, Kennedy's parents are setting up "Sean's Last Wish" through which they'll push for hate crime legislation, something they believe Kennedy would want.

While cleaning out her youngest son's belongings, Elke Parker came across a number of poems, including one called "Grin":

I stand tall with all of my pride. You hate. You discriminate all who are not like you. Yes, your words do hurt. But I stand in the end. I'm a strong person, bigger than you... I'll be standing there with a grin.

Of her discovery, Parker - who always supported Kennedy's homosexuality - said, "I didn't know I had a poet."

Police have arrested 18-year old Stephen Andrew Moller for his role in the death of 20-year old gay man, Sean William Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy had been leaving Brew's Bar in Greenville County, South Carolina when someone pulled up, yelled an anti-gay epithet and punched him. NBC affiliate WYFF reports:

Deputies said that Kennedy , 20, was walking to his car from Brew's Bar early Wednesday morning when Moller got out of another car and approached Kennedy. Investigators said that Moller made a comment about Kennedy's sexual orientation, and then struck him in the face.

Kennedy fell backward, hit his head and died at a local hospital. Investigators are now consulting with the FBI to see if the attack qualifies as a hate crime:

Friends of Kennedy told WYYF News 4 that they think the alleged assault was a hate crime because Kennedy was openly gay.

The Greenville County Sheriff's Office has provided information concerning this case to the FBI, which will make a determination as to whether to proceed with a hate crime investigation.

It sure sounds like a hate crime to us. But, who knows? Maybe Moller said something like, "Die, you fucking maggot!" Unlikely, but possible...

President Bush again proves he's out of step with his "fellow" Americans. The Commander in Chief has vowed to veto any hate crime legislation that comes his way. The majority of Americans, however, support expanding hate crime legislation.

According to a Gallup poll released yesterday, 78% of Americans support hate crime laws, while 68% believe we need to increase their size and strength. Astonishingly, 57% of self-identified conservatives think we should expand hate crime legislation. 68% of surveyed Republicans, meanwhile, also think President Bush needs to sign away. Maybe he needs to read this Gallup conclusion:

The religious and conservative leaders who are mounting a campaign against H.R. 1592 have their work cut out for them. The data reviewed in this analysis indicate that there is strong majority support for the expansion of hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity among the general American population. Specifically, there is majority support among identifiable groups of Christians, frequent church attenders, conservatives, and Republicans for expansion of the legislation.

Will Bushie heed his people's call? Probably not, but it's nice to know not all conservatives are such hard-headed fools...

What started as a high school feud ended up as a hate crime charge for two Crystal Lake, Ill. teenagers. IOne of the unidentified 16-year old girls had recently fallen out with a male friend. As part of her childish revenge against him, she and her cohort printed up some pamphlets of the boy kissing another boy.

The young ladies also decided to include some decidedly, devilishly unladylike messages, such as "God Hates Fags". Those flyers landed the girls in juvenile court on Tuesday, where they face charges of hate crime, obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct.

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Hate crimes come in all different shapes and sizes, but when it comes to anti-gay crimes, there seems to be one common size: young, white and male. In light of the recent attacks in Canada, The Chronicle Herald sat down with criminology professor Michael Boudreau to get inside the mind of a homo-hater.

In addition to being white, male and between the ages of 16-30, most anti-gay perpetrators are looking for power:

They tend to be homophobic or feel threatened by gay men generally. It’s often meant as a way to exert their own power within society. One way to exert that authority is to turn to violence.

And, as we suggested in yesterday's unnecessarily controversial post, Boudreau claims that homophobic attackers may be attacking their own nebulous sexuality:

It could have been someone who was cruising for sex themselves and are outraged at their own behaviour and then lashed out at that as well. In this case, rather than lashing out at themselves, they’ve lashed out at these two individuals.

Perhaps its this internal rage that led someone to murder Michael Paul Knott and Trevor Charles Brewster?

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Trevor Charles Brewster went to Burnside Trails for a stroll. Unfortunately, he found murder instead. A can collector discovered the 45-year old gay man's partially-clothed, bloody body Wednesday:

Colin Brown, the man who found the body, said the victim was dressed only in jeans and had a garbage bag over his head and what looked like a knife wound in his abdomen.

He said the body appeared to have been purposely hidden, probably recently.

Burnside Trails has earned a reputation for gay cruising, a sexually-charged detail that leads some to speculate that that Brewster - a quiet, well-regarded waiter - had gone to the park to find a bit of free loving. Certainly a distressing hypothesis and even more so considering the recent murder of another gay man, Michael Paul Knott.

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The Hate Crimes Bill has a new enemy: ex-gay country singer Dennis Jernigan. Like so many conservatives, Jernigan that the bill threatens his free speech:

I was able to come to a level of freedom the homosexual community never told me was possible. Yet, through faith in God, I successfully walked out of that way of thinking and have met thousands of other men and women who have done the same. What about our civil liberties? To pass such a bill as H.R. 1592 is to invoke fear that I could be prosecuted for my religious beliefs and speech.

The father of nine (!) goes on to claim that H.R. 1592 discriminates against him and his ex-gay brethren:

If this bill passes, Congress is telling me that I and countless others who have discovered they don't have to be homosexual are of less value now than when we were living as homosexuals. If we look down the road of this slippery slope, this legislation would actually pave the way to make it a criminal offense to think differently than someone else or to have religious convictions that are opposed to this politically correct ideology. Do we really want such thoughts to be illegal?

Oh Jernigan - when will you and your ilk learn that violent crime and political stance are not the same thing? Although we suspect he doesn't care: his politically-minded press release reminds readers that Jernigan has a new album on the way.

• From Chris Rico's new anti-gay basher site Try Love, Not Hate:

I was choking on blood face down on the ground before I even realized what was happening to me. As I struggled to crawl to my feet, I was greeted by thunderous kicks to my ribs and my temple and the venomous and inconceivable cry, “die fucking faggot.”

Sound familiar? Hopefully not, but probably so. Thousands of homos get bashed every year. Lend your voice (and face) to Rico's fight to fight anti-gay fighters. Maybe if we yell loud enough, President Bush will actually listen...

• Sotheby's has already raked in $280 million since January. Starving artist indeed.

• The "Get a Divorce" billboard got dumped.

• Gay meanie Steven Green remains in critical condition after getting hit by a car while walking to his Rolls Royce. Poor thing.

• Never, ever forget that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger used to pose naked for Robert Mapplethorpe.

• Al Sharpton versus Mitt Romney: may the biggest dickwad win, ride off into the sunset, take the loser and never be seen again. What a wonderful world that would be...

• Lance Bass got a job! As an intern! (That's what he gets for believing in Joey Fatone.)

Here's the video of openly gay congressman Barney Frank announcing yesterday's hate crime legislative victory. We think he came in his pants...

All that lobbying paid off. The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 1592 232-to-180, with 208 democrats and 25 republicans voting in the affirmative. The Bill, also known as the Matthew Shepard Bill, will now go to the president. Unfortunately, the President has fallen in line with his conservative base and has vowed to veto the bill.

A White House spokesperson released a statement earlier this morning:

The Administration favors strong criminal penalties for violent crime, including crime based on personal characteristics, such as race, color, religion, or national origin. However, the Administration believes that H.R. 1592 is unnecessary and constitutionally questionable. If H.R. 1592 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

Meanwhile, the ACLU's law-loving activist Washington legal head, Caroline Fredrickson applauded the move:

Prosecuting violent hate crimes is critically important. This bill will also protect due process and the Constitution, especially our First Amendment rights to speak freely and associate with whom we'd like. When a person inflicts violence based on hate, it is important that they be punished.

She did warn, however, that we must all respect free speech.

Barney Frank spoke freely after the vote. From Joe.My.God, "From the podium, Barney Frank exhulted, 'The bill is passed!'" Go on and celebrate, Frank, you deserve it.

Gay Minnesota college student Paul Marquardt apparently misspoke when he told police that his attackers spouted anti-gay speech.

The Minnesota State University-Moorhead pupil originally told police that the hooligans screamed homophobic epithets. Now he claims the story got away from him, according to Police Chief Bob Larson. From In-Forum:

Deputy Police Chief Bob Larson said Paul Marquardt, 23, had recanted major parts of a story he first told police Friday and as a result, “it is no longer believed that a bias-motivated crime took place.”
...
Marquardt told investigators that he was not confronted, nor did he hear any anti-gay comments, Larson said.

Larson said Marquardt maintains he was pushed down and injured by persons unknown.

“He told us that the story had gotten away from him,” Larson said.

“The important thing to us is that if there is a bias-motivated crime, we need to hear about it and we’ll investigate,” Larson said, adding police are still looking into Marquardt’s claim that he was assaulted.

Gay rights activists scheduled a march for this evening, but have called it off.

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America's House of Representatives votes on the hate crimes bill today. In anticipation of the event, Judy Shepard, whose murdered son Matthew has become a martyr in the fight for equal protection, has penned an op-ed pushing for the bill's passage.

Taking on conservatives, such as FRC, who argue the bill will restrict their religious thought, Shepard writes:

Congressional offices all across Washington are being flooded with phone calls opposing the legislation because political organizations on the ultra-right have been lying to their members, and telling them that this legislation would punish religious people for anti-gay speech -- dubbing this a "thought crimes bill."

The tireless activist goes on to criticize their fact manipulation.

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