Oklahoma’s Keith Kimmel, a regular Queerty reader and commenter, and who many know as the man trying to get an “IM GAY” Oklahoman license plate, was found dead at a friend’s home this morning. He was 28.
A friend identified as Keri posted this note on Keith’s Facebook page: “THERE IS NO WAY EASY TO SAY THIS. kEITH HAS BEEN STAYING WITH ME FOR A FEW DAYS, AND THIS MORNING AT 7:45 I FOUND HIM DEAD IN MY LIVING ROOM CHAIR.””
Just two days ago, Keith posted his own press release on his blog, saying he “filed a complaint by US Mail with the Internal Affairs Department of the Tulsa Police Department, claiming that he had been dragged across a parking lot, punched in the testicles and verbally assaulted by officers of The Tulsa Police Department after being involved in a fight at a Tulsa gay bar. The complaint included pictures of injuries Kimmel sustained in the incident. The complaint was filed by mail after Kimmel was unable to reach the Internal Affairs Department all day by telephone to find out how it could be faxed or e-mailed. ‘I would like to get this information into the hands of the Internal Affairs Officers as early as possible, but I have tried calling all day and have been directed to voicemail. I tried calling various other offices within the department, but they continually redirect me back to the Internal Affairs number that no one answers’, Kimmel said. Kimmel says he isn’t sure if the incident comes as retaliation for his earlier suit against the state.”
That same day, Keith posted another blog entry, which read in part: “So a few days ago, Clayton and I broke up. Or maybe we were never together. Who knows and who cares. Any of you surprised to hear that I had a boyfriend? Some of you should be, I didn’t make it public knowledge because I am tired of the Oklahoma City queer community being involved in my personal life. This time, I took it one step further and not only told virtually no one, I also went off to a far away city and did my looking.”
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And it was the end of that relationship that appears to have spawned the bar fight: “This Friday, my rage finally exploded and after getting very, very drunk at End Up, a fight ensued and I somehow wound up decking Mike who has been a good friend. How my anger wound up aimed at him I have no idea, it made sense in my drunken mind at the time I am sure, but it resulted in me getting ejected from End Up for starting the fight and then the Tulsa PD came. What happened after the Tulsa PD came, lets just say that will be another story for another day, pending an investigation already launched by the Tulsa Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau. None the less, I am going to work to repair my friendship with Mike. So basically, the above is the story of how Clayton Horner, a 23 year old pole stripper, hustled me the best anyone ever has managed to. Never before have I swallowed so much bullshit in such a short amount of time. But I’m not missing a beat. I was back at the clubs a few days later, with a new attitude and new outlook on life. Its ironic that I sit here right now as I type this watching Logo show Queer as Folk episodes back to back. Its taken several hours to type and edit this. For me, writing is a purging process. It relieves pain. Some people cut themselves, others take drugs, I write and drink – and sometimes take drugs, too. But tonight, I wrote and this is my big fuck you to the world and especislally to Clayton Horner.”
(Queerty has reached out to the friend who posted on Facebook.)
whaaat
Life and death….on the internet.
terrwill
Bad week for Queerty posters…………………..
Oklahoma boy
He was young and obviously something went wrong… I read his blog and he def had some major issues and thats terrible.. I dont want to sound like THAT GUY … but here it goes…
He wanted a liscense plate that says IMGAY… big deal.. ya Oklahoma is most def NOT the place for that… let it go….
He fabricated a relationship with a male dancer at a club… he obviously offered to help this boy financially and then when he realized the guy didnt have the same feelings he wanted to ruin his life a little bit… poor sport….
He openly posted about drugs… booze.. and wanting to pay for sex…
And He started a brawl at a club in Tulsa the police did their job and got him out of there and he files charges…. ????
WOW….
Im sad for the loss… Death is always tragic… I hope the autopsy comes back with a good reason behind his sudden death.
Other than that…. this posting should have simply been that of a short obituary… The rest was not necessary and shame on you QUEERTY for pumping life into Keiths obviously troubled blogs….
Mr. Enemabag Jones
Before all the hate starts here, may I just say that for whatever problems Keith may have had, he was a member of the Queerty community, and a member of the queer community. That alone should give us pause and let us extend condolences to his family and friends. We’re always so fucking quick to turn on ourselves, yet we want the rest of straight America to fall at our feet, and give us the respect we deserve. Howabout we start treating each other with respect, and howabout we start with Keith?
Oklahoma boy
@ Mr. Enemabag Jones
This would be a much easier task if Queerty would take down this post and try again with a proper obituary and not a post with excerpts taken from his troubling blog. This post is bullshit when someone passes you focus on the good someone did not the trouble they caused…. Its common courtesy which is extended to every human being no matter the sexual orientation, race, or religion……
Michael
The local gay press are reporting on this
http://www.gossip-boy.com/Keith_Kimmel_Death.html
That has a number of details including the history of Kimmel that does lead one to question if there was an actual gay bashing. They’d done another story earlier this month describing how he has spent his life moving from one area to another, picking fights, and then suing.
Michael
@Oklahoma Boy. What naive part of the woods do you live in? It’s important to show all relative factors in this death before the gays take up arms and claim the police beat one of their own to death in a gay bashing. From what I’m reading this Kimmel was a bully who had sold bomb building manuals in the past and had made threats towards Oklahoma gays about their homes exploding. He was grossly overweight, on drugs, depressed, and with a past history of mental illness, which all could’ve caused him to die. But if all that’s reported is he was beaten by police because he was gay and died, then a lot of GLBTS are going to raise hell about it. Then what happens if the accusations he was making prove untrue? Everyone looks stupid. If it turns out he did die because of a gay bashing then lets tear the state up, but until there is proof we need to inform ourselves and writing a “he was a great guy in death” obit doesn’t help in educating anyone over the event. This is possibly an important matter so everyone should want to be fully informed and not have it white washed.
Oklahoma boy
@MICHAEL
I agree with you… and I personally have had contact with Keith in the past… He WAS a troubled person… and I had to Block him from all possbile communication…. My point is… Why would Queerty RE-Post an excerpt from Keiths blog talking about Clay???? What does his fabricated relationship with someone have to do with his death??? There should always be a time in which yes you only focus on the good of someone… In respect for his friends and family…. When someone dies you dont want to read the same day about how they paid for sex, wrote about making bombs, and caused trouble ….. That comes a few days later for petes sake
terrwill
I’m getting kinda ascared of the guys who hang ’round the Queerty neighborhood…………….
Michael
They should’ve done a better job of putting it into the proper context.
Michael
As for waiting, I disagree with you. Kimmel made himself a public figure and had made allegations this week of a gay bashing. It’s important that all media provide detailed information about all he possible factors that could’ve contributed to his death. You could wait a few days, but how does that keep an angry gay mob from gathering because all they know is a gay guy dies after police bashing? Just because it tweaks your sensibilities doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Journalists have a responsibility to provide all the information, not censor the story as to not offend people. If you don’t agree then read an obituary and not the associated news reports. They’re very different. An obituary has what you want. A news article is going to deal with what occurred and what factors may’ve led up to the death. Try to understand the difference between the two.
Oklahoma boy
@MICHAEL
bottom line is… THE POLICE DID THEIR JOB!!!! If he did die of complications from the assault then the Hospital is at fault!!! If you start shit at any club the Police will come and drag your ass out of the bar….. There were NO witnesses to the events….. And if you had looked at the pictures that were taken… Its exactly what it would have looked like if any drunk person who had started a brawl at a bar…. marks on his wrists from the cuffs….. a rash on his stomach because im sure they had to drag his ass and a few bruises….
If the gay community over reacts on this than shame on them… and No Im not Naive.. I moved to this dumb ass state from a REAL city…..
Stuart Burbank
Keith Kimmel was insane. If he is in fact dead, there’s no great loss to any community at all. In fact it saves a lot of people a ton of headaches from this mentally unstable nutjob.
Oklahoma boy
Fistbumps @STUART BURBANK
Cam
Ok, so he punches a good friend for no reason enough times that the police have to be called to drag him out of a bar, admits it was for no reason and expects people to believe that he was just jumped and attacked by cops who showed up to break up the barfight with no provocation? If he was lashing out and punching his friends at that time it seems very possible that he did the same to the cops. Once you punch one, you are resisting violently and it’s no surprise if he was punched a few times to subdue him. Even the person on here defending this guy admits that he had to block him from all possible communication. He sounds a bit crazy. I’m not even going to get into the claimed relationship with the stripper except to say that it sounds like one more notch in the obsessive/crazy train. I’m sorry that he passed away but grateful that I never met him.
Oklahoma boy
@CAM
In NO way was I defending him…. I was defending the morality behind this post… lol… and the reason I had to block him was because I commented on something on FB about the whole IMGAY plate BS and he added me… and then he started commenting on EVERY one of my status’ and then started harassing me and being really forward and posting things on my FB WALL that made it look like we were in some sort of RELATIONSHIP… Im going to step out and go ahead and say his “relationship” with Clay is 100% in his head…
whaaat
One wonders what would have become of Mr. Kimmel had he moved away from that area. Sometimes all it takes is a new environment to come out of depression and chaotic behavior.
aalan brickman
Self promoting loser….no loss to any community….
tofer david
Just get yourself some manners so you don’t look so damn stupid.
hardmannyc
What on earth are you posting this very private matter on your site for? This is a new height of bad taste for you.
Hyhybt
The name doesn’t sound familiar… did he post here under his real name, or another one?
RomanHans
To the critics: fuck you. Keith organized a Facebook campaign to boycott ABC after the Adam Lambert debacle. He tried, and I appreciate that. Criticize somebody who didn’t do shit . . . like, oh, 99.9% of you.
Alexander A.
This is the kinda thing that really makes me wonder about our community. Yeah, the guy could possibly have been a bit disturbed, but he’s DEAD. Most likely, he had mental issues, but he’s DEAD. Regardless of who he was or what he did, he was a HUMAN first and man with issues second. It’s a tragedy when anyone dies, if only because they’re our fellow man.
Be a fucking human being.
goddamnit
Jesus, you couldn’t have just copy and pasted the news article on his death? At least Keith was challenging the Oklahoma Tax Commission!
Kieran
You’re right Alexander A. The posters here who lack any semblance of common decency by showing no sympathy or compassion over the untimely death of somebody says a hell of a lot more about who they are then it does about Keith Kimmel.
Becky
There’s some of us who know Kimmel moreso than others. To many in OKC he was a bully and jerk, who lived his life provoking battles and then filing lawsuits. That was his profession. He was mean and abusive to people, so don’t expect us to weep or this disgusting person. Kimmel found issues to get attention and try to make some money off them. His lack of sincerity was well known in the community here. He’s getting so little support here because people know him. People who know him aren’t buying his being gay bashed by the cops. Likely he got worked over for resisting. He had just been removed from a bar for hitting people, being beligerant, and refusing to leave. You people who know nothing of this wonder why very few care? That’s not on our backs, that’s because you sow what you reap and Kimmel lived his life being obnoxious, hateful, mean and violent. Most around here would’ve been happy had he just moved on, perhaps to your community, as that is how he lived. Start trouble, ransack, and leave for the next state. He didn’t move on this time, but we’ll settle for his death.
staciegirlie17
Wait a minute. How do you know Kimmel was making bombs? Who told you that? Is there proof? Or is that a conspiracy from authorities to make him look bad? Kimmel died in his home after going to internal affairs?
Dirty city officials can break into your house and poison your food. Makes you look like you had a drug overdose. Not trying to accuse. Just saying.
Michael
Stacie reading comprehension is a very useful skill in life. You see conspiracy from authorities about Kimmel making bombs, while the skilled readers note a reference to an article, which states he formerly operated a website that sold manuals on how to make bombs and had made allusions to people around OKC about their homes blowing up. Read http://www.gossip-boy.com/Keith_Kimmel_Death.html that’s the most thorough article done on this so far and the bottom has a link to an article they had just happened to publish earlier this month delved into his past.
Seriously Stacie, read up on these things so you can make more informed and less conspiratorial comments.
Laura Miller
Okay I have to say a few things here. I just got through at the State Capital today defending the Hate Crime Act that Senator Russell initiated. I am completly flabber gasted at the fact that some of you are actually on here agreeing that Keith is better off dead. What if that was your relative, the one that you cringe everytime they say something offensive at the dinner table in fromt of your guest. Just because someone may not do the same things that you find morally right makes him no less of a person. I can not believe that the Gay Community is going to sit back and not do anything. It is time to stand up for what we believe in and let people know that this is NOT accpeptable, no matter what kind of person he is. If you didn’t like him, then thats your opinion. I did not know him, except for hearing about the “I’m Gay” tag but this is outragous. Just som everyone knows the State Bill that is trying to be passed is taking away your rights if this happens to you! Can you imagine just becasue you are Gay the bill says that Federal Govt. can’t get involved and that no matter of sexual orientation or gender identity that there won’t be a hate crime charge. A slap on the hand. Maybe all that are bad mouthing this man should think to yourself that maybe you are the same bigoted people that are afraid to stand up for what we are about. Stand up for your rights before this happens to you! Remember “WHAT EVER IT TAKES!!” Let this man that has been altered due to a hate crime rest in peace!
Becky
He was a bad person. You obviously didn’t know him nor were you the object of one of his hate rages. This isn’t about a gay man and this isn’t an equality issue. This is about a sociopath and con man that hurt many people. As for his relatives? They disowned him a long time ago. His mother is trying to get his ashes back, when they become available. People that are attacking Kimmel are doing so because he was a horrible person. He’s blogged plenty about how little he cares for the community and how he finds them disgusting, but useful tools.
And stop inciting gays against Russell’s bullcrap. The state can’t nullify federal law. It’s just blustering and people need to fight for the passage of real laws beneficial to the gays of Oklahoma, not constantly scramble to get camera time over an issue that’ll never have any real life effect, just get a few votes for the lawmakers. Spend the time like I do lobbying for jobs and housing protection instead of getting caught up in the trend of the day, because it’s the fad thing to do this week cuz it’s on the television. Get a clue and get real.
Becky
As for not doing anything about what happened to Kimmel? There’s a reason for that and that’s because he more than likely resisted the police. How many times have you heard of cops assaulting gays coming out of the End Up these days? None. But it just so happens that the beligerant jerk that was hitting people and refusing to leave and who has a long history of suing for suspicious things all of a sudden claims police brutality and gay bashing with the added benefit of NO WITNESSES. Some of us can see it for what it is and aren’t going to start marching for someone known to have exploited and terrorized the community for profit and ego gratification. It sure is funny how everyone in the world has targeted Keith Kimmel in life. How everyone has been out to get him. How he needs to live half a life starting trouble and the other half in court trying to get money out of it. This time he pushed it too far.
Becky
This is alot more than a crude relative. Kimmel would take slight offense then wage a campaign to destroy a person for the most trivial things. He’d terrorize them with implications their homes would explode one day. He called their employers and families. He would take on one obsession after the other and hurt people over and over. Good riddance to bad trash.
Laura Miller
Maybe Becky you should take the time and read SB1965 and have the opprotunity to visit Senator Russell in his office. Take time to see all the hate in his office including the message about “gays” on the “duck” in his office. This is not only an issue about Gay rights, it effects all communities around. This revolves around equal rights.
As for a federal law, again, read the verbage on the SB. It is amazing. States are required to destroy all “hate” evidence.
You are 100% right, I do not know him or have been a victim of any of his hate rages but I do know one thig, maybe if someone took the time and got him help for his socipathic ways then maybe this would not have happened.
Nathan
Keith Kimmel was not the victim of a hate crime. He committed hate crimes. There is no record of him being gay before he appeared in Oklahoma. In fact before he showed up here he was running straight hardcore bondage websites. He suddenly became gay once he got to Oklahoma and then immediately began harrassing GLBT’s around here while looking for gay issues he could use to file lawsuits. Learn about his life and his deeds against other GLBT’s and you might just come to an understanding as to why so many people aren’t buying his gay bashing complaint. They know him. They know how he does things and how he saw an opportunity to exploit his being a bully and turned his attack on a gay man in a club into his being the convenient victim of a gay bashing. This isn’t about the GLBT Community not taking up for one of their own. This is about it breathing a sigh of relief that the one single person, who brought the most direct hate against it in recent times, is now gone. Has anyone yet seen the pattern that the people who knew him are happy he’s finally gone, while those of you who did not know him in any manner are questioning why we aren’t upset? There is no single person that ever raised such a negative feeling than Keith Kimmel. You have no idea how truly horrible he was as a person.
staciegirlie17
@Michael
Touche. I’m sure my reading comphrehension is fine. I didn’t ask what someone READ about Kimmel, I asked (or meant) if there was actual eye witness proof from a non-biased party.
Though I gathered Kimmel was a troubled person who may have benefitted from counseling and a little kindness in his life from the links you sent me, it doesn’t matter what Mr. Kimmel allegedly may have done in the past. What matters is how it’s such a coincidence that he died only 2 days after contacting the PD’s internal affairs.
Kimmel’s the perfect person the government loves to make look incompetent, crazy (or even more ill than they actually are), and unstable whenever they “get in the way of business as usual.”
I’m not trying to falsely rile everyone up. I just think that everyone should look deeper into the facts.
Hilarious
The guy is dead. Just let whatever it is you didn’t like about him go.
It’s not like he can hurt you now.
Bashing a dead guy no matter what the reason just seems wrong and kind of sick. Move on.
Becky
I’ve read the bill as well as the U.S. Constitution and the supremacy clause and the 200 year long failure of nullification bills such as this one. You’re devoting yourself opposing a bill that will never make it past a federal hearing, when there are many issues that need addressed, but they obviously aren’t attractive to you unless they start getting tv time and become the cause of the moment. I can always spot your kind. You’re never there for the plain issues that mean something. Your kind are there, because it’s the thing getting attention. You probably saw something about it on Facebook or the like.
You cannot help a sociopath. You try and you get bit just as many of us discovered, when the raging fiend turned his rage on us. No one is relishing in a death, they’re relishing being rid of the worst person they’ve ever dealt with in life. People use the term monster loosely, but in this case it certainly applied. Unless you were there, do not dare tell those who have how to feel or behave.
People knew of the complaint before his death. The consensus already was that it was going to end up backfiring on the community, who would’ve been supporting a fraud. He didn’t give a flip about how his con jobs would effect others; only how he could use it and profit from it. People like you will stand up making this into something it’s not and behave like you’re the only one fighting for civil rights and equality. Grow up already. You have to be mature and informed enough to know what the right battle is and where you should devote your money, energy, and time in actually accomplishing something. You have to have the saavy to know that just because someone claims a gay bashing doesn’t mean it happened.
I don’t even think you understand the senate bill, as you say “As for a federal law, again, read the verbage on the SB. It is amazing. States are required to destroy all “hate” evidence.” First of all this is a state senate bill directed at opting out of a federal law. “States” are not required to destroy anything as the law would only cover and apply to Oklahoma. Maybe you should read the bill instead of telling others too. The bill even if approved and enacted into law would immediately be declared unconstitutional. This is all about grand standing. Russell is grand standing for attention and votes and others are grand standing in opposition, which always ends up in the end as a call for fundraising. In the meantime, those of us seriously working and not fashionably working for things that can be affected are doing so without the support and monies being devoted for something that is already won. Russell can have his bill, but in the end the battle is won by our side, because it will not stand.
Becky
“Kimmel’s the perfect person the government loves to make look incompetent”
You sure are the conspiracy minded one Stacie. Get a clue. This was no set up. No one could foresee a known drug addict with a drinking problem would be inside a Tulsa gay bar, far from his home city, and would go into a rage and one out the door the new world order and mean ole government would be outside waiting to beat him up and send him off to die at his friend’s apartment.
He was 400 pounds, a drug addict and an alcoholic. He was going into rages and depressions. Maybe he overdosed, maybe his heart finally gave out, maybe he killed himself to become a martyr to some silly girl named Stacie, or maybe he did die of some hidden injury received when he went outside and resisted the police, who had no idea who in the world he was. Unless of course they activated that chip inside him.
Drink the Kool Aid Stacie. Drink the Kool Aid.
Becky
Hilarious you’re another one that has no right to tell Kimmel’s victims how to feel or what to do. You people want to make him a martyr and a cause for equal rights, when there are many of us who know the truth.
TTower
Said on the web “You cannot help a sociopath. They are incurable, manipulative and inherently evil. My only advice is this: -Avoid them at all costs.”
You can feel sorry for the mental illness, but I know that there are many violent and abusive types and with many it comes down to the degree of abuse. Sometimes there are abused women and children that are sad when daddy gets locked up or dies. But othertimes there are some women and children that have a reason to be happy the abuser is gone.
You don’t tend to see this much passionate negativity waged at someone’s death. There’s no telling what’s being said other places too. So I’m going to look at this like an old tv movie where in some small town the local bully ended up dead and the whole town knew who did it, but decided they’d just let it go. I couldn’t ever take the stance that another person has the right to tell the victim how they should feel. That’s not anyone’s place. Clearly those that had to deal with this person regularly aren’t at all upset he’s gone and the feelings they’ve harbored for however longer are naturally surfacing.
IMHO Mr. Kimmel was not a victim. His past record shows a pattern of abusive behavior towards other that he would use to profit be it with money or getting the publicity to scare more people. Seems to me he fed off of hurting others and then re-rape them by suing them, stalking them, or making them look like the bad guy.
I don’t think the chickens feel much sorrow when the farmer comes into the coop and shoots the coyote. Just like I don’t think children are too upset to see the big mean bully removed from the playground. The people that weren’t there shouldn’t sit there far away telling the people who just stepped out of the warzone that they should have more sympathy for the guy that after them.
Hilarious
@Becky:
Where exactly did I try to make him a martyr? I don’t even know him.
How did he victimize you exactly? Online? I mean seriously get over it.
How much sympathy are you expecting to drum up online of all places while acting like an asshole? The guy is dead, move on.
Becky
Why aren’t you moving on if that is so important? If moving on from the subject is the goal you desire, then it is odd you choose to keep coming back to comment.
Maybe because you, being someone who doesn’t know about the subject or the people involved and who feels your ignorance makes you the authority on the subject, as well as endows you the tiara to tell those close to the topic what to do, are just in the end trolling.
TTower
Yeah not a good idea to tell others to move on when you aren’t doing it yourself.
Hilarious
Move on from what? I’m not the one bashing a dead guy.
Whatever floats your boat. If crying like an infant over some dude who’s six feet under makes you feel better then by all means keep going.
Not sure what you think will come of it.
Gary
Keith posted at an adult webmaster board http://gfy.com threatening and suing people. He used the name MinusOneBit. A search for his posts are interesting.
TTower
Yes, quite obviously a troll that keeps returning to feed. Anyone truly wanting others to move on would just ignore things, but a troll sticks around to stoke the fire.
Hilarious
Take the internet more seriously. Are you really going to cry now because you think you got trolled?
Cam
No. 33 · Laura Miller
You are 100% right, I do not know him or have been a victim of any of his hate rages but I do know one thig, maybe if someone took the time and got him help for his socipathic ways then maybe this would not have happened.
_________________
You’re so right Laura, nothing is anybody’s fault, it is the fault of a bunch of strangers in bars he attacked because they didn’t go up to him and say “Hey, could you use a hug?”. Sociopaths are deemed Sociopaths because they will manipulate any oppotunity they see. Somebody offering to help this guy most likely would have ended up with a cleaned out bank account and a few horror stories.
Oklahoma Boy
@Becky
you my lady are 100% correct… He was in no way representing the GLBT community he was strictly out for himself… If you people would read his blogs you would learn that realllly quickly… Luckily when he reached out to me and started his bullshit I was one step ahead and blocked him from every possible communication route.
Its hard to mourn when you are breathing a sigh of releif… I just feel bad for the people he hurt… I feel bad for Clayton Hornor.. I feel bad for the Police Officers who had to take his ass out of the club.. and are now being looked into for an obviously fake hate crime….. etc etc etc…
Will
Laura seems a bit naive. Probably a college student that has yet to be fully educated and lacks any understanding of the real world.
No one can get help for a sociopath. They do not have the authority first of all and the sociopath certainly wouldn’t cooperate. Hell, even his family gave up on him a long time ago – not because they didn’t care, but because only a court decision can force someone into care. Kimmel was a true sociopath. He had no conscience. He only cared about what he could get out of something and how he could use others.
On the surface to people not knowing the whole story, it would appear he was an activist and interested in civil rights. He wasn’t. He used and manipulated people and issues in order to serve himself. Those around him, including people who have long struggled for equality in Oklahoma, knew what he was about and were concerned what he was doing, since it was for self profit, was going to end up harming the community. Kimmel loved harming the community. He relished in it. He loved inficting pain and suffering on others.
He saw himself as a worldwide celebrity over the license plate issue. Sure, it got some publicity, but do you really think several Tulsa police officers, and Tulsa is a city a few hours away from Kimmel’s normal stomping grounds (he started going there because he had been banned from every club in OKC) – just happened to recognize him and knew his fight against the state? Kimmel believed it, but it’s nonsense. They were responding to a disturbance call about a drunk that was hitting people and refused to leave the bar. It’s obvious Kimmel continued his rage, something he blogged about being in, and the cops had a struggle with him.
It wasn’t about him being gay or being an activist, it was about an out-of-control maniac. In Kimmel’s mind however he saw an opportunity. He just didn’t file a complaint. He began sending out press releases about it. Sending out press releases about things was something he did on a regular basis. Here he saw an opportunity to use a problem he created to get back at those who stopped him from attacking others. And you can bet he was looking down the road at the City of Tulsa paying for it.
It was getting around about Kimmel. It’s just a matter of time before things catch up to a person and that time came for Keith Kimmel. His history had been reported on by hatetrackers.com which showed how he provoked things and then sued. They even questioned if he was really gay or just posing since he wasn’t gay until he showed up in Oklahoma and started using the community. Kimmel’s world was unraveling. With a documented past his attempts at bullying with lawsuits until he got a settlement were no longer working as people came to understand what he was doing. From the time of his allegations to his death he was seeing that no one was buying his latest scheme.
That makes me think he pushed the envelope by doing something to make his minor injuries more severe or by just killing himself.
Will
You hear some people say Kimmel was a nice guy. Those are the ones who only recently befriended him. Sociopaths work on charm…right up until the time they’ve cleared out someone’s life savings or buried them in a shallow grave.
Kate
@Alexander A.:
“Be a fucking human being.”
+100 – claps loudly.
Mentos
Seems to me had Kimmel treated others like human beings, the respect might have been returned.
Funny how there are always those ready to forgive the rapist and condemn the victim for not liking the assault.
Stuart Burbank
@Mentos: No doubt about it at all. “Be a human being.” frankly we are, we are hating someone who deserved hate in life and death. You reap what you sow people. Stop lecturing those who KNEW him and his crimes against HIS fellow “humans”.
qufo
I never knew Keith personally, but had a couple dust ups with him in the craigslist queer forum. It was always clear to me that he was intelligent and passionate about improving gay rights, but he had a caustic and bitter demeanor that many people probably did not miss when he faded away from craigslist some months ago.
I offer my most sincere condolences to his friends and family and include my own regret that someone with his powerful will to bring change could not have made his fight more like an archer’s arrow and less like TNT.
Larry-bob
I had only hear of Kimmel around the license place incident. Sounds like he had quite a bit of history.
There seems to be a lot of people taking his inventory in terms of his use of chemicals and especially talking about his weight, as if being a heavy guy was a sign of moral failing.
Mike
I find it funny that the comments section is playing out like “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” except substitute Oklahoma instead of Georgia.
cat
I knew Keith personally. I most definitely had my issues with him.
I do not believe he was a sociopath as several here have said. I do know that he had said he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a diagnosis that certainly matches most of what I observed in him.
I don’t know how much of the information provided by gossip-boy.com (and quoted by many commenters here) is accurate. The site certainly doesn’t offer any information about its sources. I’d like to see them – or any of you – back up their claims with legit sources.
sylvester
Cat … there’s this great research tool out there that will show you all about Keith Kimmel, the charges against him, previous misdeeds and associations from the South Bend Hackers Club to the theft of communication equipment, the problems he had that his family told press were due to a psychiatric condition, to the constant lawsuits, his sites teaching bomb building and how to hack, his breaking into peoples accounts, his operations like terroristsupply.com, and more. That magic tool is called Google. Or are you the type that has to still sit there and be fed apple sauce? But it’s easier for you to deny that which others have learned instead of finding the answers that are out there.
sylvester
As for prostitutes and things like depression and rage, drug and alcohol abuse, his hatred towards everyone but himself, how he was only working for his own benefit and not to seek equality for gays, well there’s a very good source for that…his very own blog.
Now a lot of these are personal issues and shouldn’t be anyone’s business, but since his unhealthy lifestyle could be the cause of or at least a contributing factor in his death, then it’s fair to discuss them and not grab the pitchfork and take up the gay bashing banner.
By the way, the gossipboy article about Kimmel’s death is mostly quotes from Kimmel’s press release, complaint and blog. It says that and provides links to each. From those sources that Kimmel himself provided they do bring up all the issues occurring in his life and the parts of his past they brought up, which can be googled by anyone, certainly showed a person that started crap and then ran to the courthouse to file a lawsuit.
Kimmel was in a rage and assaulting people in a gay bar so police were called. He resisted police and remained confrontational. From that Kimmel tried to claim he was the victim of a gay bashing, because of the license plate lawsuit he had filed. Now I think an innocent bar owner and police just trying to stop him from hurting anyone else are going to have to pay, because Kimmel’s trashy ass started a mess and tried to turn it into a lawsuit that got him money. Hell, maybe we should all go around punching people out and then suing everyone over it.
Even if his injuries came from his resisting and fighting the police, in the end Kimmel’s death is on him. He didn’t have to get drunk and go into a rage and take on the world to where people had to subdue him before he hurt anyone else.
But more likely you have a 400 lb 28 yr old with a history of alcoholism, drug abuse, and mental problems that was swinging between rages and depression. He was living out of his truck after no longer being able to afford living in the hotel room he got after losing his apartment and things weren’t going too well for him, as he thought his hooker/bf was using him and he had just punched out his friend.
Now I’m not trashing him, but his actions, personal choices, and lifestyle are issues here. Very, very likely his death is a result of them.
tamra
@Oklahoma boy: bullshit i know this clayton and he does this to people he uses and abuses! keith had every right to feel the way he did dont judge unless you personally know them
Anthony
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/05/gay-activist-dead-oklahoma-apartment/
Updated April 05, 2010
Gay Activist Found Dead in Oklahoma Apartment
FOXNews.com
A prominent gay activist was found dead in his Okla. apartment just two days after he filed a brutality complaint against the Tulsa Police Department, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.
A prominent gay activist was found dead in his Okla. apartment just two days after he filed a brutality complaint against the Tulsa Police Department, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.
Keith Kimmel made headlines in February when he fought the state for the right to own a license plate reading: “IM GAY.” Kimmel sued Okla. after the state’s Tax Commission denied his license plate request.
Kimmel recently filed a formal complaint with police after a scuffle outside a night club, a friend told MyFoxPhoenix.com. Kimmel alleged that officers “dragged [him] around the parking lot on [his] stomach” and “hit [his] head on the door frame several times,” a friend was quoted by the site.
“Whether or not his death was a direct result of the beating he received from the Tulsa Police Department Friday night.. it was still a hate crime.” said friend Kerri Logsdon.
Investigators are awaiting a medical examiner’s office to determine the exact cause of Kimmel’s death.