As if Queens needed another vicious anti-gay attack on its hands comes word that 18-year-old Anthony Collao, a recent high school grad, was beaten and stomped to death at a friend’s birthday party Saturday night by a foursome screaming anti-gay slurs. Collao, meanwhile, was straight; he had a girlfriend. The party was thrown by two gay men.
Alex Velez, 16, and Nolis Ogando, Christopher Lozada, and Luis Tabales, all 17, were arrested soon after the attack and charged with manslaughter and assault. And no wonder: Lozada was wearing Collao’s Atlanta Braves hat, while the others were covered in blood.
They came uninvited to the Woodhaven party – advertised on Facebook – and refused to pay a $7 cover charge. They stormed the 90th St. home, busting windows and picking fights, witnesses said. The party was held in an abandoned home without electricity, lawyers for the suspects said. The crashers flashed gang signs, yelled anti-gay slurs and scrawled epithets in red marker on the walls, the two party hosts said. “They called us homos and all kinds of stuff,” said one of the men,who was celebrating his 20thbirthday. Sensing trouble, Collao left with a friend and was chased, sources said. The gang caught him, pinned him against a car and “beat him to within an inch of his life,” a source said. He was kicked and punched. Velez carried a pipe, sources said. Collao was on life support until Monday.
And now he is dead.
Zeus
And it’s thugs like this that should give women more of a reason to get an abortion.
raypro
And once again, the parents/adult guardians live in denial by blaming the victim and stating how their darling son could never do such a thing..
Gordon
They were covered in Anthony’s blood, and yet according to their relatives they wouldn’t hurt a fly.
ousslander
charged with manslaughter and assault? what kind of bullshit is that? If you are stomping on someone’s head you intend to kill them. I mean candy and unicorns aren’t going to fly out his skull and then have a tea party with the killers and victim. They knew they were killing him
justiceontherocks
@ousslander: It’s bullshit, but it’s also the real world. Police and prosecutors tend to charge based not only on the facts they think they can prove but what they think a jury (in Queens) will convict the perps of. A lot of crimes that happen at parties (where alcohol and drugs tend to obscure memories) wind up getting undercharged. But you are right, it’s a damned shame.
Francis
Parents of these gangbangers many times absolutely do not know their kids are in gangs. That’s the saddest part, I can totally see how that is true and they had no idea. Of course, now they are in denial their kids are animals. This shows you just how little many parents are involved in their kids’ lives. These are 16 and 17 year old’s committing such a barbaric crime. Tragic.
This doesn’t necessarily seem like a hate crime. It seems like they targeted this one kid specifically, according to what I saw a friend of his write, everyone knew he had a GF. It’s probably a gang initiation situation or an argument happened between the victim and the thugs. In any case, it’s completely senseless. And this should show us all that New York, while it has it’s gay accepting areas, still definitely has it’s ghettos and low rent areas, where uneducated poor felons reign. You go outside of your safe areas and it isn’t safe at all.
Sug Night
Now that straights are getting “gay bashed” to death, maybe something will get done about it.
These clearly uninvolved, sleepwalking parents of the killers should keep their frigging mouths shut. They’re probably the first to say gays should not be allowed to be parents.
Michael Letterman
And how is it any worse if they killed a man because he is a queer or because they just didn’t like his socks or hat? A murderer is a murderer and no special punishment or reward should be granted because the victim chooses to sleep with a member of the same sex or a member of the opposite sex.
To call it a “gay bashing” instead of a “bashing” whatever that may be so lets just stipulate it means “murder” attempts to grant it special status as a hate crime when in fact all murders are crimes of hate, passion, or insanity.
This difference is one of the key reasons our group feels it is necessary to maintain the dignity of all of our laws, to keep them from being cluttered by special designations be it hate crime, marriage or any other alterations.
Shannon1981
This is horrific. May he RIP. And the little murderers need to rot. Manslaughter indeed. More like 2nd degree murder, maybe first, since it seemed they pre meditated gate crashing the party…
SavvyWindigo
@Michael Letterman:
Ideally hate-crime statutes are for crimes intended to spread fear throughout a community, a form of terrorism. It’s the difference between burning down a warehouse and burning down a synagogue or a gay person’s home.
justiceontherocks
@Michael Letterman: what is exactly is “our group”? Who do you represent?
Or have you been playing with your pretend friends again?
Francis
That’s the part that gets to me too, Sug Night. Your own kid is in a fucking gang committing gang violence, and you don’t even know about what’s going on? Have you all noticed in these NYC hate crimes, usually a young convicted felon/ghetto thug/gang member committing the act, the parents of these kids always say they don’t know what happened, or their kid couldn’t have done it because they are “SUUUUCH good kids!”? How uninvolved can one be? This young man is dead for what, exactly?
This also speaks to another issue at hand here. The conservatives are right. The family unit of America is breaking down, but obviously it’s not because of us. But when as a nation you have a 40% out of wedlock childbirth rate and a near 60% divorce rate, and a dwindling marriage rate, that means most kids do not have a stable family environment. And this is what happens, kids run amok, turn to gangs or the streets, and essentially lose all sense of humanity, if they had any. We as a community need to do a better job at realizing where/who the main issues are for us in terms of safety and discrimination. Instead of holding parties in trendy Manhattan, there needs to be more outreach in the inner cities of NYC, because that’s where these incidents/the attackers who commit these incidents, are mainly happening. We need to address the real problems and fix them, because it gets better campaigns may work in SoHo, but clearly the message isn’t getting out to the people and communities who need to hear it the most.
Michael Letterman
Francis,
Eloquently put and with one small dissagreement I completely agree with everything else you stated.
To the rest who question me,
As for who my group is, we are the ones working to keep our Senate and House fully aware and constantly updated on what we see as the danger to our laws and way of life which we seek to preserve. I work in a federal position for an agency which allows me access to people and places to protect a country I so dearly love. I am married to my High School sweetheart and we have been together for almost 30 years. This is about all you would need know of me. I am not speaking on behalf of the government or any other organization we do our talking to those in power to make changes. I speak here because it is where I gain the most knowledge to fuel my other more important discussions.
Jukadiie
oh my god…what an awful story. im speechless
Desdemona
@ Michael Letterman
When a person beats another person yelling ‘homo’ or ‘fag’ or any anti-gay slur, IT IS A HATE CRIME. what don’t you understand about that? Some murders are random, but if they target someone specifically for being gay- it’s a hate crime! And it needs to be law so people realize they can’t beat and/or kill someone for being gay!
Michael Letterman
Desdemona,
What I understand is that when one human being attacks or kills another it is a crime of hate, when one person rapes another it is a crime of hate. An assault or murder should not be worse or better based on the sexual choices of the victims. To say that because someone screamed anything during the commission of a crime or that the victim was chosen at random or not does not infer some special evil that is not already present in the act of the crime itself.
If you still believe that a crime can be qualified as worse based on someones sexual choice then I have a few parents of murdered children who might sway your opinion is their grief eased because their children were straight? Would they suffer more if the perpetrator of these crimes thought they would grow up to be gay? Is it better or worse if the victim is Bisexual?
You have the right to your opinion but I hope I explained what I do not understand regarding this topic.
Kev C
@Michael Letterman: The reason why some americans hate the “hate crimes” status for homophobic violence is because they are homophobic and hate gays. They don’t raise this issue when jews are harrassed and attacked. Someone scrawls a swastika on a synagouge or a grave and everyone understands it’s a crime motivated by hatred of jews.
Some gays also dislike “hate crimes” and try to rationalize it with trite, weak ass arguments such as yours. But the reason why, is because they are traditionalist and don’t want to rock the boat with their homophobic masters who watch Bill O’Reilly and think they’re hearing reasoned truth but are just tuning in to bullshit which is spewed and repeated over and over until some gullible idiot believes it.
So if you don’t understand the REALITY of hate crimes category, I suggest you educate yourself and please STFU until you understand why they are a REALITY that you must accept. Have a nice night and please STFU.
Codswallop
@Michael Letterman: As for who my group is, we are the ones working to keep our Senate and House fully aware and constantly updated on what we see as the danger to our laws and way of life which we seek to preserve.
“An assault or murder should not be worse or better based on the sexual choices of the victims.”
So unless I’m misreading you entirely, based on your use of “sexual choices,” your need to identify yourself with “I am married to my High School sweetheart,” and other things, I’m assuming you work with or for an Conservative organization, perhaps specifically addressing marriage equality.
Just a guess. How close did I get?
Hate Crimes are those intended to threaten or scare an entire community, to serve as a warning that “their kind” is unsafe and unwelcome. The destruction of the World Trade Center was a Hate Crime, for instance, and nobody suggested it be treated merely as a destruction of property or “just” murder now did they? No, it was terrorism against America and Americans, a crime that was larger than than just the loss of property and life incurred. Eric Rudolph’s bombing of a gay bar was also terrorism even though it was much more narrowly focused, specifically at the gay community. The same can be true of a one-on-one crime if it was aimed at a community.
scott ny'er
well at least one of the perps is stupid and hopefully he’ll be put away for a long time and get karmic justice on his ass.
from the daily news:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/03/16/2011-03-16_5th_suspect_arrested_in_fatal_beating_of_queens_teen_bragged_of_hate_crime_on_fa.html
“Law enforcement sources said Pietri was bragging on Facebook about the attack, using homophobic slurs to describe the victim. Four other teens were arrested shortly after the incident and charged with manslaughter.
Authorities are considering upgrading the charges against them to manslaughter as a hate crime.”
Michael Letterman
Kev C,
You dismiss my words as trite I can only assume without either having the capacity to understand them or the maturity to set aside your personal issues to rationalize them. Scrawling a swastika on a house of worship is a hate crime, so is scrawling a daisy with a bumble bee beside it. Alas we can only prosecute for vandalism which is what both things truly are.
Let me put it this way, the person who painted the swastika/daisy had to have had hate in mind when he defaced the house of worship, it wasn’t done in peace or love. Yet you purport to ascribe a special status based on the sentiment of the perpetrator? This is a dangerous area of law.
To illustrate further if I am in a car crash, should I hire an investigator to search the Internet for my assailants profile and when found to have a connection to an anti domestic automobile organization, then use that to declare it a hate crime against me? (I drive a domestic car).
Yes, I understand the reality of all crime, not just hate. And in my life’s work I have yet to come across a beating or murder that didn’t have an aspect of hate involved. I challenge you to find a instance where a person beat or murdered another with love in mind. Oh and I don’t have time to watch Bill O’Riley or much of any talk television.
Codswallop,
You are partially correct, my job is more of an enforcement nature and I am not speaking on behalf of my job but on behalf of the groups I belong to which are indeed Conservative and we address issues of all kinds in regard to our laws and society.
What murder or beating doesn’t scare a community? I’ve seen the murder of one small child nearly destroy a neighborhood and leave it all but devastated in the wake of that act.
The acts at the Trade Center were hate crimes indeed as I’ve stated all crimes are hate crimes, however we do not designate that act as a hate crime nor is it prosecuted as one. We define that as an act of terrorism. Rudolph’s bomb attact was terrorism as well. My point is that exsisting laws such as Terrorism, Murder (with it’s many designations), Assault, etc, are all crimes of hate and no special designation is necessary.
To state in point, “hate crime” if I kill a queer man but just “crime” if I kill a straight child? So I can infer that it is worse to kill a queer man then a straight child? If that makes sense to you so be it. It does not to me and I am the one that need fill out the paperwork.
justiceontherocks
@Michael Letterman: I ask you again to tell us what “groups” you belong to and represent.
You may think the designation of a hate crime is unnecessary, but many lawmakers obviously disagree with you. They’ve chosen to enhance the punishment in order to deter despicable conduct. Surely you understand about deterring unwanted conduct.
I am saddened about one thing – that you fill out paperwork. You can’t spell or write a coherent sentence. My tax dollars wasted again.
Kev C
@Michael Letterman: Dude, a man’s been murdered in a hateful way. The next time a skinhead opens fire on a jewish community center, and maybe kills a jew or maybe a non-jew (it’s happened before). I want you to troll some jewish website and explain to them why it’s not a hate crime. Insensitive, clueless windbag of stupidity.
Codswallop
What’s interesting to me is that Conservatives, who are the source of some of the most Draconian laws on the books, ardent supporters of the Death Penalty, and who regularly hold games of oneupmanship over who is “toughest on crime,” suddenly turn tail and scream like scalded cats over the unfairness of Hate Crime legislation. Now why would the authoritarian Conservatives suddenly grow a conscience and speak out AGAINST an opportunity to increase sentencing for crime? Why indeed.
Because it effects their own political efforts against vulnerable minority groups, gays in particular. Oh, they’re more than happy to rhapsodize about their own victim status in regards to the allegedly liberal media but suddenly it’s “identity politics” when other groups do the same thing, citing Conservative ideology as a cause of violence and murder, a political POV with its own body-count. THEN it’s all so terribly unfair. And also very very convenient, to themselves at least.
While proving motive isn’t necessary to proving guilt, prosecutors have ALWAYS tried to do so because juries want to know. It’s a natural part of human curiosity to want know WHY someone did something. And motive in the vast majority of violent crime is clear cut and obvious and involves a prior relationship between victim and perpetrator, an interpersonal reason for the hostility that resulted in violence.
But not nearly as often in Hate Crimes. In those cases the perpetrator and the victim often have never laid eyes on each other before, the victim is merely a representative of a group, not a specific target. The direct victim of the crime is almost incidental since that person was usually just in the wrong place at the wrong time, their only offense being a member (or perceived member) of a group the perpetrator just doesn’t like. Their “offense” is being gay, black, Jewish, Muslim, or for that matter white or Christian, and the attack is really against the GROUP even as it’s manifested as an attack on an individual.
Yet this is the ONE area where Conservatives aren’t at the forefront championing enhanced sentencing for crime and it’s a notable exception. A cynic would say it has nothing to do with their claim it values certain victims unequally, but has more to do with the fact that victims of Hate Crimes are often those who are also targeted by the Conservatives’ own political rhetoric. I guess that makes me a cynic.
Michael Letterman
Justiceontherocks,
You can ask all you want but before I answer kindly tell me why I should feel obligated to do so. Many lawmakers disagree with me and many others agree, my object then is to convince the first group to change their minds and in this I am beginning to be quite effective. All murders, all beatings are by their nature despicable my point is they are no more or less so based on the sexual preference of the victim. I am sorry I saddened you but neglecting to click the spell checker. I am a rather busy man and sometimes in my rush to get my thoughts out I neglect using that feature. To gladden you I will surely attempt to click it going forward. However you sadden me by some of the words you chose to use will you show me the same respect I am showing you? I doubt it.
Kev C, Dude, is there a way to murder someone in a none hateful way? Barring a debate on euthanasia, I have yet to find a case where this is so. To attempt to kill a group of people in any way is no less tragic then killing one person and perhaps more so. If you can point me to a Jewish website that is attempting to promote that crimes against them are a higher category then crimes committed against any other group I will be glad to correct them as well. I have dealt with such cases many times and have yet to find any Synagogue insist that a crime committed against them is more hateful then the same crime committed against a Church. See parity in that case yet you do not find parity in the case of the beating of a queer vs. the beating of a normal person.
Also thanks for closing with insults it makes my case so much easier to make.
Kev C
@Michael Letterman: CASE CLOSED
justiceontherocks
@Michael Letterman: Your opinions do not deserve respect. (1) You’re a classic bigot who thinks god gave him the right to define deviance; (2) you claim to work in law enforcement and then announce to the world that he will decline to enforce a law he doesn’t like.
You’ve forfeited any right you might have had to be taken seriously. Discussion over.
Kev C
@Michael Letterman: Hey, did you hear that the suspects are charged with a HATE CRIME? Remember what I said about coping with REALITY?
COPE!
Nate
@justiceontherocks:
hey justice long time no see…I have continued to read queerty but I have not yet commented until now. The reason I have finally gotten off my ass and logged in is to ask you why you have been in a bad mood lately? I mean when the three of us met we all seemed to be in good spirits but ever since you seem to be in a bad mood. I am not saying that what you are saying to Michael Letterman is not called for because it completely is. what he is saying is nothing short of what I would expect a 6 year old who does not yet understand the concept of hate crimes to say.
Mattybear
@Michael Letterman:
I’ll try to explain this to you in a way you may understand.
If a person or people attack a victim because they want money or dislike him/her on a personal level; that is not a “Hate Crime.”
Crimes that are meant to spread fear of such violence to a larger minority; that is a Hate Crime. Acts such as the burning of a cross on the front lawn of a house owned by a minority are hate crimes. The reason for this is that the act does not only a threat against the individuals who own the house, but is meant to be a message to the rest of that minority community. To “put them in their places,” or mark them as outside the rest of the community.
Hate Crimes involving violent attacks are different from other acts of violence. First of all to qualify for the term, there has to some evidence that the attackers specified hatred for the group beforehand or during the attack. Also malice against the group during the act. The victim of the attack really does not matter, it could have been any member of that minority. Unfortunately this young man was the one caught by the attackers.
The reason the victim was chosen was due to his perceived homosexuality, the attackers had no emotional connection to the victim. The true purpose of the attack was violence against a community. The attackers were trying to show their dominance over another minority and to put a member of that group “in his place.”
for more information try here first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime
Please don’t make me have to do your homework again.
Codswallop
Oh, and let’s not pretend that child murder isn’t adequately punished, either by the length of sentence or the death penalty. That’s such an obvious canard it’s hardly worth addressing. I’m certainly not saying it’s unfairly punished, just that it’s disingenuous to claim that dead children or the victims of other violent crimes are treated as somehow “lesser” by our criminal justice system.
The same thing CANNOT be said of punishment for crimes against gays and lesbians or members of other minority or unpopular groups. Even a casual look at the number of death sentences given in black-on-white crime versus white-on-black crime should be enough to disabuse anyone of that notion. Look at the number of times a “gay panic” defense has been used by murderers of gay men, how many times a jury has given a relatively minor sentence to the perpetrators of crimes against gays due to their personal beliefs regarding homosexuality.
Claiming that somehow dead children get a raw deal in the criminal justice system due to Hate Crime laws is a red herring.
TheRealAdam
@Michael Letterman: Bigoted, highly-slanted, short-sided, insensitive, and absolutely reprehensible.
Your arguments are arguments of privilege, of the dominant kind – you are therefore unqualified to dispense information about topics such as this.
Frankly, all murders are NOT equal, socially speaking. Many of them, as in this case, carry societal baggage and reflect larger social and cultural ills that need adjustment. They can and should be adjusted through the criminal justice system, hence why designations such as “hate crime” exist. It’s not some abstract concept – it’s a response to the larger fabric of hatred, violence, and disenfranchisement perpetrated against specific groups of people in our culture; in this case, gays. Whether or not YOU agree with advocating the correction of such ills through the criminal justice system is irrelevant.
The conceit of you rats is appalling.
TheRealAdam
*short-sighted, is what I meant.
justiceontherocks
@Nate: Hello, Nate. Hope things are going well at the new place.
Sorry to disappoint everyone (or anyone) but I’m not in a bad mood, except for being ready for a little warm weather.
As for the Yahoo who wrote post #24, you were too generous with him.
Mattybear
@Michael Letterman:
Okay try these:
Search is on for church hate crime vandals
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7459955
Ohio Man Ronald Pudder Faces Hate Crimes Charge In Church Arson
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/ronald-pudder-church-arson-hate-crimes-charge_n_721793.html
I found a few of them, but I’m sure if you are truly serious you can do your own Google search.
You say:
“parity in the case of the beating of a queer vs. the beating of a normal person.”
Do you mean a person who is not gay? Usually in a case involving the beating of a heterosexual person, it involves a personal connection to that person. (Reasons like, robbery, I hated him, he slept with my girlfriend, etc.) I the case of anti-LGBT hate crimes the victim is just a symbol to the attackers of what they hate.
And I ask that you not use the word “queer.” You are obviously not part of the LGBT community. The use of that word by you is fairly offensive. I don’t like my own community using it, but that is another issue. From you it is just meant to be offensive.
Goodbye, and I hope you find some true happiness in your life.
New favorite quote, “A life of dislike and hate. Absent of true love for others. Leaves a soul marked and twisted.”
Michael Letterman
I don’t define deviance, I used a dictionary, aberrance: a state or condition markedly different from the norm
So what I am saying is having sex with a member of the same sex is hardly “normal” neither by a religious or evolotionary standpoint. Thereby if it isn’t a norm it is a deviance. Argue all you want a fact is a fact.
Further I follow the letter of the law in all my working, my attempt is to influence those who write the laws so that they apply equally and do not grant special status based on the victims choice of sexual partner.
As for the rest of the insults, I’m immune. If you must lower yourselves to insult me, my family, my religon, or my politics, so be it. I really do not care. For those of you who attempted intelligent debate I welcome you and thank you. For those who get personal and insultive, well I can hold my head up in front of family, community and work. My opinions are mine and those who agree with me and we have as much right to them as you do.
The sane Francis
Choice of sexual partner? Um, sexual orientation is defined by more than sexual activity. Secondly, something can be normal and not the norm. Which should be common sense. Thirdly, hate crimes are essentially terror attacks against an individual or group of people for who they are. This isn’t the same as randomly committing a robbery or a love crime. This is a pre-mediated assault against an entire community meant to send a message of hate and discomfort in your surroundings. Which is why the hate crime label applies.
TheRealAdam
@Michael Letterman: Let me get even more personal, then, you bottom-feeding, ignorant, piece of shit, bigoted ass oxygen dumpster: Gays aren’t going anywhere. The arc of history is toward progress and liberation. It was the same for other minority groups, and it WILL be the same for us, no matter the neanderthal speed bumps like you that were shitted out of your mother’s sweaty asshole. Your kind have been reproduced through the decades and centuries – you share a common, distinguishing feature that has NEVER triumphed, and absolutely never will: bigotry. You can take your pathetic, wretched ass to every gay site or blog you like, spew your stupidity, and you will still be just one more particle of bigoted dust in the wind that is as absolutely irrelevant as you are worthless. You change nothing to suit your own ends. You only speed OUR progress and make our lives that much more dutiful in the face of adversity. For that, we THANK you. You only continue to make our lives worth living.
You can sit and spin on that, you sniveling, cowardly little insect. I’ll see YOU on the other side of gay equality and emancipation. Rest ASSURED of that.
Mattybear
@Michael Letterman:
Really your insulted by little old me?
If you feel insulted by any of us, its really only your own fault. You come on to a blog like this, insulting the people who post here, victims of hate crimes, and tainting the names of good christians everywhere. But as you are probably only using the idea of being insulted as a cover, “Oh poor me, I tried to just talk to them, but the mean gays called me names….” it makes me chuckle a little. I mean if you really wanted to have a discussion or debate, you wouldn’t come on here and use words like qu**r, but you are just too bigoted to understand that.
As for the “special rights” argument, it is so impossibly old, even your friends in the right wing community don’t even use it. Sorry to be the one to tell you.
If you had bothered to read the information I sent you, Hate crime law protections apply to all minority groups. So no one gets “special rights,” it is equally applied to everyone who engages in a hate crime. Even you would be covered if you belonged to a group that someone was targeting.
But I forget your not really here to debate or discuss. Just to turn the story of the death of a young man into a sick and twisted chance to attack people you don’t like. Are you a member of the Phelps family by chance? They seem to like to attack people who are grieving for a lose.
So goodnight.
Codswallop
@Michael Letterman: The only thing your adherence to the Conservative boilerplate “belief” that sexuality is a “choice” proves is that for you ideology trumps both logic, history, and science. That same willingness to ignore logic and science when it conflicts with ideology results in such dubious “trumphs” as the Creationism Museum that insists the Earth is 6,000 years old and Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs, hardly a high-point of wisdom or scholarship.
It follows that you also believe in “ex-gays” since choice implies someone can change their mind. Right? Do you actually believe that people can choose their sexuality or just that gay people should repress THEIR sexuality so as not to offend YOUR delicate sensibilities? That’s a better description of the actual Conservative position, not that people really choose their sexuality but that others should repress their sexuality because YOU don’t like it, while you and your ilk do whatever the hell you want. Yeah. Good luck with that.
Jeffree
Ignore the troll “Michael Letterman:” he’s only here to seek attention and derail the conversation and to wank. Denied the attention he craves, he will slither off to another blog (well, one of the ones he hasn’t been booted off yet).
Nate
@justiceontherocks:
HEY! i totally owe you an apology! your not in a bad mood or crabby or pissy at all sweetheart; it was wrong of me to say it on here rather than in e-mail but now that we have talked a bit i completly understand your reasoning for everything…
and for that Michael bigot guy…more on him later!
justiceontherocks
@Nate: Nate, If you’re talking about the person who made a semi-literate and totally ignorant response to me at #24, I’ve joined Jeffree in declaring him extinct. He is one of the departed. He sleeps with the fishes. He is very very truly dead.
I have to run now so i can go to a breeder blog and tell them they are deviant perverts.
the truth
It is a sad story but you people are talking about things that are not true that wasnt a hate crime or gay bashing like the media is making it seem theres ten parents hurting at the moment and endless amount of friends and family affected by this situation it is sad after all none the less, there are innocent people being blamed and charged for an act they have no control over, the actions of others…. It’s unjust that so many young kids are being held responsible for the act of one person with that in mind you can’t blame everyone for what another does IT’S UNJUST,. IT’S UNJUST, IT’S UNJUST be reasonable and understanding that not all the kids that got arrested were responsible….
jocelyn
The situation is sad but what Are these kids doing in this abondened house? where are the neighbors in this community? See something say something. where are the parents of these 40 kids? In my neighborhood they have a work program called wildcat they clean the neighborhood in if they see something unsual they report it if people would do the same these things wouldn’t happen. The person who organized this party should also be arrested and held responsible. thats trespassing. Collecting funds for property thats not even theres? dont u think they all should of been arrested as well?
totito
what the hell im lesbian n proud i know not all these are guilty, dont think this is a hate crime i see it as they were mad cause they were not let in for free…
mike dick
um u ppl need to get a dam life posten bullshyt about ppl u dont no if u or ya fam wuz in ther shoes h0w would ya act ya sayin these kids r devils well i say wut the hell wuh ya think ya dont no these kids they are not like this and the media is full offs**t they wer so invited to da party if u really care the host should be locked up to kuz they did say it wuz a vacent house so who eva threw the party is just as blaim n ppl sayin its a hate crime wtf how if the kid got a girl smh freeeeeeee allllllll my real rights ju heard offf thisssss shyt & no 1 u kan eat a whole dick watch ya mouth
Ren
Let’s clear this up. The following is taken directly from the New York State Hate Crimes Act of 2000 (http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/legalservices/ch107_hate_crimes_2000.htm):
§ 485.00 Legislative findings.
The legislature finds and determines as follows: criminal acts involving violence, intimidation and destruction of property based upon bias and prejudice have become more prevalent in New York state in recent years. The intolerable truth is that in these crimes, commonly and justly referred to as “hate crimes”, victims are intentionally selected, in whole or in part, because of their race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexu-
al orientation. Hate crimes do more than threaten the safety and
welfare of all citizens. They inflict on victims incalculable physical and emotional damage and tear at the very fabric of free society. Crimes motivated by invidious hatred toward particular groups not only harm individual victims but send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members of the group to which the victim belongs.
Hate crimes can and do intimidate and disrupt entire communities and vitiate the civility that is essential to healthy democratic processes. In a democratic society, citizens cannot be required to approve of the beliefs and practices of others, but must never commit criminal acts on account of them. Current law does not adequately recognize the harm to public order and individual safety that hate crimes cause. Therefore, our laws must be strengthened to provide clear recognition of the gravity of hate crimes and the compelling importance of preventing their
recurrence.
So, the statute tells us that the following criteria have to be met for a hate crime to have occurred:
– The victim was intentionally selected, in whole or in part, because of their race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation.
– Hate crimes do more than threaten the safety and welfare of all citizens…[they] not only harm individual victims but send a powerful message of intolerance and discrimination to all members of the group to which the victim belongs.
– Hate crimes can and do intimidate and disrupt entire communities and vitiate the civility that is essential to healthy democratic processes.
Now, let’s break down the facts of the case: The party was held by two young gay men. There was reason to expect that the individuals attending the party would be tolerant of gays, or perhaps gay themselves, by virtue of their friendship with the men throwing the party. The attackers, who were clearly not friends of the hosts of the party, chose to force their way inside in order to harass and intimidate the party goers based on their perceived sexual orientation(by spouting anti – gay slurs, threatening guests, writing slurs on the wall). The attackers clearly selected to harass these people because of their perceived sexual identity, or their support of individuals who identify as gay. The attackers then followed the victim outside of the party and murdered him based on the (incorrect) assumption that the victim was gay by virtue of his attendance at the party. Clearly, the attackers did not care enough to find out whether their victim was indeed a member of the group they sought to intimidate – they simply chose an easy target (alone, isolated from the group) that they thought fit into the category they were trying to intimidate (gay, because he was at the party, and established by their actions at the party) and beat him to death. He was selected based on his perceived sexual orientation (they shouted as much while beating him to death) – whether or not their perceptions were in actuality correct means nothing. These criminals were stupid enough to shout out their intent and motivation to tens of party goers and to shout out their intent while actually murdering their victim. If this is not a hate crime, I don’t know what is.
Additionally, I would also like to point out that this statute protects anyone singled out SPECIFICALLY because of race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation. This means if someone were to enter the house of an Italian family during a big family family party, scream anti Italian slurs, and murder one of the guests while continuing to scream anti Italian slurs (even though that guest was actually Irish) – it would ALSO qualify as a hate crime. Substitute Black or Jewish there as well. I have NO IDEA why, in such a clear cut case as this, anyone would take the side of these apparent sociopaths and try to argue that they should have a less severe punishment – because that would be the outcome of getting rid of the hate crime status on this case. This is so incredibly sad.
Ren
I do feel for the family members of everyone involved, but the law is the law for a reason. It can’t just be selectively applied when it works out in your favor. Perhaps this will send a message to parents about how important it is to make sure to educate your children about tolerance – you don’t necessarily have to like people who are different than you, but you do have to respect their right to be different than you.
Ren
I do feel for the family members of everyone involved, but the law is the law for a reason. These kids’ are going to be sent to prison for a long time, but at least they are allowed to live. They didn’t do the victim this kindness. This law is intended to stop truly destructive bigotry of all types. Hopefully parents will realize how important it is to make sure to educate children about tolerance – it’s not necessary to like everyone who is different than you, but it is necessary to respect their right to live and go about their lives without harassment.