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.
One of the event’s organizers, James Sink of The Ten Percent Society, said:
The thing that we’re most concerned about is preserving the legitimacy of the organization and making people, and students of course, feel that it’s appropriate to go to the police if you feel you’ve been a victim of a crime.
Marquardt’s erroneous claims erode the strong case for anti-hate crime laws, laws the House will debate today. It’s things like this that give homophobes just cause in fighting such legislation.
Concerned Women for America’s Matt Barber wrote a scathing op-ed today in which he highlights Marquardt and Andrew Anthos’ cases as proof hate crime laws are overblown. He concludes:
Folks, although “hate crimes” legislation may very well make its way through Congress, the case for this “gay”-friendly legislation continues to rapidly unravel. It’s a fraud on its face, and America is beginning to catch on and speak out against it.
Paul Raposo
Mr. Marquardt, posted here before, could he come forth now and give us his side of the story?
This will sound harsh, but is this kid really gay, or might he work for the “other side”? This seems a rather timely occurence, considering the hate crimes bill vote.
Dave
I agree with Mr. Raposo.
Paul Raposo
Hmm…Interesting turn of events.
http://innerjoejoe.wordpress.com/
“The Moorhead Police Department has stated they do not have enough information to conclude the assault was anti-gay bias-motivated. Due to the concussion Paul received, his recollection of the assault is not clear enough to be sure of everything that happened.”
So, if Paul said, “I’m not sure,” would that be considered a recantation of the original events? It’s starting to seem that unless you’re dead in the gutter, with “faggot” cut into your forehead, the police will deny any anti-gay attack.
I’ll take back what I wrote originally. It seems Mr. Marquardt might be geting screwed over on this. I apologize and again, I hope Paul returns to share his side of this.
I don’t think The 10 Percent Society should have cancelled the march, though. That plays into the hands of our opponents.
Jesus Queerty, shouldn’t you guys be doing this sort of checking around on the stories you post? I’m just as disappointed in you as I am with myself. This was some fucked up reporting
Paul Raposo
Here’s another intersting take on this:
http://www.minnesotamonitor.org/showDiary.do;jsessionid=F6760A9C5776897FB766EF452A4D7E47?diaryId=1689
“Paul is a moron and that is why he was attacked Try having class with him. He’s not hated because hes gay, hes hated because he’s annoying – Always making smartass comments trying to be funny. I hope they charge him with something.”
Clearly there are people, This Jennifer included, who do not like Paul. This is starting to look more and more like a gay bashing being covered up.
Paul Raposo
Another curious statment:
http://wcco.com/local/local_story_121145949.html
“[Moorhead Deputy Police Chief Bob] Larson said Marquardt now believes he was pushed down and injured by an unknown person or persons. The incident is still being investigated.”
Who made him believe that? What happened during that second round of questioning, (bizarre that they’ve spent so much time questioning Paul, yet haven’t rounded up any suspects,) that made Paul “believe” they were unknown persons? It seems the cops spent more time watching the media for stories about Paul, than investigating this case
Paul Raposo
And lastly, in Queerty’s comments section from the fisrt post of this crime, a similar sounding post, this time as a “Guest” and not Jennifer:
http://www.queerty.com/queer/minnesota/mn-gay-jumped-beaten-injured-20070430.php#comments
Guest says:
It wasn’t a hate crime
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=164414§ion=news
Try having class with him. He’s not hated because hes gay, he’s not liked because he’s annoying – Always making smartass comments trying to be funny. IF he was actually attacked without reason, I have a small amount of sympathy for him, but I hope they charge him with something for messing with the community’s emotions.
It’s apparent that the victim is being turned in the criminal here. Dollars to doughnuts the attackers will never be caught, but the media–especially the anti-gay media–will never let anyone–especially Paul–forget about this
Dawster
okay, in the taped interview, Paul DID say it the issue isn’t about being gay… it was about campus security and how he was lying on the ground unconscious for however long before someone noticed… THAT was his issue.
so… it could be another instance where the media took the story and ran with it. I also hate the “there is not enough evidence” ploy by the police. they use that a lot for most homos (florida is no exception) whenever the police don’t want to use the exact phrase of “you were asking for itâ€. whenever there is a gay man involved, the immediate assumption is that he’s the guilty party… no matter what… and proving anything different is an uphill battle.
i mentioned already that the attackers could have been shouting gay slurs to ANY passing male. Regardless… asshole or not… jerk or not, the guy got beat up and was laying there. it is wrong and it’s punishable whether it was a “hate crime” or not.
Unless it’s now okay in this country to randomly beat people up, and there was a law passed that “assault and battery†are not longer punishable. Did I miss something??
Matt
When I was in college, a gay male acquaintance made up a hate crime to supposedly bring attention to hate crimes. Things like that hurt “the cause,” but we really have to look at these claims with *some* degree of skepticism, or we hurt the cause ourselves.
John
How many police officers in rural Minnesota are privy to the timetables of the U.S. House of Representatives? Unless Bob Larson has somehow come into possession of Nancy Pelosi’s daily planner, I don’t think there’s much of a conspiracy to report.
It’s simply an unfortunate coincidence.
JoeJoe
From what I know of the situation Paul’s intent was not malicious or deceitful. I don’t know him myself and haven’t met him, so I can’t speak directly to his everyday character. I honestly do believe that the story got away from him because he’s never been able to recollect it completely 100% because of the concussion he received in the assault.
Right now it is still being investigated as an assault, all the police said was that they did not have enough evidence to continue to investigate it as a bias motivated crime. In terms of media coverage it was skewed to make it sound like the intention was to ‘sham’ people into believing it was a hate crime and that isn’t the case.
Oh, and he is gay – that much I can verify 100%. Also he had always been pressing the issue of campus safety moreso than ‘hate crime’ since the beginning. Thanks Paul Raposo putting a link to my blog, I agree with your comments – don’t make him into the victim.
Paul Raposo
Thank you for clearing this up, JoeJoe. I hope Paul is recovering alright; both physically and emotionally.