Thanks to a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Robert Lee Hannah (pictured) is getting off with one count of simple assault, a misdemeanor, after beating gay Maryland resident Tony Randolph Hunter so badly, he died from his injuries last September. Hannah, originally arrested on a voluntary manslaughter charge, faces a maximum of 180 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. Looks like the “gay panic” defense worked: Hannah was so put off by the way Hunter allegedly “touched” him, he savagely bludgeoned him. Meanwhile, Hannah is a free man on bond while he awaits sentencing. A judge accepted his plea one year to the day that Hunter died in the hospital.
gollygeegaygoy
how depressing. and what an incentive to others to do it again. i wonder if a gay man murdered him, they could claim heterosexual panic.
HiredGoons
Fail.
AlkeWekJunkie
Black gays should be on fire behind this, if this were a white gay, i know they’d organize/protest, why can’t blacks do the same?? SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beto
Disgusting and sickening in any form…
HiredGoons
@AlkeWekJunkie: that is a broad generalization.
Cam
When did Murder become simple assault? Even when you take the hate crime label off it. The guy died from the injuries you don’t get to lower that down to simple assault?!
Jeffrey
I’m so infuriated right now I can’t even concentrate on work. I’m speechless. How can this even happen in this day and age? If I had my way with this moronic thug, I’d shoot him myself.
will clemens
@gollygeegaygoy: No,,it would just be called racist, and I am getting tired of their cry.
HiredGoons
@Jeffrey: don’t sink to his level.
Chitown Kev
@AlkeWekJunkie:
You’re right. DC black gays are some tired bitches. Actually, it’s been the Blade that’s on the story.
We’ve been dissing the DC black gays over at Rod’s place. seriously. Can’t stand up to a thug like this, won’t stand up to Miss Bishop Jackson or the crackhead former mayor…etc., etc.
imperator
On the bright side, maybe during his too-short stay in prison he’ll get violently gang-raped and expire of massive rectal hemorrhaging. You can’t say it wouldn’t have a certain ironic symmetry.
rudy
Some pathetic irony – the deal was struck by Kevin Flynn, US District Attorney since 1987 and author of “Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn’t Quit.”
mk
Why is this being made a race thing? The killing wasn’t about race. Anyone can get out there and take action over the decision, including the posters here who are complaining.
Chitown Kev
@mk:
It’s a looooooooooooong story, mk.
It shouldn’t be a race thing at all, you’re right. I can do nothing here in the Midwest that can’t and shouldn’t be done in DC. There’s a bit of a pattern here as it pertains to DC and the DC element is actually the most important part of the story.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
You can delete my comment, but the fact of the matter is, it’s true. Rodney King anyone?
Confused
@Mr. Enemabag Jones:
Mr. Jones, I don’t know what Rodney King has to do with this.
C 'eh N 'eh D 'eh
@Confused:
What Rodney King has got to do with this is that when people fuck with black people, black people get pissed off.
Why are DC queers not marching on the courthouse demanding justice? Or do we just not care because it’s black on black violence? If Tony Hunter were white, would be holding candle light vigils?
He was someone’s son and deserves better than the Justice Department gave him.
Chitown Kev
@Confused:
In the criminal case regarding Rodney King, there was a gross miscarriage of justice based on the video that we all saw and black folks took to the streets.
In this criminal case the victim actually died and he gets 180 days in jail.
The language use in Mr. Jones comment was bigoted and objectionable but his point is actually on the mark.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
C ‘eh N ‘eh D ‘eh, thank you for your reply, but I can answer for myself.
Confused, what C ‘eh N ‘eh D ‘eh wrote.
That is all.
C 'eh N 'eh D 'eh
@Mr. Enemabag Jones:
Sorry, I didn’t mean to step on anyone’s toes. The gay panic “defense” just really pisses me off.
Chitown Kev
Oh, boy…I found this on one of the links to the link
“U.S. Attorney Kevin Flynn told Diaz he could not “offer an on-the-record” comment regarding details of the plea bargain, but that he has had “informal discussions” with the defense and Hunter’s family. Flynn said both sides are favorably considering the plea bargain.”
The deceased’s family agreed to the plea bargain, apparently.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
No harm, no foul.
And to Chitown Kev, I love all queers, no matter their race, or religion. It’s the hets I can’t stand because so many of them are so self-important.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
The deceased’s family agreed to the plea bargain, apparently.
See what I said about hets, Chitown Kev?
Chitown Kev
@Mr. Enemabag Jones:
You don’t have to tell me. I’d like to say that I was surprised when I saw that but for some reason, I’m not.
schlukitz
What a revoltin’ development this is….
Bino
@AlkeWekJunkie: Excuse you? i didn’t know that issue was only a black gay issue and should only be dealt with by black gays. Also, you aren’t black, so how do you know what was done? You don’t and your comment is laced with racism. Check yourself. We as gay man are murdered and the same excuses are used, no matter who the victim is. There isn’t always an out pouring of gays protesting. Also, I guess when a white gay male is murdered, those of us that aren’t white shouldn’t give a shit because white gays will take care of the protesting and the out rage. You should be ashamed of yourself. This issue effects all of us. If a gay man killed, it hurts me, no matter what his race is. Furthermore, white males get more media attention when this happens. Check yourself.
Sydney
Repulsive. Awful. He should have been charged with murder. I’m ashamed to live in Maryland. -.-
Chitown Kev
@Bino:
Ok, in this SPECIFIC case, I am going to disagree with you.
The mainstream gay community in DC (largely white w/some blacks) has been on top of the case and some of the local activists ARE outraged-click on some of the links at the top.The case has received a lot of local coverage in the DC area and over at Rod 2.0.
Given that DC has a huge black gay community (maybe the largest black gay community in the country) that is somewhat self-segregated from the “mainstream gay community” there was the expectation that the black gay community would be outraged. I know if it were the black gay community in Chicago they would be outraged; a few of the black gay activists here still get on the police’s case about the murders of 3 black gays on the Southside and, as it turns out, it probably wasn’t even a hate crime.
But, no, crickets from the black gay community in DC, for the sounds of it. You might want to go and check out some of the comments over at Rod’s place.
AngryFag
@Cam:
Cuz homos are ‘less than’ a whole human being.
AngryFag
SO,….umm….I get women coming on to me.
You think I could get away with the hetero panic defense?
I had one at my work insist she could ‘change’ me.
Damn, I missed a kick ass lawsuit.
Oh wait…I’m gay.
I have no rights.
Damn
Benjamin
Shocked. Really, truly, shocked. Horrifying. Six months? There are guys doing more time for getting pulled over with a dime bag. Gay Panic? We, as a culture, are going to have a hard time explaining that to future generations. Like when you describe drinking fountains to the youth of today.
Benjamin
Separate drinking fountains. Sorry. Too mad to edit properly.
jimmy
I wonder to what extent the ridiculous sentencing reflects the prosecution’s potential view that this is just another black on black crime. I am fairly certain, given national trends in sentencing, that Hannah would see hard time, even in a plea deal, if the victim where white.
simon
He was probably treated lightly because he’s black.
Attmay
He should have gotten the chair.
Denjito
He’s probably gay himself, he looks like he just gave a super blow-job.
nikko
He should go to prison for that butt ugly face alone, vile piece of shit. I hope someone avenges the victim’s death and shoot this sorry ass of human flesh.
Bill Perdue
In December 2007 the Democrats, in control of Congress, quietly shelved the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill rather than duke it out with Bush and get identified as GLBT friendly just before the 2008 election. L. King was shot a few days later. Hate crime murders against us shot up during the primaries and the rest of 2008.
During the primaries Clinton and Obama fought it out to capture the christer bigot vote. Obama won. In contrast to previous platforms, Obama deliberately excised all mention of GLBT issues from the Democrat platform, gave us a backhanded mention at the convention and then went on blow us out of the water by giving the Yes on 8 bigots all the ammo they needed – “gawd’s in the mix.”
Pinhead thugs notice that we’re getting the run around from Obama and the Congress and it makes it that much more likely that they’ll burn, slash, beat, bludgeon, drown, stab or shoot us.
They feel that they’ll get off easy if they kill a fag. And, as often as not they do.
With Democrats like these who needs Republicans. They’re killing us.
schlukitz
@Bill Perdue:
Bill, you have expressed my own concerns and fears eloquently.
Letting this thug, and there is no other way to describe this disgusting excuse for a human being, off as easily as the court did, send a clear and ominous message that it is “open season” on the LGBT community.
It would appear that “Justice” in America, has also been thrown under the bus as well.
It has lots of company.
Bill Perdue
@schlukitz: Thanks.
I’m not looking foward to seeing the FBI’s next hate crimes report. I’ve been trying to keep count and it looks like 2008 and 2009 will both have big increases.
Street thugs aren’t the only ones who pay attention. So do thugs in unifrom, which expains the 1950’s style bar raids in Fort Worth and Atlanta.
[img]http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c191/amuseyourself/bus1.jpg[/img]
schlukitz
@Bill Perdue:
So do thugs in unifrom, which expains the 1950’s style bar raids in Fort Worth and Atlanta.
Oops. Forgot to give credit where credit was due. ;>)
Chitown Kev
Good points, Bill.
I want to clear something up (I may simply be muddling things up, but at least the post is here for future reference).
In an online discussion with a black gay male, it was pointed out that those who seemed angry at Obama and the Democrats over gay issues seemed to be activist-oriented, regardless of ethnicity. I threw this into the discussion offline with another black gay male friend and he agreed with that view.
The true distinction that needs to be made is the distinction between an “activist” and a “non-activist” GLBT. (And I would be interested in seeing notions of what constitutes an “activist GLBT.”) White gays tend to be more activist than black gays, true, BUT if the number of gays (among others) wearing Obama ’08 T-shirts at Chicago Market Days in August was any indication, there are A LOT of white gays that are non-activists as well.
In Chicago, there is an activist black gay community (which handles its’ own issues as a black gay community and liasions with the mainstream gay community frequently) that would have been outraged and protested this display of bigotry. I have observed that black gay communities in places like Atlanta, the Northeast, and in California are also quite activist even outside the mainstream gay community.
So when I am criticizing the black gay community in DC, I am criticizing their overall apathy and non-activism (given the black gay population in DC; there are black gay activists in the mainstream DC gay community.
Many in our gay communities (of all races) are apathetic. That’s the point that need to make (and I am not sure that I did it effectively).
Chitown Kev
@Chitown Kev:
[REWIND]
That’s the point that I needed to make (and I am not sure that I did it effectively).
Bill Perdue
@Chitown Kev: @Chitown Kev: Hi. You raise a lot of important questions.
Activism, or the lack of it, is not a question of blame. Looking back at the last year it’s easy to see that activism is on the rise. But it’s being retarded by the lack of an organization expression. What’s desperately needed is a nationwide, activist organization, internally democratic, with a mass action perspective and a cutting edge program.
And it has to reflect the diversity in our communities. I think that means that it’ll have to accept the separatist sentiments and be something of a coalition instead of The One Big Group of Activists. I think you’ll see that when black gays create such a national group that the level of activism will skyrocket. Nothing else comes close to being as important as the creation of militant nationwide, activist, internally democratic groups that reflect the diversity of our communities. Nothing.
Support or the lack of it for Obama is not the key. Large, veeerrrrry, large numbers of people who got fooled are moving on and becoming active. We were kicked in the teeth by Obama on Prop 8 but instead of the demoralization that followed the passage of state DOMAs in 2004 and 2006 the big defeats of 2008 energized our communities in a way that reminds me of the surge of activism after Stonewall at the tail end of the 60’s radicalization. There’s a reason for that. We’re in the opening stages of a vast, general radicalization of youth, working people, national minorities, women and our own communities.
Because we’re first out the gate this time around we’ll play a leading role in that broader radicalization. The MoW is a perfect example of how all this works. Many of the MoW organizers are new, products of the wave of demos after 8 passed. They represent a new layer of leadership that has the old guard of state Equality groups, mostly Democrat Party fronts, HRC and the like shitting their pants. They’re afraid they’ll be replaced and that’s why they’ve tried to sabotage the March for months.
The initials GLBT don’t begin to address the diversity of our communities and they have nothing to say at all about our internal stresses. Racism, trans-hatred and misogyny run as deep in our communities as they do elsewhere. I can’t say I see a way around that except to denounce and scandalize their practitioners at every turn and fight to exclude them from the movements as a whole and especially its leadership.
Chitown Kev
@Bill Perdue:
I only brought up Obama because criticism of Obama was the context in which the entire activist/non-activist question was brought up in the conversations that I have had online and offline. “Non-activist” GLBT people (of all races) seem to be far less critical of Obama than “activist” GLBT people (of all races). Within that subset of “activist” GLBT people black gay activists do tend to be less critical of Obama but they will criticize him. And the criticisms are occasionally different from the criticism of mainstream gay activists.
Bill, do not forget (as I know you wouldn’t) that probably the deepest “internal stresses” in our GLBT communities are questions of class. At least since the ENDA debacle in 2007 and the racist reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 last year, racism, trans-hatred, and misogyny in our communities are no longer “closeted.” Questions of class and even of geography rarely get addressed.
Bill Perdue
@Chitown Kev: …the deepest “internal stresses” in our GLBT communities are questions of class. Exactly correct, Kev. The class divide underlies it all. The rich, and quislings who aspire to that status are represented by high salaried, self-appointed movement hustlers and ‘leaders’ who have a 100% record of screwing up. They’re virtually all Democrats, Republicans in sheep’s clothing.
Questions of class will be coming to the forfront as the effects of long lasting unemployment at Depression levels begin to change peoples minds about the advisability of living in a capitalist society run by and for the looter rich. The Great Depression that began in 1929 at first produced shock and numbness. It took awhile but in 1934 the the Year of General Strikes changed everything. Every political radicalization and revolution is preceeded by a mass of individual, radical personality changes until a critical mass is reached.
Business types, lawyers, especially scumbag corporate lawyers, pols, and many in the arts who got rich off our struggle want to control the movement, not to advance it but to use it to enhance their careers and fortunes.
That too underscores the need for a nationalwide, militant, internally democrtic activist group.
That’s the answer.
Chitown Kev
@Bill Perdue:
You know…
I’ll forget the Prop 8 March we had here in Chicago after the Cali Supremes ruled against us.
For one, it was a little chilly and rainy.
For two, Halsted St. is lined with all of these high priced condos (owned by both gay and straight people). As we were marching, they would look down, they were willing to wave, but they didn’t join us in marching. Now there were a few Chicago A-list gays there that did support us (including Rick Garcia of Equality Illinois) but I have to admit that the mere idea or suggestion that I was doing some of the dirty work for some lazy-ass well off gays actually pissed me off.
Of course, I wouldn’t know what kind of work they are doing but still…
Chitown Kev
@Chitown Kev:
I’ll NEVER forget the Chicago Prop 8 March, I mean.
MackMichael
@Chitown Kev: Being an activist here in CA, and attending the marches throughout So Cal, I’m just wondering what your perceptions were concerning the demographic of those you saw in Chicago protesting as it pertained to age? I’d be really interested, so if you have the time, would you mind addressing that?
Chitown Kev
@MackMichael:
The Prop 8 protests here skewed young but not overwhelmingly so.
And pretty ethnically mixed, even the Prop 8 protest right after the election was like that.
vernonvanderbilt
Subhumans like this one are the reason we need a gay Rorschach. Where my vigilantes at?
AlkeWekJunkie
@Bino:
i am black for the record, so i don’t need to check myself!
it’s just a shame that i had to hear about this on a blog, and not on the news!! and black gays have allot of work to do, i’m no angel, but i do care i hate that this man was killed because he was gay, it seems tha black gays are the lowest on the food chain when it comes to justice/coverage of crimes/equality, etc.
AlkeWekJunkie
i hope a mob of angry gays go after him and dish out to him what he dished out to that man that lost his life, it makes me so fucking angry, this scum gets to literaly walk and free to do this type of bull to someone else!!
AlkeWekJunkie
@vernonvanderbilt:
I co-sign, it’s ridiculous, the cops don’t give a schitt, they probably think that punk did the city a favor!!
nikko
I so agree, ALKEWEKJUNKIE. I so agree. Honestly, if I lived nearby and saw him at night, I would do him some serious damage.
Bill Perdue
@Chitown Kev: I think the actions after Prop 8 passed and the Supremes caved to the bigots were a sea change for GLBT movements. When I read back over my comments just before the election I said that a defeat in California would produce a new wave of demoralization.
I’m happy to say that I was dead wrong about that.
Many, if not most, were spontaneous and massive, few involved any participation by old guard Democrat front groups like HRC and as a rule they demonstrated a new, higher degree of militancy. For the first time since Reagan and AIDS people seemed to understand anew the need to actually fight for our liberation and equality instead of paying some jackass hustler 300 grand a year to sip martinis with Pelosi. There were only a few that were ‘silent’ and mournful. Most were exuberant with a “won’t take no for an answer’ attitude.
The only thing that marred them was a disgusting but short lived outbreak of racism by people looking for some one to scapegoat instead of examining why we really lost. They blamed blacks when they should have blamed Democrats, the cults and the Republicans.
I can’t explain why this welcome outbreak of militancy happened now and not in 2004 or 2006 except to say that there’s a huge new layer of activists who’ve come to the movement out of high school GSA/GLSENs. They see no particular reason to wait 100 years or so for equality and they don’t really give a rat’s ass what sellouts like Barney Frank thinks. He doesn’t impress them at all and he’s moving faster and faster to the right. He’s an object lesson of what to avoid in politics instead of the inspiration he could have been. These youth are joined by the best of earlier generations; people who refuse to become jaded and who refuse to give up.
Now our LGBT radicalization is being shaped and propelled by the general radicalization and spurred by war and economic collapse. We may be first out of the gate but we’re going to have lots of allies.
We need a blue collar, militant, democratic organization of our own to effectively participate in events as they unfold.
[img]http://www.cypressbaygsa.com/gsa_promo.png[/img]
Bill Perdue
@vernonvanderbilt: “subhuman” is a Nazi term, and like the concept of race has no validity at all.
Bigot, christian, thug or something else that’s real and discriptive will be just fine.
vernonvanderbilt
@Bill Perdue: Fuck that. As far as I’m concerned, all bigots are subhumans. They are not entitled to share a species classification with me.
David
@vernonvanderbilt:
“As far as I’m concerned, all bigots are subhumans. They are not entitled to share a species classification with me.”
Yet you have articulate bigotry of your own on another thread.
Bill Perdue
@vernonvanderbilt: Fine, Vernon, but be careful not to get blindsided by some christer bigot who doesn’t look ‘subhuman’.
Attmay
I agree with Vernon. I don’t care if the Nazis invented the term “subhuman,” it’s valid, it’s in the dictionary, and it applies to this monster because of his actions. It also applies to anyone who supports anything less than 100% gay equality in ALL issues, marriage included.
Bri
@vernonvanderbilt: Sorry this is off topic, but would you happen to know what happened to Charles J. Mueller? Haven’t seen him post lately…I miss his input.
Bri
@vernonvanderbilt: Seriously? Oh. 😛
When do they decide to moderate? I’ve only had a couple instances where my replies were held for moderation…and they were never posted.
Bri
So…what happened to vernon’s comment?
vernonvanderbilt
@Bri: I think Queerty wants me to leave. 😛 Usually you get moderated if enough people flag your comments. I’m sure my “subhuman” rant inspired it. Some people just aren’t happy unless they’re willfully misinterpreting someone’s words in order to trample on their right to free speech.
nikko
Ok, I’ll say it..Stupid nigger.
nikko
By the way, I don’t feel this way about all black people, just evil scum like this.
anonymous
I can’t say I would find fault with white DC gays for sitting this one out. Where were the black “activists” when the protests of the death of a white gay male walking home from a bar last December were being held?
There is no black gay leadership in DC except for the party circuit at white owned bars. And even that is not unified because the DC black pride has split into so many factions that it is next to impossible to figure out who is leading what party or event. What does that tell you about “black gay leadership”?That has been a sad reality for DECADES.
During the AIDS crisis they were absent except for a token one or two. Back in the 1980’s gay black DC residents were actually stupid enough to believe the black church that it was a white gay disease. It is just pathetic when you really stop to think about it.
DC black gay men and women always have been and always will be a sad joke. Notice how no black gay websites originate from DC except those that promote partying and sex?
Yes, once again they will ride the backs of white DC gay residents and come out only at night when it is easier to hide.
Call me racist and every other thing you want but I bet you can not call me a lie.
I would not fault white DC gay residents for telling the black gay residents it is time for you to get your act together and quit running to us for support. It is time to understand that with a black mayor and a black president you should not be running to us to keep your house in order.
schlukitz
@vernonvanderbilt:
Well, don’t feel bad, because one of my comments is also being considered for moderation.
vernonvanderbilt
@schlukitz: I don’t, my dear. I’ve always said that if the things you say piss people off, they’re probably things that need to be said.
NYC760
scary.
schlukitz
@vernonvanderbilt:
As usual, we are on the same page. I could not agree with you more.
Unfortunately, it appears that there are those who post on these threads, who do not agree with our right to freedom of speech.
And, if truth be known, they are probably the very same ones denigrating and vilifying the likes of us and trying to take that right away.
Praise the lord our god
Its sad the dude died but dang you cant just go around touching people like that the dude wasnt gay and being gay is a sin and an abomination its against god but still buddy should of got a harsher sentence for murder. he did the crime and he should of did the time but o well thats the justice systen for you. Down with police brutality.
God Bless Jesus Loves U!!!
vernonvanderbilt
@Praise the lord our god: Dude, punctuation is not a sin. You don’t need to fear apostrophes, commas, and periods. If you’re truly that illiterate, go get some tutoring or something. Posting shit like that and expecting anyone to take it seriously is the real abomination.
schlukitz
@vernonvanderbilt:
Amen!