“I guess some things never change…… I’m Sean’s sister, and honestly I’m kind of disgusted with some of the comments [made on Queerty]. Although I’m extremely used to this by now it is still somewhat shocking.
I wish everyone…. both sides…. would just sit back and think about the important part of the issue at this moment.
My brother is dead. Nothing is going to change that. BUT we can make sure that the man that did this… whether on purpose or accident… whether he yelled a homophobic slur or not ….. IT DOESNT MATTER RIGHT NOW!
I have my own opinion about what happened, and while I don’t feel the need to share every bit of that, I do know that Stephen Moller made ‘a mistake’. It inevitably took the life of my baby brother, and I see no reason why he shouldn’t serve out the remainder of his sentence…. which will end in July 2009 assuming he does not make parole. Let him stay in there and think about how his actions have affected a family AND a community. He will have the rest of his life to make right, but right now I feel it necessary for him to stay in and suffer the consequences of his actions.
I realize people will have their own opinions, Im just asking for everyone to stick to the subject at hand. Parole for Stephen Moller. Please write a letter, no matter what your side is, I think that we can all agree that this was a tragedy and he should serve his time. Its the least he can do.” — Dawn Kennedy, responding to comments made by Queerty readers about the death of her brother Sean, who was beaten and killed by Stephen Moller, who is up for parole after serving only eight months of a three-year sentence.
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Jack
I absolutely agree with Dawn. I don’t believe in the death penalty, but I don’t believe in parole in this situation either.
Ultimately, whether or not he intended to, Moller killed someone, and not as a result of an accident or negligence; he intentionally committed a violent act on another human being, and as a result, that human being tragically died.
His sentence should be proportional to the crime. I don’t understand you, America.
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@Jack:
But WHY did he do it??
sal
SO IF THE LITTLE GRIEF U GET IS FROM THE GAY PEOPLE WHO (ARE AND TRAGICALLY MIGHT BE THE MINORITY TO )SHED TEARS FOR THIS KID,CAUSE OF SOME UNFAIR SYSTEM YOUR BROTHER GETS TO GO HOME SOME DAY AND LIVE THE REST OF HIS LIFE IN PEACE (NOT LIKE THE “FAGGOT”S OUT THERE WHO EVERDAY LIVE IN A WORLD OF JERKS LIKE YOUR BRO WHO CAN KILL US AND GET AWAY WITH IT
Paul Raposo
Ms. Kennedy seems more concerned about words–the LGBTQ community’s words–than actions–the actions of the man who murdered her brother. All her kumbaya beliefs and hand holding won’t change anything; her brother’s death in particular and the law which might protect other LGBTQ’s in general.
Working to keep Mr. Moller in jail for his full sentence is great. But what will Ms. Kennedy be doing to make sure this never happens again and if it does, making sure a sentence that fits the crime is handed down?
Lastly, I get a sickening feeling that when it came to her brother, Dawn loved the sinner and hated the sin, which is the only explanation for her not explaining what she thinks happened that night and calling her brother’s killer’s actions a mistake
sal
AT THE END OF THE DAY THERE IS A 17 YEAR OLD KID WHO LIES IN A GRAVE!!!!!!WHO WILL NEVER GET TO SHOW THE WORLD ALL THAT HE COULD BE AND OFFER AND TRAGICALLY HE WILL BE REMEMBERED BY HOMOPHOBES LIKE YOUR BRO AS JUST ANOTHER “FAGGOT”!!!!!!!!!!!!
sal
let me correct my last comments that seem to suggest that dawn is the sister of the murderer ,my error.but i hope the underlying message is still understood .again sorry for the error
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@sal:
Er thanks we understand your message.
And we understand why you felt impassioned to post on this sit.
We thank you.
If you can please also give us a link of all the charities that you give money to or work for etc regarding this kind of issue, we would understand you EVEN more.
Thanks
getreal
I remember the comments they were terrible. When Queerty first ran the story the comments section has several posts that were deeply disturbing.People posted about murdering and mutilating the man who murdered Sean. Anger is understandable but some of the comments made were sick.
sal
what does that mean john??????
sal
again i apologize for with my error putting her in it but im not apologizing for anything else!!!honey charity doesnt compare to the life,u can give to the poor,care for the gays but i and allot of gays live it EVERYDAY!!!!!!do u????maybe thats why i made the error,it was the passion from living this injustice that caused me to make a slight error
sal
my beef is not with miss dawn,my beef is not with any charity its with an unfair system and the homophobes who rely on it to get them outta their(fatal) mess
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@sal:
Dude, i don’t agree with your approach but I think I got confused by your motives due to the ‘caps lock’ thing…
sal
so u get what im sayin right ?
Michael W.
Is that her in the middle? She’s a cutie.
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
@sal:
No
I’m saying you are really narrow minded; it’s not black and white and their is no need to ‘lynch’ someone.
I mean, have you NEVER had anything fuck up in your life??
I worked when I was doing my undergrad with kids who’d been sexually abused and truly felt because it was done by their male dad, that all gays do THIS.
What this guy did was really, really disturbed and I agree with his sister. Though I wish there would be some sort of intiative that would work on stopping people going this far…
Y’know, there is a correlation between people being abused and crimes being commited..
Jack
@John from England(used to be just John but there are other John’s): Does it matter? Does anyone deserve to be the target violence as a way of solving a problem? Did the victim deserve to die for it? Punching someone is still assault, and thus, a crime, even if the victim hadn’t died. And that’s without the alleged hate-crime angle.
Timothy
I know Ms. Kennedy is experiencing pain. But while she is the sister of the primary victim, she is not entitled to dictate the appropriate response to other victims.
Dawn forgets that her brother was not killed because he was a Kennedy. His death does not need to instill fear in her. There aren’t Kennedy-killers out there just looking for an excuse to beat her to death.
But as gay people we too are victims. We know that Muller and his kind are there and while they are little threat to Dawn, they pose a great threat to us. Acts like this, when they inadequately unpunished, give permission to others to continue homophobic violence.
She can own the pain of her loss. She cannot own the fear of the threat that should I walk out today and get beaten to death because I’m gay, there’s a good chance that the killer will walk away with a slap on the wrist. And there is a very good chance that other heterosexuals, including perhaps my family, will dismiss their bigoted violence as “a mistake”.
And that is something that Dawn Kennedy, with her heterosexual privelege, can never experience. It would be nice if she could at least try to empathize.
sal
i never said to “lynch” someone,dont put words in my mouth thank u,if u read my points ud realize that was not what my comments said!!!read again thank u
George Skinner
Fantastic coverage – keep up the good work!!!!
getreal
@Timothy: I remember the comments (SHE IS REFERRING TO)they were terrible. When Queerty first ran the story the comments section has several posts that were deeply disturbing.People posted about murdering and mutilating the man who murdered Sean. I agree with her that this is not the spirit in which she wants her brothers death mourned. Clearly she empathizes she lost her brother but does not agree with calls to violence and retribution. Perhaps you should try to empathize with her and my point of view.
sal
my use of caps were not to threaten anyone it was to show my anger for/of the injustice,that is what this forum is for id like to think.we as gay people are treated like we are not equal,tragically even gay people feel that way too.personally im equal,this boy who was murdered was equal.tragically some people felt diff and they gave a guy(A MURDERER!!!lets not 4get that) some months for a murder!!hell ,this forum allows gays to come together to share their real feelings of the gay life and the frustration with a baggage this society unfairly puts on us.
sal
dont deny us our right to treat ourselves as equal and when we feel we are being treated otherwise in a society that even if majority doesnt agree with us ,we as decent good citizens of this world have a right under law to equality.this sentence was not equal,dont ask dont tell is not equal,prop8 was not equal etc etc segregation was not equal and thanks to fair minds(even in a climate that if the majority could vote on black minority rights majority would vote to keep segregation)black people were given equal rights,such a shame Mr.Obama doesnt realize this,we dont have to convince anyone to get our equal rights,we are equal already our laws,society should not be twisted to convince us otherwise
tinkerbell
@Paul Raposo: Amen to this post. I’m an atheist and I will say amen to this. A brutal hate crime is an assault that any and all of us can and maybe will suffer in the not too distant future. Hell, we all have experienced the slurs and homophobic taunts of school and the streets. The murder affects us all. I’m not degrading Dawn Kennedy’s loss, but she doesn’t have to look all around her car before she gets in simply because she is a small town “fag” who is out. We get murdered and it’s a sentence of months to a couple of years-if we’re fortunate.
getreal
@tinkerbell:
I’m not sure what PLANET you live on but ANY woman on her own has to look all around her car because we are routinely murdered,raped,assaulted. Stastistically speaking a young woman gay or straight is in much more danger of assault than a man. Think before you type.
Tom
So many busy commenting. I wonder how many have written a letter to the parole board? I’d be willing to bet very few of you who are so busy commenting have taken the time to mail a letter to the parole board and forward that letter to Elke (Sean’s mother).
I wrote mine, mailed it to the parole board and emailed a copy of it to Sean’s mother.
Until you take that step, your comments mean very little.
tinkerbell
@getreal:
I live on planet earth…a planet that researches posts before blurting things out, honey. If you go to the link here: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/vsx2.htm you will see that the majority of victims of violent crimes are NOT female, but ARE male. I couldn’t find a link to comparison of crimes against gay men vs lesbians, but I’d dare say that gay men are at a higher risk of violent crimes than lesbians. That, however, was not the intent of my original post, if you’ll take the time to actually read it.
Perhaps YOU should take the time to do a little fact checking before you post.
getreal
Those stats are askew because of gang violence youth on youth gun violence. As far as violent attacks by strangers (simple assaults, rapes, abductions) women are stastically women (I never said just lesbians) are in MUCH MORE DANGER than gay men.
sal
the question shouldnt b is it women or gay men who are the biggest victims of violence.the question should be how can these attackers justify these attacks and what is our government doing to show that these attacks are wrong and the attackers must/will b punished