Homophobia Kills

Yes, homophobia kills literally. Yet, our Christianist enemies continue to disseminate lies and hate directed towards gays and pat themselves on the back as they knowing create an atmosphere where gays - or those perceived to be gay - take their own lives through suicide or end up the victims of deadly violence. Pam Spaulding has a post that looks at just how vile and hate inducing this poisonous rhetoric can be and recent murder cases demonstrate that there are those in society who believe this message gives them a license to kill. Pam correctly notes that:

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Now it's time to stop pussyfooting about what Renfroe and professional "Christian" outfits like Focus on Your Family and WND are doing by incessantly quoting Leviticus as justification for discrimination. Ye shall not lie with a man as one lies with a female. It is an abomination," he read. "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act, and they shall surely be put to death. If they believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, then they do believe gays must die. You can't pick and choose (though we all know these literalists do so all the time). I assume, then, that adulterers should be stoned for their sins.

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Am I [and Pam] too tough on the Christianists? I don't believe so. Murders of gays and those thought to be gay have shown that there ARE those who take this "Christian" message literally and as a result people die. One recent case is that of the December killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant in Brooklyn, New York, who was beaten with a bottle and a baseball bat by men who yelled anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs at him. In point of fact, the victim wasn't even gay but had been seen holding the arm of his brother as they walked home from a party. As the New York Times is reporting, now an arrest has been made in that case. Here are some highlights:

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The attack occurred about 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 7 when Mr. Sucuzhanay was walking arm in arm with his brother, Romel Sucuzhanay, along Bushwick Avenue and Kossuth Place, in the Bushwick neighborhood, after attending a church party. About a half-block from Mr. Sucuzhanay’s home, Mr. Scott and Mr. Phoenix appeared in a sport utility vehicle and, believing the brothers were gay, shouted what witnesses described as vulgarisms against Hispanics and gay men, officials said.

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Mr. Scott approached Jose Sucuzhanay and smashed a beer bottle over the back of his head, the police said, and then chased Romel Sucuzhanay. Mr. Phoenix then took an aluminum baseball bat from the rear of the vehicle and struck Jose repeatedly on his shoulder, ribs and back until he fell, the police said. “At that point Phoenix struck Jose several more times, full force, with crushing blows to his head,” said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, . . .

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“The sad part of this case for me is that these two brothers were apparently caressing each other because they were cold on the way home and the cretins that were charged with the attack mistook them for gay people,”

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And yet despite such fruits of their tirades of hate, the professional Christians continue to issue a never ending stream of anti-gay lies and hatred - even in the halls of state legislatures - and go unrebuked by and large. They certainly are never challenged by the mainstream media as the should be. Another sad case, this time from the UK shows that the Christianist induced violence is not limited to the USA. In this case, Michael Causer, an 18-year-old hairdresser, was battered to death while he slept upstairs at a party. The teenager accused of his homophobic murder has has been acquitted and belatedly sparked a campaign in Liverpool for justice. Here are some highlights from the Independent:

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Michael Causer had never even considered concealing his sexuality: he was proud to be gay. He grew up in a tight-knit family in a working-class suburb of Liverpool, and friends would describe the trainee hairdresser as a “little sweetheart”. He was a gentle young man on the cusp of adulthood who “wouldn’t hurt a fly”; someone who loved his many friends and adored life.

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But last July, as the 18-year-old lay in an upstairs bedroom at an after-pub party, sleeping off the effects of a night’s drinking, he was viciously assaulted and his bleeding body dumped outside in the street. The attack took place at the home of a friend’s grandmother, in the Liverpool suburb of Huyton.

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On Friday however, Mr Causer’s family and friends who had packed into the public gallery at Liverpool Crown Court to hear a jury decide on Gavin Alker, a 19-year-old man accused of carrying out his homophobic murder, were left in tears as the defendant was acquitted at the end of a three-week trial. Last Sunday, 100 friends and relatives returned to the court precincts to express their sense of shock and outrage at the verdict and to demonstrate for what they see as justice in the case. They said they are now hoping to launch a private prosecution.

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According to evidence put before the jury, the trigger-point for the violence came when sexually explicit images of the trainee hairdresser were found on his mobile phone, prompting a “sustained and brutal” attack on his naked sleeping form and leaving him with a fractured skull and a swollen brain. . . . It was alleged that Mr Alker, who had never met Mr Causer, screamed “You little queer faggot” adding, “He’s a little queer, he deserves it.” During the trial it was also claimed that a cigarette lighter was used to burn the hair on Mr Causer’s legs, and that threats were made to rip out his body piercings with a knife. But the jury accepted Mr Alker’s evidence that he had been acting in self-defence after he denied making homophobic comments, blaming the attack on O’Connor.

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When will society - including our weak kneed president and gutless Congressional Democrats - say enough is enough and enact strong non-discrimination laws to protect LGBT citizens from brutality based upon religious discrimination? Will I live long enough to see i happen?