Scanner : hate crime

Racist Small Town Hoodlums Getting Away with Murder

Brian Fairbanks — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:10:00 GMT

Brandon Piekarsky entering court before his acquittal on third-degree murder charges. Piekarsky's level of involvement in the killing is unclear, as he wasn't believed to have helped in the beating.

On July 12th, in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, a group of white teenagers were walking home when they came across a young Hispanic man in the park with a teenage girl. One of them yelled out, "Isn't it a little late for you to be out? Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here."

The Mexican man, whose name was Luis Ramirez, became enraged and screamed back at them and began calling for backup. Eighteen-year-old Brian Scully then traded punches with Ramirez, with no one ever agreeing on how the fight actually got started. Derrick Donchak, then 19, jumped on top of the badly-beaten Ramirez and, with a piece of metal between his knuckles, began pummeling Ramirez's face. Miraculously, Ramirez was able to recover and the boys ran off, hurling more racial slurs back as they ran. This enraged Ramirez, who chased after them until a quick blow to the head from Colin Walsh, a 17-year-old component of the all-white group, wiped him out. While Ramirez was down, Scully (it is said by witnesses) kicked Ramirez in the head, causing him to foam at the mouth and convulse. He died as a result of that brutal blow.

At the boys' trial, no one seemed to dispute these facts (except which boy did what.) Nonetheless, the jury acquitted the accused of third degree murder and various other charges while convicting them of simple assault. The defendants and their families emerged from the courtroom triumphant, while legal observers say this was on obvious miscarriage of justice:

"There's been a complete failure of justice," said Gladys Limon, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, who attended the trial and informed Ramirez's family of the verdict. "It's just outrageous and very difficult to understand how any juror could have had reasonable doubt."

She said the evidence "clearly established that Luis Ramirez was brutally beaten."

Prosecutors cast Ramirez as the victim of a gang of drunken white teens motivated by a dislike of their small coal town's burgeoning Hispanic population. But the jury evidently sided with defense attorneys, who called Ramirez the aggressor and characterized the brawl as a street fight that ended tragically. [New York Daily News]
As Avery Friedman argues persuasively in the video from CNN yesterday, this was a pretty clear-cut case of jury nullification: the weight of evidence against the accused was so powerful that it's clear the all-white jury -- like similar juries in the South during the Civil Rights struggle -- was not going to convict two young white men of murdering a Mexican. Even if, as Friedman says, "the only reason he is dead is because he was Mexican." [Crooks and Liars]

Now, some activists are putting pressure on the state's Democratic Governor, Ed Rendell, to speak out about the hate crime. They believe the worst is still to come from a town that is almost 100% Caucasian and only 1% Hispanic...

Related:

PA DA Threatening to Jail 11-Year-Olds For Sexting

Is This Another Murder-Coverup of a Black Man?

This Whole Chris Brown and Rihanna Story Is Getting Sicker By The Day

Whoops-- Maybe The Sex Patch Isn't The Greatest Thing Since Sex Itself...

This Week in Gayness: McDonald's Hates Gays... Again

Brian Fairbanks — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke just gave us another reason to hate his awful company-- he signed a petition to ban gay adoptions in Arkansas.

A gay porn star attending college has received a reported 150 hate e-mails from so-called "good Christians."

Bigots like Rick Warren and Sarah Palin are among Time's 100 Most Influential People.

Moron Republican Congressman Steve King thinks gays wouldn't get "bashed" so much if they just stopped acting so gay (never mind that many hate crime victims are straight people mistaken for homosexuals.) Jon Stewart, thankfully, had something to say about this.

Kudos to Britain for banning hatemonger and violence-inciting shout machine Michael Savage from entering their country ever again.

A McDonald's in Kentucky settled with two patrons who were called "faggots" by restaurant staff.

By the way, we heard that the Democratic Governor of New Hampshire might veto the gay marriage bill. Anyone else heard this?

The most trusted Mom(s) in America? Portia and Ellen:

With 31%, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi took the top spot. Rounding out the list were Jennifer Aniston (22%), Rachel Ray (20%), Angelina and Brad (18%) and coming in last was Oprah Winfrey with 9%. [Strollerderby]

Related:

Kiwis Krazy for Shirtless Servers

This Week in Gayness: Men's Magazines

Apparently, Florida Doesn't Want You to Learn How to Have Great Sex

This Week in Gayness: Gay Conversions Under Attack

You Can Take the Boy Out of Chelsea...

The Gaythering Storm Against Anti-Gay Organization NOM

This Week in Gayness: Men's Magazines

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:01:00 GMT

For the first time ever, Britain's poet laureate is a woman. Oh, and she just happens to be a lesbian.

If this Dr. Phil show turns out to be as offensive as the participant search comes off, you'll have yet another reason to hate that guy.

This is another one to send hate mail to: Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the dumbass who called Matthew Shepard's murder a "hoax" and claims it was a robbery and not a hate crime, has been very vocal about stopping hate crime legislation in Congress. Shepard, you may recall,"was tied crucifixion-style to a fence, repeatedly pistol whipped and left for dead."

The good news is there are fewer known child porn sites on the web. Bad news? They've gotten more disgusting overall.

Here's one for ya: a lesbian was asked not to attend prom hand-in-hand with her girlfriend because it might bring unwanted media attention. When that came because of the principal's ignorant decision, she then tried to enforce a nonexistent dress code demanding both women wear dresses. We're not sure of the result.

India's only homosexual men's magazine has returned.

The next battle in Iowa will be over birth certificates.

And on Iowa's first day of legalized gay marriage, over 300 couples applied for licenses. Let's hope very few of them are nutjobs intent on causing big scenes by trying to marry their dogs or something.

Related:

Apparently, Florida Doesn't Want You to Learn How to Have Great Sex

This Week in Gayness: Gay Conversions Under Attack

You Can Take the Boy Out of Chelsea...

The Gaythering Storm Against Anti-Gay Organization NOM

This Week In Gayness: Sean Penn vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:31:00 GMT

Is former New York City Mayor Ed Koch gay? Does anyone even care at this point?

Scariest hate crime suspect of all-time? This guy: "So I killed somebody - that makes me a bad guy?" We're against the death penalty, so let's hope he gets brutally beaten in prison every day for the next fifty years.

Lesbians in Massachusetts are suing the US government because they aren't allowed to check "Married, filing jointly" to save money on their taxes. (See similar post from yesterday.)

The Family Resources Council thinks prosecuting hate crimes is the same as prosecuting people for thought crimes. Yes, because when you drag a lesbian out of her car, rape her repeatedly for being a lesbian, beat her up and leave her for dead, you're only thinking it.

James Dobson is retiring from Focus on the Family. But we won't forget about him.

Our idea of a good time might occasionally involve a gay bar, but never when we're in Galveston, Texas.

All Sean Penn wants is to make Harvey Milk's birthday Harvey Milk Day. It's the least Gov. Ahnuld could do, right?

Meanwhile, California is doing what it can to stop Prop 8. First, the legislature did this. Tomorrow, the state will be in court to do this and hopefully help these people.

The next Mormons versus the gays battle? This time it'll be over civil unions in Illinois.

Related:

The Gays Fought The Law, Too Early to Tell Who Won

This Week in Gayness: Don't Ask... Just Don't Ask

This Week in Gayness: The Homecoming Drag Queen

Barack Obama's "Gay Sex Scandal" Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving

This Week in Gayness: How to Tell Your Boyfriend Is Closeted

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:12:00 GMT

When in doubt, blame Kenneth Starr. For everything, including bleach stains, if necessary.

Get involved each day of Freedom to Marry week.

Once again, meddling Senators are dooming New York's chances of gay marriage in 2009.

The same New York Times article linked above has been attacked by gay rights supports for "demonizing" their allies.

The Frisky has a list of 9 (alleged) signs your supposedly straight boyfriend is gay.

Even the Republicans in Hawaii are unanimously in favor of civil unions: the House just approved a bill giving same-sex couples the rights married couples have.

Supporters of a defeated hate crimes bill in Georgia aren't giving up.

Why does the right wing care so much that transsexuals have the option to select male or female on their Massachusetts drivers licenses?

Perez Hilton's Novelty Song

Homophobic Phelps Clan to Picket/Pick-On High School Students

This Week in Gayness: The Homophobic Celebrity Ad You Missed

This Week in Gayness: Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke Get Personal

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:47:00 GMT

Allen Ginsberg actually believed (well, maybe that's too strong a word) Henry Kissinger would strip naked with him on national television in a bid to promote world peace.

The gay blogs are taking an "ex-gay" to task for appearing in anti anti-hate crime ads.

A divorced Mom in (surprise, surprise) Tennessee is not allowed to have her lesbian lover stay over. The lesbian lover has taken extreme measures to ensure the bigoted judge does not win...

Angel Chandler's partner, who has been with Ms. Chandler for nearly 10 years, was given a "paramour" restriction by the family court, despite the fact that a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation deemed Ms. Chandler's partner to be "a positive influence on her children." According to Jeanne Sager of Strollerderby, "The ACLU has stepped into the fray, filing a brief this week that urges the court to remove the paramour restriction, calling it unconstitutional for interfering with Chandler's abilities to raise her children as she sees fit."
For now, Chandler and her partner are getting around the ruling by living side-by-side in a duplex. [Jezebel]

If you consider yourself "trans" anything, it's better just to stay away from Memphis, as we've learned from this and other recent news stories.

Yay! Campbell's Soup is on the pro-gay side.

A New Jersey church is being sued for discrimination. These idiots think they are above the law or something? You can't discriminate against gay people, not even in Jersey!

If you're so upset at people for getting married and yet despise straight divorce, maybe you should get behind California's "Please Don't Divorce Us" campaign. Hey, you might learn something.

Battlestar Galactica has a gay character, it seems.

Poor Mickey Rourke is getting desperate in his bid for an Oscar. Check out the alleged text message he sent about rival Sean Penn:

“Look seans an old friend of mine and i didnt buy his performance at all—thought he did an average pretend acting like he was gay besides hes one of the most homophobic people i kno" [Defamer]

Related:

This Week In Gayness: Straight Man Sues Over Homophobic Taunting

The Human Herp: Ken Starr Returns To Defend Marriage Against People Who Want It

Pope Makes Insane Gay Metaphor

Top 5 Sex Scenes From... 2007

This Week In Gayness: Rise Above The Hate

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:43:00 GMT

If someone says they're "above hating" someone else, it means they're haters.

There's nothing like harmless satire to show people that homosexuals are just as laid-back, easygoing, and as boring as everyone else.

Mike Huckabee, eternally stupid. Now he claims that gays aren't having their civil rights violated because there hasn't been enough violence against their kind.

Did you know an unusually high percentage of gay men smoke? And we don't mean after sex...

A police officer in Memphis plead not guilty in the beating of a transgender person he was supposed to have simply locked up.

A rundown of the gay marriage struggle since 1970.

And Dr. Phil did a show about gay marriage. As you can imagine, it was a completely lackluster piece of crap.

UPDATE: This just in.. a Florida court has ruled the state's ban on gay aboption is unconsitituional.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman Tuesday declared Florida's 50-year-old ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional -- a ruling state lawyers immediately said they would challenge.

The ruling sets the stage for Frank Gill, a gay man from North Miami, to adopt two foster children he has raised since 2004.

In a 53-page ruling, Judge Lederman said, "It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent." [Miami Herald]

Top 3 Reasons "Twilight" Isn't Cool…or Sexy... or Worth Your $10

eHarmony, Let The Gays Begin!

Top 5 Lesbian Sex Scenes - the Sequel

Borat's Brother: Sorta Hot and "Investigating a Lot of Gay Things"

The 50 Sexiest Movies of All Time: 40-31

This Week In Gayness: Wanda Sykes Has Something To Say

This Week In Gayness: Lesbians Under Attack

While You Were Sleeping: What Men Think Women Think Men Want

Brian Fairbanks — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:08:00 GMT

Shots were fired at the motorcades of the Presidents of Georgia and Poland, although no one was hit.

A drag queen hosted a Miss Texas pageant, to the obvious horror of parents.

A boy in Florida was arrested for something heinous. No, we mean the reason he was arrested was heinous. Oh, never mind, you'll see:

Maybe the 13-year-old student at Martin County's Spectrum Junior/Senior High thought he was being funny by repeatedly and purposely passing gas during computer class.
His teacher, D.C. Carden, didn't bust a gut over the boy's breaking wind - not to mention his continuous turning off classroom computers - so he gave the boy a referral and sent him packing to the school resource officer for a little talk. "He subsequently informed me it was factual, and I informed him as a result of his behavior he was being charged with Disruption of a School Function,"

The boy was arrested for farting. He was released to his mom. No word on what he did in the car on the way home. [Blogs.Tampabay.com]

A teacher denied an inappropriate relationship with a young girl... until the girl was found in his closet. Whoops.

Hate crime is on the rise in Utah, down everywhere else.

A town near Barcelona is using solar panels atop gravestones to power itself.

They finally caught the Butt Bandit we warned you about.

11 Things He Wants From You, according to a male writer at MSN.

Boris Becker was dumped by text message. The woman in question was his fiancee.

And Madonna wants Britney Spears to move into her place... as some sort of ploy to get her back into Kabbalah... or something.

Related:

The Second Life Divorce Gets Funnier After The Split

20-Year-Old Teacher Strips For Her Students

While You Were Sleeping: Nude Photo Hoax

Sloppy Seconds: The Sheep Beauty Pageant

Cheerleaders "Streak" High School Football Game

Hot Teacher Caught After Three-Year Affair With Female Student

The Town Of Valentine, Nebraska Is Under Attack From The Butt Bandit

This Week In Gayness: Lesbians Under Attack

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:40:00 GMT

Wanna know what Prop 8 supporters think of the gays now? Then check out this hate mail.

Utah may finally emerge from the Dark Ages if the Mormons are as good as their word(ed press release.)

Diego Luna and James Franco haven't convinced us they enjoyed kissing their male co-star...

"It was...dry."

That was Milk star Diego Luna, when asked how it was kissing Sean Penn, who plays iconic gay rights activist (and Luna's boyfriend the film) Harvey Milk. "[Sean]'s not a great kisser," Diego, who shot to fame in Y Tu Mamá También, continued bravely, as only non-Hollywood actors seem capable of. "I guess he was thinking about Franco." As in James, who plays Penn's other BF in the flick.

So I pressed Franco on how the hell S.P. smooches. He literally went on for five minutes talking about something else.... I insisted on a pecker report! "It was...fine," Franco finally answered, with a tiny smile. [E!]

Oooh, you tease us with those words "pecker report." Shame, shame.

Courtney Love has the sinking suspicion some people were against Prop 8 before they were for it. Or the reverse. Or something. Meanwhile, a third of the state's lawmakers are hoping the courts can do something about the new gay marriage ban in California.

Keith Olbermann pretty much puts it all into perspective:

And lesbians are under attack... in Canada. Please, we need to give all gay people in this country full legal rights on every level before this hate spreads to every corner of the globe. (Probably too late.)

"Which one of you two 'men' spoke to my kid? F------ dyke. Lesbians," he said, spitting in Dimitriou's face. As she wiped her face, eyes closed, he punched her on the cheek and wound up again, slamming her backward into her truck. As Currie ran toward him, she remembers him shouting, "F------ dyke bitches," and punched her on the cheekbone so hard the skin burst apart, blood splattering.
What Currie remembers most, from the afternoon of Nov. 3, is the stillness of the schoolchildren, and the sound of her six-year-old son screaming. "It was a face of complete and utter horror," Currie said in an interview yesterday. "His mouth was wide open, and he just stood there, screaming." [The Star]

Related:

This Week In Gayness: We Say No To That Yes On Prop 8

Sloppy Seconds: The Evangelical Sex Craze

This Week In Gayness: Guy Attacked At Proposition 8 Protest

This Week in Gayness: Ellen vs. the Bigots

Video of the Day: Vote No on Prop 8

Gay Marriage: God Is Gonna Getcha... Claim Scary Freaks

This Baptist Minister Thinks You Should Be Having More Sex

Today in the Apocalypse: Makeover Parties For Little Girls

This Week In Gayness: Gay Leader Assassinated

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Amazingly, Google (as a corporate megapower) is stepping into the debate over gay marriage: they claim they will do everything they possibly can to insure it stays legal in California.

Almost ten years to the day of his death, the Matthew Shepard memorial has been publicly unveiled at the murder victim's former university.

A teenage boy upset that his friend was apparently spreading rumors of his gayness has confessed to the murder of said friend.

The Orlando Fox affiliate first claimed it would film at Come Out With Pride 2008, now they're acting all Fox News and turning their backs on the community...

The trans Top Model continues to raise positive interest in this so-called "alternative lifestyle."

A Lowell, Massachusetts man is guilty of beating another man for being gay.

A 27-year-old university student in Bagdhad, who was leading the LGBT movement there, was assassinated while getting a haircut:

He was one of the organisers of safe houses for gay men in Baghdad and was co-ordinator of Iraqi LGBT in the city.

Peter Tatchell of LGBT human rights group OutRage! said:

"On 25th September, I received the sad news from Iraq that the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT in Baghdad, Bashar, aged 27, a university student, was assassinated in a barber shop.

Trying to end on an upnote for a change... the South African health minister, who thought it was wise to suggest vitamins over drugs for HIV patients, has been removed from office, thanks to AIDS and/or LGBT activists.

Related:

Gay Community Attacks McCain By Outing His Chief Of Staff

You Can't Argue With A Conservative... No, Really, It's A Fact

This Week In Gayness: Guys Making Out On CNN

This Week In Gayness: Discriminated By McDonald's

Crush of the Week: Jamie Clayton, The Hottest Transsexual

This Week In Gayness: Man Gets 150 Days For Being Accessory To Gay Murder

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:40:00 GMT

An anti-gay advocate told his viewers to pray for God to rain (water? frogs?) down on Obama's outdoor acceptance speech later this month.

Wait, how can someone be both gay and a Mormon? Good luck to you, pal, 'cause that's a rough road yonder.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown, himself a former Governor, may have higher aspirations (again.) Which may or may not be the reason he says gay marriage will remain legal in the state, regardless of the outcome of Proposition 8.

Tila Tequila appears to be in a relationship with a woman. The endless putdowns from Lesbiantopia make Tequila's continued celebrity a bit more tolerable.

A businessman in Colorado appears to be a lock for the next openly-gay Congressperson after winning the Democratic primary.

About.com has Gay Pride pics from Chicago.

A 9/11 scammer who turned to blogging about gay life for extra cash has been extradited. Fucker.

Female-on-female prisoner violence has been exposed at one notorious New York prison.

UK straight divorce? 50 percent. UK gay divorce? Zero percent.

And the saddest news of the week is this:

Aleksandr Shevchenko was convicted of disturbing the peace after allegedly throwing a bottle at Satender Singh during a confrontation in July 2007 at a Sacramento-area lake. The jury deadlocked on whether to add a hate-crime charge to Shevchenko's sentence.

His friend, of course, is the one that threw that fatal punch that killed Singh. We're pretty sure he'll get community service, though.