Let's help

CreativeMind · #1 04-24-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bionca

This was an amazingly hard time for me personally. This case resonated with me very deeply given I was around Angie's age when I was first sexually/physically assaulted by a guy I had been intimate with. I hadn't realized it, but I have been pretty messed up since I first heard the story in July. It wasn't until I was reading the verdict on Twitter and broke down sobbing that it all hit me.

Sorry for your flow of tears, Bionca, but try to look on the bright side here -- hard as that might be given that sadly a life was lost. Finally justice WAS delivered and this bastard DIDN'T get away with it. He's going away for the rest of his life and frankly if this guy thought he had "gay panic" before then wait till he gets to the big house where I'm SURE he will be a continual target for retaliation from the moment he steps through those doors. This guy will spend the rest of his life not only paying for his crime, but constantly looking over his shoulder and living in fear. So in some ways I'm glad he didn't get the death penalty since that almost would have been an easy out for his bastard.

Best of all, a legal precedent has been set so that "gay panic" will have less standing in future cases. In the future, courts will be able to look at this trial and ram home harsher sentences. What really worked here...and what will be the key to future victories in court...is for more prosecuting attorneys to completely focus on the victim being an actual PERSON. So maybe Angie can rest a bit more in peace knowing her sacrifice and lost life will now help so many othes in the future. We can all only hope so.

smc · #2 04-24-2009

As satisfying as we may find it to see harsh punishment meted out to those who terrorize or kill as this guy did, I fear the real solution does not lie in the criminal justice system. It will take the concerted effort of all of us to combat prejudice at every turn, teach our children well, insist on civil rights (including marriage) for all, and so on, and so on, and so on, until those who spew hate cannot get a hearing and until having sex with any other consenting adult, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, is so "normalized" (sorry to use that word, but it's the correct one) that "gay panic" and similar psychological bullshit fades away ... because there is simply nothing to be panicked about.

Utopian? Perhaps. But we have to change how society sees gender and sexuality to get rid of this scourge of violence.