Epidemic of Hatred

Continued again. And another incident that illustrates the inextricable link between misogyny and homophobia. (Hat tip 429 News.)

Three young men accused of brutalizing an 18-year-old gay man for hours last weekend have been charged with hate crimes, according to police, court documents and a prosecutor.

The men also allegedly kidnapped a woman, who was held in a camper and kicked and beaten while the man was repeatedly attacked late Saturday night and early Sunday morning after a house party in Edgewood, according to a search warrant filed Wednesday in state District Court in Santa Fe.

Prosecutor Donna Dagnall, who handles cases in Children's Court, said the 18-year-old man suffered bleeding on the brain and a concussion as well as facial lacerations and bruising, but has since been released from a hospital. Dagnall confirmed the three men allegedly responsible for the beating have been charged under New Mexico's hate-crimes law.

"It's pretty clear to us that his homosexuality was the reason for the beating," she said.

The two had left the party when their attackers caught up with them, knocked them to the ground, and dragged them to a yard containing dogs. Their attackers threatened to throw them to the dogs, but instead tied them up in a camper and beat and humiliated them all night before finally releasing them.

So, let’s recap:

Poland, Maine—mid-July: Lesbian couple’s home trashed; homophobic slurs left on walls.

Riverside, California—late July: Patrons of gay club attacked.

San Diego, California—late July: Five men attacked leaving Gay Pride.

Detroit, Michigan—late July: A gay man and a transvestite robbed and attacked in separate incidents on one night.

Santa Fe, New Mexico—late July: A gay man and a woman kidnapped and beaten.

And those are just the stories I’ve come across in my usual reading, local coverage picked up gay wires or linked by blogs. Not only have the major media outlets not made any attempt to call attention to this national issue, but they have wholly ignored the comments of Renew America’s Deputy National Grassroots Director Guy Adams, who asserted that the gay community is “having sex with animals, a small group that's getting bigger, sex with infants, sex in the street in Chicago out in the open, it's just getting more and more perverted.” Renew America is chaired by Alan Keyes, a former Presidential and Senate candidate and former ambassador during the Reagan administration. There’s been a similar silence regarding Georgia Attorney General Republican candidate Perry McGuire’s assertion that school gay-straight alliances should be prohibited because allowing them is "much like allowing a pedophile club or a gambling club to meet at school.” This is the kind of swill being disseminated by movement conservatives, as the LGBT community comes under both legislative and physical attack across the country. Will our media ever pay attention?

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. — Martin Luther King, Jr., "The Trumpet of Conscience", 1967.