Hate Crime and Arson Found to be a Hoax

When a gay couple’s Lakeland home was torched and a slur spray-painted on their doorstep this summer, outraged sympathizers from coast to coast reached out, offering money, furniture and even free legal assistance.

But when one of the men confessed to setting the fire, hiding items he’d reported stolen and was charged with arson and insurance fraud Wednesday, supporters said they felt betrayed.

“I feel duped. I feel played, and I’m just physically reeling right now,” said Kim Steffgen, an Oregon writer who had planned to tell the men’s story via a visual arts and writing project with her spouse, artist Gregg Frederickson.

“Well, so this means that the world is a little less filled with hate-mongers, but a little more filled with cheaters and opportunists,” Steffgen concluded when a reporter asked for her reaction. “Safety certainly is relative.”

Christopher Michael Robertson, 23, confessed to setting fire to his and Paul E. Day’s house in Kings Manor Mobile Home Park on July 25, the Lakeland Fire Department said Wednesday.

He told an investigator he took items he had reported stolen from the home and placed them in storage, fire investigators said. Some of those goods were sold, while others remain in his possession. (source)

Past writings on this story
You Have to Love Florida
Gay Arson Victims Hit Again

Having been a past victim of a hate crime (they didn’t call them “hate crimes” then), where there was little interest to do anything about it because my attackers “were good boys who came from good families”, I am absolutely outraged at the outcome of this story.

I posted two past entries (noted above) on this story. I even posted the account at Washington Mutual Bank where people could send money to help out this couple. And now, apparently, it was all a hoax.

I can understand Chris Robertson wanting to move away from Florida. I would probably feel the same way. It sounds as if he set fire to their home just to collect the insurance money. Then, in the second story, they were the victims once again when what was left of their home was robbed.

As it turns out, it was Chris Robertson who took the items. I received a letter via email (uncorroborated) that Paul Day became suspicious of his partner when items, that were supposedly stolen, magically started reappearing around their new place. The police have concluded that Paul Day had no part in any of this. In fact, the story even refers to Paul as Chris Robertson’s “boyfriend at the time”, suggesting they are no longer together.

That makes sense. If your partner destroys your home, lies to you and the police about all of it, it’s time to get the hell away from him. I don’t honestly think I would trust another human soul again if it were me.

My feelings on this are many. I feel outrage and betrayal. I am outraged because a person in my community has used the term “hate crime” to arouse sympathy to what they were going through. To try to insure that, Chris spray painted the words, “Die Fag” on their front step. My outrage is that I’ve had those very words said to me and at the time, the police did nothing about it. Now, police in some parts of the country are actually doing something about these crimes and in some cases, where legislation has been passed, can deliver harsher penalties if the incident is labeled a “hate crime”. Chris Robertson, in doing this, has used hate crimes, which happen to many in my community, as a way to obtain personal financial gain.

I am also very concerned about this. In so many areas of the country, we are already hated and persecuted. This is only going to add fuel to that hatred. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if some horrible crime happened to someone in my community, and the gay bashers make reference to this by saying something like, “This time, it’s a real hate crime - not like the one in Florida”. I’ve seen it happen in the past. What will be the backlash from this?

Chris Robertson deserves what he gets. He’s a low-life punk who only cares about himself and material possessions.

As for me, it will be the last time that I use this site to post any sort of information on how to help someone who has been the victim of a hate crime. Trust was lost. And for those of you who sent money to the Washington Mutual Bank to the fund that was set up for Chris and Paul (noted in my past posting), you have my deepest apologies. For what it’s worth, I personally called Washington Mutual Bank to insure that they had an account set up for this purpose at the time I posted the information. I hope that you will be able to collect the money you have sent.

Can anyone be trusted anymore? I don’t know. Paul Day lived with Chris Robertson for a year and thought that he could trust him. He was wrong.

I try to help people. I am currently helping some of our troops overseas by providing phone cards at my expense, so they can call home. Many of them I’m sure would have a problem with me, as a gay man. But I have not offered that piece of information, because I’m not doing that to garner their support for our cause. I do it because, if I were a soldier in Iraq, I think it would mean a lot to be able to call your family and talk if you didn’t have the money to buy a phone card. But can I trust any of that now? And, should I?

I live my life a certain way. If I tell you I’m going to do something, I do it. You can bet your life on it. If I give you my word on something, consider it written in blood because it is my bond - it cuts to what I am as a person and my integrity. I don’t lead friends on. My friends know that if they do something I have a problem with, they are not going to hear it from someone else. They will hear it from me. I also tell them how I feel about them. I tell them how much they mean to me. I think that’s important. But that’s just me.

What a world we live in.