Hate Crimes: May 2005 Archives

And the Bible says that homosexual offenders should be put to death. ... So help eradicate homophobia now. Kill the Queer.

You Queers can vanish to volcanic ash, and reappear in hell with a can of gas and a match. I hate QUEERS and God hates QUEERS! And the Bible says that Homosexual Offenders should be put to Death!

That’s what a couple of the fliers said that has been littering the campus of Southern Oregon University, in Ashland, Oregon.

Kent and I have been there before. Ashland has a huge Shakespeare festival every year which is first rate. It’s sad to see this kind of stuff happening at a place that had so much going for it. (source)

Other related stories:
Alleged hate crime at SOU leads to police investigation
“Hate” victim speaks out

07/06/2005 Update - Ex-Officer Gets Life Sentence for Death of MU Student

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- A former Columbia police officer was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole in the 2004 death of a University of Missouri-Columbia student with whom he had an affair.

Steven Rios, 28, also received a consecutive sentence of 10 years on a count of armed criminal action for the throat-slashing death of Jesse Valencia, 23. A Clay County jury, brought to Boone County because of intense media coverage of the case in Columbia, convicted Rios of first-degree murder in May.

Meet Jesse James Valencia. Jesse was murdered by a police office who was seeing him on the side. It sounds like a plot out of a soap opera. Unfortunately, it’s all true. As it turns out, he was killed by a man named Steven Rios, a police officer. Rios killed Jesse because he feared that Jesse would talk about the affair he was having with Jesse. Rios was married and had a child. He didn’t want that exposed. So one night, he went to Jesse’s home, and, after a heated argument, killed him.

Even with 27,000 other students in this leafy college town, Jesse James Valencia stood out. Outspoken, gay and blessed with the looks of an Abercrombie & Fitch model, the 23-year-old junior seemed to saunter through his busy life at the University of Missouri.

He carried a full load of history and political science courses, worked evenings as a hotel clerk, and packed his social calendar with parties, Internet dates and drag shows at Columbia’s only gay nightclub. He wrote editorials in the campus papers advocating same-sex marriage and had big plans for his future.

“He talked about going to law school and he even toyed around with running for president, the first homosexual,” a friend, Jennifer Witherspoon, recalled. (source)

Rios was prosecuted and was just sentenced to life in prison for the murder. His DNA was found under the Jesse’s fingernails.

One of the things that bothers me a bit about this story is the fact that Rios was going to come forward about the murder sooner, but felt that he couldn’t because of the “brutal” comments other officers were saying about Jesse, because he was gay.

Sgt. Stephen Monticelli, who supervises the department’s Major Crimes Unit, testified Rios came to his office June 8 to talk about a CrimeStoppers tip he’d heard that indicated Valencia had an affair with a married officer and that Rios thought the tip was about him.

Rios agreed to be interviewed by Short, Monticelli said. Both Short and Monticelli testified that Rios initially denied knowing Valencia beyond an official capacity in the April 18 arrest.

Eventually, Rios confessed in “bits and pieces” of the affair, Monticelli said. The suspect told them he wanted to tell someone about the relationship on the day the body was found but that he decided not to after hearing other officers at the crime scene make “brutal” comments about Valencia being gay. (source)

This is exactly why the gay community doesn’t trust the police. I would like to think that this police department would take a long hard look at itself and get some training in these areas. I don’t want to stereotype, but, that’s probably not going to happen, given that it’s the police department of Columbia, Missouri.

I visited the Columbia, Missouri Police department feedback page. This is the message I left for them:

I read this today in an on line news article concerning the sentencing of former police officer Rios:

Rios confessed in “bits and pieces” of the affair, Monticelli said. The suspect told them he wanted to tell someone about the relationship on the day the body was found but that he decided not to after hearing other officers at the crime scene make “brutal” comments about Valencia being gay.

I sincerely hope that you take action within your police department to deal with the root of these “brutal” comments made about Jesse Valencia. The boy was gay and when the comments were made, he was dead. I can only imagine what your officers said about him.

He deserved a bit more respect than that and the police department should serve and protect ALL THE CITIZENS you serve.

The “brutal” comments were undeserved. My hope is that you would learn something from this and maybe something good could come out of this terrible tragedy.

Other source

Taxas has executed Richard Cartwight who, on August 1, 1996, killed Nick Moraida, a gay man, in a robbery attempt.

On August 1, 1996, Richard Cartwright and two male accomplices met Nick Moraida after he pulled up in a small black sports car. The trio invited Moraida to go drinking with them at seaside park. After Moraida, agreed, they drove to a secluded fishing area off a cul-de-sac on Ocean Way.

Once parked in the cul-de-sac, the four men went down a hill to the seawall area, and Cartwright pulled out a gun and said, “This is a robbery. Put your hands on the cement [wall].” At the same time, one of the accomplices held a knife to Moraida’s neck. Cartwright and his accomplices took Moraida’s watch, keys, wallet and an envelope containing cash, then an accomplice cut Moraida’s throat and Cartwright shot the victim. (source)

This from the Houston Chronicle:

HUNTSVILLE - A former mechanic from Chicago was executed Thursday for the robbery and fatal shooting of a Corpus Christi man.

In a brief final statement, Richard Cartwright thanked his friends and family for their support.

“I want to apologize to the victim’s family for any pain and suffering I caused them,” he said. Then he urged his fellow death row inmates to “just keep your heads up and stay strong.” [...]

There were no witnesses from the murder victim’s family.

Cartwright, 31, was the eighth Texas prisoner put to death this year and the second in as many days.

Cartwright was one of three men who duped Nick Moraida into thinking they were homosexuals offering to share beer with him at a beachfront park along Corpus Christi Bay in 1996.

Instead, Moraida was stabbed then shot to death while being robbed of his watch and wallet containing between $60 and $200.

His assailants hoped to use the money to buy drugs and alcohol.

Kelly Overstreet, 27, and Dennis Hagood, 28, are serving long prison terms. They agreed to plea bargains and testified against Cartwright.

Less than an hour before his scheduled lethal injection, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a late appeal in which Cartwright’s lawyers argued he was condemned by a Nueces County jury because of testimony Overstreet now insisted was false.

Overstreet originally placed much of the blame for the shooting on Cartwright, but in a written statement to Cartwright’s lawyers earlier this month, Overstreet said, “I intentionally made Cartwright out to be the bad guy out of spite when in fact I am the one who was at the forefront of all events.”

Crime Details
Background

An interesting map showing the hate groups in the United States, broken down by Black Separatist, Christian Identity, Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Confederate, Neo-Nazi, Other, and Racist Skinhead.

A hate group may just be in your own back yard. I know I was surprised.

I received this today, in a comment, and decided to share it with you.

This is Sean Ethan Owen’s mother.

Yes, I believe my son was murdered because he was gay and he was the kindest person you could know. The people that murdered my son needs to look deep down and ask themselves why. But there is no reason why you could just kill a person that hasn’t done any thing to you. Just cold blooded murder him. Why could anyone just take a life for no reason? You ask your self many times and you still get no answer.

If they just wanted a car they didn’t have to kill my son for it. He would have gave them the car so that is not why they killed him. You see you can get a car from any where but no, they wanted to kill a gay man that hasn’t done a thing to them. One of the boys, Matthew Taylor got out on a bond. He was smiling like it was no big deal that he killed my son. I don’t think it was fair to just let a man out, after knowing all the evidence and still let him out on bond. Why I ask myself but I have no answer. Can anyone tell me why?

I want justice and I don’t think I am going to get it. I see in my eyes if it was a white boy killing a black person you would not hear the end of it, but since it was a white man killed by three black men it looks like to me that they are saying another white man is gone. That is sad, a person is a person no matter what color they are and they need to only look at that - not the color of my son, that did not deserve to be killed.

I wrote about Sean’s murder on April 20, 2004. He was lured by three men from an Internet chat room to meet him. I’m not sure he knew it was three men. Their plan was to steel his car. Sean ended up being strangled, tortured, and with two bullets in his head. He was found several days later. This happened a year ago.

Then on Wednesday, May 4, 2005, one of the men who did this, Matthew Taylor, received a reduced bail from $200,000 to $150,000, a sum Taylor’s relatives said they could afford.

Saying his bullet-riddled, beaten and strangled son was dumped into the Eno River “like a sack of garbage,” a grieving father was enraged Wednesday after bail was reduced to a manageable amount for one of three suspects in the homicide case.

“It’s damn sickening,” Michael Owens complained after Judge Orlando F. Hudson (pictured left) cut bond from $200,000 to $150,000 for 17-year-old Matthew Taylor.

Taylor’s relatives had indicated that $150,000 was a sum they could afford.

“I’m furious,” said Owens. “They go in and ask the judge for something. They get it. What do I get? I don’t get my son back. I just get the headache of knowing [Taylor] will be on the street again soon.” [...]

The victim’s father and Assistant District Attorney Tracey Cline pleaded with Hudson, who is Durham’s senior judge, not to further lower Taylor’s bond on Wednesday.

“My son is gone,” said Owens. “I’ll never see my son again. Who’s to say that when [Taylor] gets out, he’s not going to be roaming the streets to kill someone else. ... God only knows what this man will do if he gets out of jail. It makes me want to throw up right here. ... They threw my son into the river like a sack of garbage. What is the world coming to to let somebody like him out on the street to hurt someone again?”

Cline argued that Taylor bought the gun that killed Owen and also lured the victim to Durham with an Internet message: “Come on to Durham Sean. I want to meet you. I want to spend some time with you.”

“But for his actions, Sean would still be alive today,” Cline said of Taylor. (source)

Five years ago, a friend made an observation about Kent and me. This friend had known us for quite some time (several years). He was a straight man who had no problem with gay men. I know this isn’t totally fair, but if you are a straight man, you have to prove to me that you aren’t threatened by gay men. Yes, I know - it’s my baggage. But, I have come to rely on that baggage to protect me from those who would do harm to us.

My friend said to me, “I never see you and Kent show any affection towards each other.” I immediately turned to him and said without hesitation or thought, “You won’t. We are very well trained.” With that, he laughed. He thought it was hysterical. I didn’t laugh.

I don’t honestly think that he could understand what I was talking about. I don’t really think any straight person can. There was a day that I remember when we lived in San Francisco. We were walking some place and came upon a tag sale. We stopped. I remember that we were holding hands. This was twenty years ago, in a city that had a very large and very present gay community. The yard sale was not far from the Castro, the gay neighborhood in San Francisco. I thought we were safe. We passed this other couple, a straight couple. After we got fifteen feet beyond them, the male turned around and said out loud so everyone could hear him, “fucking faggots!”. We totally ignored him. The guy giving the tag sale looked at us, but said nothing. We became uncomfortable, and left the area.

There were many other instances of harassment that go on and on and on. At some point we made a decision that it just wasn’t worth the risk of being insulted and beaten up. This is the freedom that we have and enjoy in the United States. This is what our life is like. We leave our homes, and we have to try to pass for straight from straight thugs who hate our guts. This is not freedom.

I know there will be gays out there who say, “I wouldn’t do what you have done. To hell with them.” Well, you will say that until you get the crap beat out of you and it takes three months to recover from your injuries - and that’s just the physical injuries. The mental issues to having that done to you will never leave you. Is it worth it? Is it worth the risk? We decided it wasn’t.

I grew up in a state that was not what you would call the center of enlightenment. My best friend in grade school was chased out of our town in the middle of the night along with his family by a bunch of thugs who then set fire to his home. He never returned to the town or the school. His only sin was that he was black.

In junior high (we call them “middle schools” in the East), I had heard about boys who would go out and “roll some queers”, slang for beating them up. I later heard the cops in our town joking about how they let the boys go and told them to go home and go to bed. As for the victim in the crime, the cops threw him in a ditch and told him to keep his sexual orientation to himself. I suppose it’s very ironic that he was straight. He married later in life and now has children. But, he was perceived to be gay.

All of this I learned from. My friends in high school were even talking about how they hated queers. After they found out I was gay, that friendship meant nothing to them. I became the target of their hate.

This brings me to the story I’m talking about today. Chris Chain, editorial director of the gay newspaper chain Windows Media, was attacked and beaten by seven men while in Amsterdam, Holland. He was walking hand-in-hand with his boyfriend early Saturday morning. In his story, he says, “I got another punch to the face, and when they kicked me to the ground, time seemed to stop.”

It’s true. Time does stop. When I was beaten in my home town and thrown down a ravine by boys who used to be my “friends”, it seemed that I was only away from people a few minutes. I was unconscious and the actual time it took me to regain consciousness was several hours. I climbed to the top of the hill to the road. It was a deserted road that used to be used heavily. But, since the new highway was put in, very little traffic came by. Someone did come by and saw me on the ground leaning against the monument on the hill. I had blood all over me, my blood. It was a couple and a small child. They helped me into their car, and I felt myself getting a sick feeling. I fell unconscious again. The next thing I knew, days had gone by. I woke up in the hospital. I never got the names of the people who helped me. After taking me to the hospital, they left. Time stands still.

Crain described the gay-bashing in a first-person story scheduled for publication Friday in the Washington (D.C.) Blade, one of several papers owned by Windows. Crain and William Waybourn founded the chain in 1996.

“I was covered in blood, mostly from my nose,” Crain wrote, “but I got lucky: no broken bones, no damage to my vision, just some very nasty bruises and a lot to think about.” (source)

A lot to think about indeed. I’m sure Chris is weighing the same arguments that Kent and I went through. People can say that they are against public displays of affection, but most would say that they see nothing wrong with holding hands. To me, it is an extension of what you feel inside towards another person. Should we really have to live in a world (or, our country who claims to be all about freedom) where even that has to be filtered?

If you would have told me when I first came out that at some point in my life I would be beaten up for being gay, I would never have imagined it like this. As a child of the South, where “fag” and “queer” were everyday insults, I would have expected a fist to the face somewhere back home for sure.

For years now, in big city and small, I suppose I’ve tempted fate, living my life as I have always seen everyone else live theirs. If the mood strikes me to hold my boyfriend’s hand, I do it. If a chill in the air makes me want to put my arm around his shoulders, I do that, too. If he says something romantic that deserves a peck on the lips, he can expect that’s coming, too.

As it happens, I tempted fate one too many times in arguably the “gay-friendliest” place on the planet. By almost any measure, the equality movement in the Netherlands was won years ago. There are laws protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation, there are hate crime laws, and Holland is one of only a handful of countries where gay couples can legally marry. [...]

I was walking through central Amsterdam with my boyfriend back to our hotel. People were still milling about on the sidewalks from Friday night’s revelry. We were only blocks from the most popular gay areas; and we were holding hands.

As we passed two men standing on the side of the street, one of them deliberately spat on us, mainly hitting me in the face. Without saying a word, we stood our ground. We stopped, turned around, and asked why. The man, who looked in his 20s, had Moroccan features and spoke with a heavy accent, murmured something about “fucking fags.”

Within seconds, the two somehow turned into seven — and five of them were ganging up on me, probably because at 6-foot-7 I’m a good bit bigger than my boyfriend. It seemed like every direction I turned, I got another punch to the face, and when they kicked me to the ground, time seemed to stop. My heart still races as I write about it now. It felt like the situation had spiraled completely out of my control.

Then just as quickly as it began, it was over. I was standing up on my own, and our attackers were fleeing. There had been dozens of people on the street corner, but none of them had acted or even yelled anything. My boyfriend had escaped his attackers and had come to my aid, and that finally convinced the others to run.

I was covered in blood, mostly from my nose, but I got lucky: no broken bones, no damage to my vision, just some very nasty bruises and a lot to think about.

Should we have been walking hand-in-hand late at night, especially on a party weekend? Should we have shrugged and kept going after the initial spit? On the ambulance ride to the hospital, I beat myself up on both those points much worse than my attackers had. I could see in my boyfriend’s face the fear that I might be seriously hurt. He had no visible injuries, but the whole nightmare for him had been worse. He saw me surrounded by five men, being beaten and kicked and covered in blood. (source)