…but I repeat myself.
Yet another alleged attack on a gay man. This time in St. Cloud, Minnesota. According to the St. Cloud Times:
Matthew Warren Thomas, 24, of Rogers, Chad Vincent Hands, 21, of Elk River, and Ryan Andrew Frane, 23, of St. Cloud were arrested and taken to Stearns County Jail.
They had not been charged in court by this morning. The charges could be enhanced from fifth-degree to fourth-degree assault because of the allegation that bias motivated the attack, Sayre said.
According to the police report, the three men used anti-gay slurs toward a 22-year-old gay man and then beat him. Fortunately, the victim only suffered cuts and bruises to his face and hands. It could have been much worse.
I guess this is what happens when you have an influential anti-gay hate group like the Minnesota Family Council putting out literature accusing gay people of literally eating feces (sound familiar?), drinking urine, and raping animals. If you try to access the literature now, you’ll find it’s gone. But this is a snippet of what it said, courtesy of Pam's House Blend:
8a. Homosexual practices are often astonishing to heterosexual people. Homosexuals must use body aper- tures not constructed for sexual penetration or bring their mouth into contact with areas designed for the elimination of human waste, which causes serious hygienic and health risks. Some homosexuals become urolagniacs (ingesting urine and feces) and engage in bestiality as well as other deviant behaviors.
And did I mention the predictable allegations of child rape?
8d. The homosexual population includes a disproportionate number of pedophiles. Many prominent homosexuals and organization [sic] have the stated objective to remove age-of-consent laws from state statutes.
Of course, not only do we have hate groups like the Minnesota Family Council calling gay people shit-eating, animal-fucking child rapists, but as we all know, the Republican-controlled Minnesota legislature has been putting gay people and their civil rights on trial for weeks. We’ve seen a lot of hate. And we’ve seen a lot of hope:
But despite those who stood up for what was right, the Minnesota GOP has succeeded in putting the basic civil rights of gays and lesbians up for popular vote. And now we can look forward to more division, more hatred, and more anti-gay bigotry flooding the state of Minnesota. Like this new ad from NOM:
I’m sure this type of shit isn’t related to anti-gay violence at all.
Right.
Maybe it’s simplistic to point the finger at NOM, at the Minnesota Family Council, at the Republicans in the Minnesota legislature. Hate, after all, is a complicated thing. But until we reach the point when it’s no longer acceptable to put gays’ civil rights on the ballot for “the people” to decide, beatings like this are legitimized by our government. Until we get beyond the scare campaigns by the anti-gay hate groups, gay-bashers are enabled. If you dehumanize gay people, marginalize them, make them out to be monsters, make them look like a threat, this is what you get. And they can denounce violence and hatred all they want, but what else can they expect? They breed violence and hatred.
So congratulations to NOM, the Minnesota Family Council, and the Minnesota GOP. The hatred and bigotry you espouse has led to yet another attack on a gay man. Are you happy?
P.S. In better Minnesota news, an amazing marriage equality ad has been produced: