Posted on 12/29/2004 3:50:32 AM PST by Ellesu
Attorney General Crist’s report cites ‘clear pattern of growth’ in crime motivated by sexual orientation
As he stepped from a cab, Joe saw the stalker waiting for him. “He met me in the street – and he socked me in the mouth. I went to the hospital and had eight stitches in my jaw.” Joe (not his real name) said he was a victim of gay-bashing, apparently by a man who had stalked him to a West Palm Beach venue, punched him, grabbed his leg and stole his wallet, ripping the pocket right off the man’s trousers. Joe said he knows as many as 13 gay men who’ve been robbed, as well as one straight woman who had her handbag snatched when she left a gay bar where her brother works. “It is a hate crime,” said Joe. “You feel helpless.” He and others in the gay community hope to bring their plight to the attention of law enforcement authorities. But will they find justice? Florida is not particularly friendly to gays. And it seems to be getting worse, according to Attorney General Charlie Crist. The AG on Monday released his annual Hate Crimes report, which said the overall total number had decreased by more than 10 percent from 2002 to 2003. “However, the report shows a clear pattern of growth in hate crime incidents motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation,” Crist said. “The number of such incidents, 55, is the third highest single-year total since reporting began.” Hate crimes based on sexual orientation accounted for 20 percent of all hate crimes, he said – and that’s the highest proportion for this category ever recorded in Florida. “In the last four years,” Crist said, “Florida law enforcement agencies reported more hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation (194) than the combined total for the first eight years of hate crimes reporting (193).” Coincidentally, gay advocates and activists interviewed by the Boca Raton News Monday said this generally coincides with the presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Several said the Bush administration, with its emphasis on “moral values,” has fomented anti-gay sentiment that manifests itself in violence. “There’s a lot of anti-gay hate in moral values,” said Shirley Herman, a retired accountant and lesbian. “It’s just plain and simple bigotry.” “This is not surprising, considering the atmosphere created by this administration,” said Sheila Jaffe, a former president of the North Palm Beach County chapter of the National Organization for Women The group is hosting a conference in Lake Worth from Jan. 7-9, and “one of the seminars is on hate crimes,” she said. “The gay and lesbian population is an obvious victim for people who want to go out and gay-bash,” said Clarence Brooks, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who works with the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network. While he has not read Crist’s report, Brooks said there are two “hidden” reasons for the increase in the numbers. “Victims are more open about reporting the incidents. Before, that was not happening.” In addition, he said, “law enforcement is now recording these incidents.” Donald Cavanaugh, a writer for the Independent Gay News and an activist for the cause, said there is “more visibility in the gay community than there was several years ago.” He said issues like the recent furor over gay marriages tends to solidify the homosexual community. “The White House is no friend” to the gay community, said Rusty Gordon, a facilitator for the Whimsy Political Clearing House who also works with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. “I started an organization to get law enforcement people in Palm Beach County on top of hate crime. We were able to assess that it was escalating.” She said she met with and got support from Palm Beach County Sheriff Ed Bieluch, Sheriff-elect Ric Bradshaw and Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne. Boca Raton and southern Palm Beach County have apparently not reported rampant numbers of hate crimes in the past few years. One man was convicted several years ago of a hate crime for setting fire to a sign announcing that a mosque was be built on a parcel of land in Boca Raton. There have been other incidents, but not all were defined as hate crimes. A year ago, burglars who broke into the Delray Beach home of the Allan Zorn family painted swastikas on the building. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Paul Miller said he did not know if that incident, which has not been solved, has been classified as a hate crime. Six months ago, PBSO investigated the stabbing murder of a man, allegedly by someone he had met in a gay bar. The incident was not considered a hate crime, Miller said. The same is true in Boca Raton, said PIO Sgt. Eric Lawrence. He said the local police department has not recorded many incidents that have risen to the level of hate crimes. In his report, Crist said a total of 275 hate crimes were reported by local law enforcement agencies in 2003, down from the 306 total a year earlier. Hate crimes motivated by the victim’s religious beliefs also declined, down more than 17 percent from 2002. He said race “was the motivating factor behind virtually half the reported hate crimes (49.1 percent). A combination of just two motivation categories, race and ethnicity/national origin, accounted for two-thirds (67.6 percent).” “But the percentage of hate crimes based on race was actually the second lowest since hate crime reporting began and marks only the second time the figure was below 50 percent.” “This is not a cause for celebration,” said Stephen Mendelsohn, chairman of the Jewish Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. “I would be skeptical of any survey that says religious crimes are down. Maybe there are statewide.” He said a decrease is probably the result “of underreporting of such crimes.” “Maybe these statistics are true,” he said. “But we can’t let our guard down.”
There's a problem here?
Call me crazy, but if someone punches me in the mouth and steals my money, and that's all I have to go on, I'm not going to conclude too much from it and say it's a crime against handsome, straight conservatives. And it's a real leap to blame the president's or anyone else who is interested in promoting moral values for the criminal behavior of those who have no interest in law or morality. Let's face it, the folks beating up on Homosexuals are not a moral lot. They're not getting their cues from the Bible or from those who believe Homosexuality is a sin. The fact is that we citizens have no right to injure anyone because we believe his behavior is sinful. Everyone with any sense of decency knows this. So it's too much of a stretch in my book, and is just typical Democrat Party propaganda to take these reports and try to blame the President.
It seems to me the perp was looking for a easy target,so he went trolling for gay marks.
little old ladies have their purses snatched every day.
Joe (not his real name) said he was a victim of gay-bashing, apparently by a man who had stalked him to a West Palm Beach venue, punched him, grabbed his leg and stole his wallet, ripping the pocket right off the man’s trousers.
Joe said he knows as many as 13 gay men who’ve been robbed, as well as one straight woman who had her handbag snatched when she left a gay bar where her brother works. “It is a hate crime,” said Joe. “You feel helpless.”
He and others in the gay community hope to bring their plight to the attention of law enforcement authorities. But will they find justice?
Florida is not particularly friendly to gays. And it seems to be getting worse, according to Attorney General Charlie Crist.
The AG on Monday released his annual Hate Crimes report, which said the overall total number had decreased by more than 10 percent from 2002 to 2003. “However, the report shows a clear pattern of growth in hate crime incidents motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation,” Crist said. “The number of such incidents, 55, is the third highest single-year total since reporting began.”
Hate crimes based on sexual orientation accounted for 20 percent of all hate crimes, he said – and that’s the highest proportion for this category ever recorded in Florida. “In the last four years,” Crist said, “Florida law enforcement agencies reported more hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation (194) than the combined total for the first eight years of hate crimes reporting (193).”
Coincidentally, gay advocates and activists interviewed by the Boca Raton News Monday said this generally coincides with the presidential administrations of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Several said the Bush administration, with its emphasis on “moral values,” has fomented anti-gay sentiment that manifests itself in violence.
“There’s a lot of anti-gay hate in moral values,” said Shirley Herman, a retired accountant and lesbian. “It’s just plain and simple bigotry.”
“This is not surprising, considering the atmosphere created by this administration,” said Sheila Jaffe, a former president of the North Palm Beach County chapter of the National Organization for Women The group is hosting a conference in Lake Worth from Jan. 7-9, and “one of the seminars is on hate crimes,” she said.
“The gay and lesbian population is an obvious victim for people who want to go out and gay-bash,” said Clarence Brooks, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who works with the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.
While he has not read Crist’s report, Brooks said there are two “hidden” reasons for the increase in the numbers. “Victims are more open about reporting the incidents. Before, that was not happening.” In addition, he said, “law enforcement is now recording these incidents.”
Donald Cavanaugh, a writer for the Independent Gay News and an activist for the cause, said there is “more visibility in the gay community than there was several years ago.” He said issues like the recent furor over gay marriages tends to solidify the homosexual community.
“The White House is no friend” to the gay community, said Rusty Gordon, a facilitator for the Whimsy Political Clearing House who also works with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. “I started an organization to get law enforcement people in Palm Beach County on top of hate crime. We were able to assess that it was escalating.” She said she met with and got support from Palm Beach County Sheriff Ed Bieluch,
Sheriff-elect Ric Bradshaw and Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne. Boca Raton and southern Palm Beach County have apparently not reported rampant numbers of hate crimes in the past few years.
One man was convicted several years ago of a hate crime for setting fire to a sign announcing that a mosque was be built on a parcel of land in Boca Raton.
There have been other incidents, but not all were defined as hate crimes. A year ago, burglars who broke into the Delray Beach home of the Allan Zorn family painted swastikas on the building.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Paul Miller said he did not know if that incident, which has not been solved, has been classified as a hate crime.
Six months ago, PBSO investigated the stabbing murder of a man, allegedly by someone he had met in a gay bar. The incident was not considered a hate crime, Miller said.
The same is true in Boca Raton, said PIO Sgt. Eric Lawrence. He said the local police department has not recorded many incidents that have risen to the level of hate crimes.
In his report, Crist said a total of 275 hate crimes were reported by local law enforcement agencies in 2003, down from the 306 total a year earlier.
Hate crimes motivated by the victim’s religious beliefs also declined, down more than 17 percent from 2002. He said race “was the motivating factor behind virtually half the reported hate crimes (49.1 percent).
A combination of just two motivation categories, race and ethnicity/national origin, accounted for two-thirds (67.6 percent).”
“But the percentage of hate crimes based on race was actually the second lowest since hate crime reporting began and marks only the second time the figure was below 50 percent.”
“This is not a cause for celebration,” said Stephen Mendelsohn, chairman of the Jewish Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County. “I would be skeptical of any survey that says religious crimes are down. Maybe there are statewide.”
He said a decrease is probably the result “of underreporting of such crimes.” “Maybe these statistics are true,” he said. “But we can’t let our guard down.”
When a straight person is mugged, it should be called a hate crime and Straight Bashing caused by Democrats.
It's terrible that someone would attack the mentally ill.
Joe said he knows as many as 13 gay men who’ve been robbed, as well as one straight woman who had her handbag snatched when she left a gay bar where her brother works. ''It is a hate crime,'' said Joe. ''You feel helpless.''
Nah, Joe; it's not a 'hate crime'. It's not even a 'merely perturbed' crime. These are garden variety 'snatch & grabs' by clumsy hoodlums not sophisticated enough to be pickpockets but smart enough to identify easy marks.
It's a well known fact that gay couples are generally more wealthy than those who SPEND ALL THEIR MONEY on raising kids!!
ahem. This mugger was making a judgment to maximizing his income, it seems to me. Plus the fact that most gays are outright libs, and probably don't have a Conceled Weapon license.
Florida has a CCW law. All Floridians ought to be encouraged to learn to use, and to carry a gun for self-defense, especially those segments of the population who experience higher crime rates.
heh- great minds- see my post 11.
There's an entreprenurial idea! Let's start a website...
Thank you. Paragraphs are our friends.
And if you're a bully, who would you find easier to pick on a Liberal who is too muddled minded to understand that some people are evil or a Right Wing Gun NUT? Bullies are opportunists. Why would they take their chances with a straight shooter? Pun intended.
HTML 101 <<-P></P>> minus the - I forgot how to display html code. sorry
One act of kindness won't hurt, afterall it is the season! ;)
BTW ... Thanks for the thanks.
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