I found a couple of stories today that show how effed up our priorities are in this country. A man was charged with petty vandalism for destroying several American flags, and that charge has absolutely nothing to do with his actual destruction of an American flag. Meanwhile another man was convicted of a felony hate crime for burning a gay pride rainbow flag.
First we head to New York where a man stole and desecrated several American flags according to the Mid-Hudson News. Christopher Dalameter, on numerous occasions vandalized the property of Julie and Brian Foppes. Dalameter tore down the Foppes’ Trump signs and stole and desecrated several of their American flags. He also destroyed the Foppes’ fence and vandalized their property with spray paint graffiti.
For this anti-American crime spree, Dalameter has been charged with criminal mischief, petit larceny, making graffiti and trespass, all misdemeanors. He was not charged specifically with desecrating the American flag because even when you steal one it is considered an expression of free speech.
But that free speech right ends if a person intends to defame a protected class of people. A Nebraska man was convicted of a felony hate crime for burning a rainbow gay pride flag.
Earlier this year Cameron Mayfield snatched a rainbow flag from a lesbian couple’s front porch. He doused the gay pride flag in gasoline and then waved it around as it burned. Mayfield said it was a drunken prank, but because it involved gay people, he was arrested and charged with arson and a hate crime.
1011Now.com reports that Mayfeild has been convicted of felony arson as a hate crime. The only slight bit of good news for this guy is that he was given two years of probation instead of many years behind bars. Still, he will have a felony hate crime conviction dogging him for the rest of his life. He can’t vote, he can’t own a firearm, and he will have trouble ever finding a job.
Okay, these cases are eerily similar. In both instances a person stole a flag from private property and then destroyed it. The guy who stole an American flag (many American flags) is getting slapped with something that is as serious as a parking violation. The guy who stole a gay pride flag is a convicted felon whose life is ruined.
Shouldn’t the American flag be a little more important than a rainbow flag that celebrates a sexually deviant lifestyle?
