What I said was the Sheppard murder was what is known as a "hate" crime, i.e., a crime motivated by the victim's social status. The Dirkhising murder was what is known as a "sex" crime, i.e., a crime committed in connection with a rape. Therefore the appropriate comparison of the Dirkhising case is to other sex crimes against children.
But maybe you're right: Let's use the sexual orientation of the perpetrator as the classification for comparison. But then we end up with a whole heap of murders committed by straights, and a much smaller number of murders committed by gays, don't we?
Both were vicious, hateful murders and the killers are rightfully in prison. The "sexual orientation" of the murderers or victims is irrelevent to me.
I see your point that the motivation for one of these murders is "hate" (based upon the victim's sexual preference) and the motivation for the other is "sex." Could be, but that isn't really my point.
The point is not the heinous acts of the killers, but the reaction of the media. Could you imagine MTV producing a fawning and worshipful "documentary" about Jesse Dirkhising? Is it even conceivable?
I am not the one using "the sexual orientation of the perpetrator as the classification for comparison." Read Bozell's article above. The people doing this are the NY Times, Washington Post, et al.
Murder aside, it's quite obvious to everyone that far more children are sexually molested by homosexuals, on a person-per-person basis, than are by heterosexuals. I will never consider my sons to be safe alone with a homosexual man. The sorry fools who did (in Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church) have reaped incredible pain and sorrow.