At the end of June Fort Worth, TX police and TABC officers raided a gay bar. They beat one patron so badly he was hospitalized with life threatening injuries. The police, when caught, publicly lied about the raid, and used the infamous gay panic defense to justify their acts of violence.
In mid September, police raided a gay bar in Atlanta, GA. Again, the police violated the Constitutional rights of the people in the bar. Again, the police used the infamous gay panic defense to justify their violent conduct.
Does anyone think that a hate crime against the LGBTI community in Fort Worth or Atlanta would receive a proper investigation? How many other raids happened this summer that did not make it into a news report? How many other police departments (Fair Lawn, NJ for instance) have incompetent police departments that refuse to even acknowledge a hate crime has taken place?
Year after year after year, Congress has no nothing, nothing to protect the LGBTI citizens of this country. It is time for the President and Congress to make it a federal crime for local, gay-bashing, police departments to engage in violence against the LGBTI community. It is time to make bashing the LGBTI community a crime.
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Details about the September Atlanta, GA raid can be found at:
http://www.sovo.com/2009/9-14/news/localnews/10607.cfm?CFID=37445236&CFTOKEN=77612917
http://www.bilerico.com/2009/09/there_was_a_protest_this.php
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jaysays/2009/09/24/Closet-Talk-The-Eagle-Bar-Raid-with-Nicholas-and-Johnnie
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With federal hate crimes, a duty is placed on the federal government to step in and investigate these acts by local officials. As it is, the feds only come when invited. I was pleased to see that the Ft. Worth police department invited a federal review of their investigation, but no independent investigation.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, Atlanta will invite the feds - since they have nothing to hide... *right*.
Thank you Gary for supporting Federal Hate Crimes legislation. Such is way overdue.