Hate Crimes Bill 2009

Thank You Mr. Kennedy-let's punish the victims again The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act of 2009 sounds really good. At least the name does. But is it what it seems? First, let's examine some of the history of this bill. The Sad Story of Matthew Shepard. The bill is borne out of the murder of Matthew Shepard. In 1998, Shepard was killed by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson in what was billed as a “hate crime” targeting Shepard because he was gay. But was it? The Lefts' history of using sad circumstances to create a legal bellybutton is nothing new. They did it with Roe v. Wade to push abortion through and create public acceptance for abortion and they did it with Matthew Shepards' untimely death. According to testimony, McKinney, who was coming down from a five-day methamphetamine high, Henderson, and their girlfriends, picked up Shepard with the intention of robbing him. But McKinney beat Shepard so badly, that they decided to dump him and just take his belongings. Shepard was not a total stranger to McKinney and Henderson. They had seen him at the Fireside Lounge, and pretended to be gay themselves as a “lure” to get Shepard into their truck. Shepard was apparently looking for a sexual encounter. Shepard's case was immediately sensationalized in the news, even before he passed away days after his bloody body was found tied to a split-rail fence. One reporter from the Casper Star-Tribune was even noted as saying that Shepard would be the “new poster child for gay rights.” Shepard has his own demons, including having been raped while on a trip to Morocco several years earlier; a recent diagnosis of HIV; and depression to the extent that he was battling suicidal ideology. And Shepard also battled with his own involvement in the local drug scene. The night McKinney and Henderson saw Shepard at the lounge, Shepard was well dressed and the couple assumed he had money. A plan to rob a local drug deal had fallen through earlier that night, and Shepard seemed an easy mark to the duo. The three men piled into the front seat of the vehicle and Shepard reached over, according to McKinney, and grabbed his leg. McKinney's response, heightened by McKinney's condition, brought a swift and extreme response. McKinney hit Shepard with the pistol he had been planning to use to rob Shepard. When Shepard gave over only $30.00, McKinney's rage grew and the beating continued. This horrific crime should never have happened. But was it a “gay bashing?” It hardly seems to be one if one takes all of the facts into account. Especially the fact that, though

McKinney denied it, his friends believed he was bisexual. The Bill. The bill in question not only has a history not matching it's purposes, it offers financial incentives to local law enforcement to possibly engage in making hate crimes where no hate crimes may exist, or may only be part of the equation in a criminal act. But even worse is the prioritizing of crimes, crimes which could be possibly more heinous in their action, but which will not see the same prosecutorial zeal as an alleged hate crime. The Sadder Story of Jesse Dirkhising. The sadistic torture and subsequent death of Jesse Dirkhising was barely a blip on the media radar. The thirteen-year-old boy was trying to save up money to fix up a truck. Two men, Joshua McCabe Brown and Davis Don Carpenter hired Dirkhising to work in their salon. Dirkhising's parents were tolerant types, never suspecting that their friends, Brown and Carpenter, had some dubious proclivities. Carpenter would make the 60-mile round trip to pick up Jesse to spend the weekend. The actual assault lasted around five hours during which time Brown sodomized Jesse, who's hands were tied to a baseball bat, mouth stuffed with underwear and taped with duct tape, and bottom elevated with pillows. Browns' implements included his fingers, a frozen banana, a urine enema laced with amitryptiline, a cucumber, and an Eckrich sausage. This Brown did while Carpenter stood nearby, masturbating. Carpenter had Brown duct tape the cucumber inside Jesse's anus while the duo took a lunch break and went the the kitchen and made sandwiches. It was during this break that Jesse suffocated to death. Why didn't the world scream about this brutal murder? Perhaps because Dirkhising, who was young and vulnerable, was being portrayed by Brown and Carpenter as a “willing victim.” Brown considered Jesse to be his “on the side” lover and testified that Jesse had given Brown oral sex from his first weekend visit with them. Brown admitted to sodomizing Jesse the night of the assault by first setting a romantic stage: candlelight and rose petals. After that was when “the game” (as Brown called it) went south. Carpenter wasn't casual in this either. He had written notes about how to “sedate” children; had collected child sex videos and even talked about wanting to have sex with dogs. One of Carpenter's notes to Brown referenced a little neighbor girl: “I saw your 10-year-old blonde whore this morning... her bus comes by at 7:20 or 7:30... Keep an eye on her and catch the first opportunity to talk to her- In the back window & whammo! Oh yeah!” The Dilemma.

H.R.1913 doesn't recognize the brutality perpetrated on young Jesse because it wasn't a “hate crime” against homosexuals, rather, it was a brutal crime perpetrated BY homosexuals. Yet one has to wonder if Jesse's death was any less heinous than that of Matthew Shepherd? “Hate” is an emotion which may- or may not- preclude an action. And it is often an emotion credited to a person or group without any verifiable evidences. In fact, it's judging an emotion or a thought based on an action. But is that adequate? No. It isn't. Intent has to be determined by malice of forethought. McKinney and Henderson were not looking for a gay guy specifically to bash because they hated gays. They were looking for a vulnerable person, who had money, whom they could lure off under any ruse that they thought could work. They picked a grown man, who made the grown up decision to get into their vehicle. In the case of Jesse Dirkhising, two grown men decided to use a boy for “sex games.” Whether the boy was gay or not is irrelevant. Whether he was then willing or had previously been willing to permit himself to be sexually used, is likewise irrelevant. A teen cannot make a grown up decision like this one. Hate crimes legislation detracts from the seriousness of other crimes and other crimes to gain media and national attention. But since when was one murder less important than another? When is one vandalism less important? Recently the church I attend has undergone a spate of vandalism. Included in the vandalism is the spray painting of the word OBAMA in four areas on the outside of our church. Is this a hate crime since Obama is black and my pastor is white? And what about the elderly woman who was savagely attacked by two black youths who beat her about the head for a whopping ten dollars? Is her assault less important because she's just an old lady? Our leadership isn't acting on all six cylinders on this one and we need to stop this insanity before it's too late and your thoughts become illegal.