Comments on: Vanasco: From prosecution to prevention for hate crimes

By: John

John — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:01:29 +0000

People like Rep. Virginia Foxx should become the target of GLBT anger. Let’s make her life, the lives of her family and the lives of any friends if she has any pure hell. Let the bitch learn what hate is.

By: John

John — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:51:20 +0000

I think we can finally get the Matthew Shepard Act enacted this year. The House has already approved it by a comfortable 249-175 margin. And perhaps most significantly, many of the so-called “Conservadems” in the Senate have come out in favor of it, including Nelson, McCaskill, Casey, Landrieu, Specter, Lieberman, Begich, and Bayh.

It really is now or never. The Democrats aren’t going to get 60 seats in the Senate next time. If Obama keeps on punting, he’ll find himself staring at November 2016 (with as little to show for it as Clinton). And I’m not talking only about gay rights. I’m talking about all of it — clean energy, health care, immigration, Cuba, and so forth. If no progress is made on the entire reform agenda soon, there won’t be a reform agenda in two years.

By: mark

mark — Wed, 20 May 2009 05:41:42 +0000

Putting people in jail longer does nothing to prevent hate crimes. Bad legislation.

By: Gus

Gus — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:07:01 +0000

Obama is not going to support any bill protecting gay rights because for him is more important to make his right wing friends happy than the people who supported him when he ran for president.

By: Lincoln

Lincoln — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:17:57 +0000

Here is the letter I sent to Obama today.

“It is a sad day for me. The gay population had high hopes. I know I did but after this last announcement that there will be no repeal of DADT my feelings for and about you are beginning to fade. You have the power to stop the discharges. You have the power to change history. What are you afraid of? You just lost a good man because of DADT. You have lost thousands of good people and millions of dollars in training and legal fees. There are stressed out soldiers killing their own and themselves when willing and able people could replace them. Do you really think the gay service members will act any different if they could talk about their family and friends or share worries and ask for help when they need it? They would be better. As for the crap and possible violence they WILL get, well….We live with it everyday already. You could be the first real step in our emancipation.

Before I watched the documentary series “Eye on the Prize” I wondered how and why black Americans feel the way they do. As I watched the footage and heard the history, I understood. I watched peaceful people stand in front of their church while ignorant white men and boys threw bricks and hate. I was ashamed of my race and my country that at anytime in our history we treated any human as something less. I understand why they turned and started throwing the bricks back and continue today.

I am not a violent person but today I wanted to throw a brick back.”

I feel for Judy and the anguish she still feels.

How long are we going to quietly sit and wait.
Soon the largest gathering of gay people in most major cities is going to happen and we need to be really heard this time. It is not about the bare asses or shirtless dykes. It is about making a real statement. We NEED to truly unite and come out of every closet.
Pride is coming and we NEED to do something big.
Any ideas?

By: Lunakiss

Lunakiss — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:51:41 +0000

Crossing my fingers,toes and legs-please, please let this bill pass in the Senate. I’ve been worrying about this bill. Although I contacted my Senators, I’m not so sure if they even care.
For Divine’s sake pass this bill.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:48:16 +0000

This country’s promise of equality is a joke and so is its leader.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:08:51 +0000

Jennifer, very thoughtful article with one exception, where you wrote, “…Rep. Virginia Foxx, who called Matthew Shepard’s death a “hoax” in front of his mother, before apologizing.” Her “apology” was insincere and vindictive, and Mrs. Shepard did not accept it. I really feel for her as I do all of us here in the United States, trapped in a nation run by the ruthless in the name of the stupid.

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:00:44 +0000

Wyoming prides itself on being a “EQUALITY” state. But they don’t mean Gays. Such cowardly hypocrites those people in Wyoming are.

By: TigerTzu

TigerTzu — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:39:19 +0000

Jennifer, excellent article. I couldn’t agree more. I have said more than once in posts here that if legislation were effective, racism would have ended decades ago. When the religious fanatical fringe no longer can use the legal system to bash our heads in, they will find other, more barbaric, weapons to use instead. The incident in New York proves you don’t even have to be gay to get beaten to death, they just have to jump to the conclusion you are gay. Judge, jury and executioner all in one with a speedy trial and sentence caried out immediately. American mob-mentality justice at its finest.