The link below is to a story by Lauren Daly for the Pittsburgh City Paper. In my opinion, Lauren does a stellar job covering anything, but has been a great asset to any LGBT issue, and a shining star at the already successful City Paper. I want to write about this topic from a different perspective, but I also want to add some commentary on this article itself.
Commentary: Kathleen Carrick of the GLCC
I’m thrilled to see the GLCC quoted here in the article. Â Too often the Gay and Lesbian Community Center seems to remain silent on issues and events, but this beating occurance has been one where they have added their voice in an important way, and I am so glad to see that! Pittsburgh knows the Center for a few services that they have offered for a very long time. Glad to see them speak out at crucial times.
My Perspective: Crimes and Hate Crimes
There are for me two big sides to this story. First, it makes me aware of how grateful I am that I’ve never been near the jail, and I hope that nothing ever puts me there. But who knows? A protest maybe or even some fluke event. Even the most vile person brought in ought to be innocent until proven guilty and be treated with some basic human rights. When guards go to a cell and one stands watch, and a little later you have a man as beaten up as this, then there is a real problem, and from the sound of the article, it isn’t clear if anyone in authority is taking that seriously enough.
But the other issue is the one that I want to put more energy into here, and that is the issue of a crime vs a hate crime. No crime ought to be considered acceptable, and I’m ultimately not sure if a crime being a hate crime makes it really any worse to the victim him or herself. You might disagree with that, and that would be a meaningful conversation to have. But I’m starting from the premise, that a person who is beaten up is still beaten up, whether or not it was a hate-crime or just a crime. But here is where at least one difference arises. The hate-crime is always a crime against a group of people in addition to the actual victim. A hate crime always has some level of intimidation  and “making a point” connected to it. There is always some level of pre-meditation to it- because the amount of anger, rage ort hate that must be born to commit a crime for solely that purpose doesn’t happen in a second.
I say it is committed against a group because even if it isn’t so overt as that, it can still have that affect. Last Spring my partner and I were walking our dog on the path we always take at about the same time we always would walk her. As a school bus drove by me, I felt a sharp pain on the side of my neck. Quickly grabbing at my neck, I caught a pencil eraser as it was falling from the side of my body. It was one of those thin, rectangular ones, and some kid or kids on the bus had thrown it intentionally to him someone, most likely me, but it could have been for my partner, or if the kid was a really bad throw even the dog. The very first thing in my mind was that, this was because we are gay. Why? Because other experiences of other gays and lesbians, has conditioned me to be sure that if there is an attack it will be because of my sexuality. These could have been just jerk kids, and it wouldn’t have mattered if I was walking with a guy or a girl. It could be that I was just in the right place at the right time, but that wasn’t the way I experienced it at first.
Or several years ago, a rock was thrown through the glass door at the front of our old house. Then too- first thought was that this was vandalism because gay men lived there. In that case, I learned a week later that a neighbor two doors down had had a window broken in a similar matter a few weeks before, so most likely these were just kids being vandals. Breaking glass is breaking glass regardless of the orientation of the house owners. But that isn’t how I experienced it first.
Anyone who grows up as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender has some response like that I believe. Sometimes more and sometimes less. Some people more and sometimes less. Our culture has taught us that, and some in the culture continue to push that lesson.