Double Standard In Gay Bashing Case
Mar 15th, 2010 | 15 responses
I’d like you to imagine for a moment what would happen if a group of conservative Christians had been arrested for driving around shooting gay men with a BB gun and filming the shootings. Do you think the reaction would be muted or would there be a mild outcry ? Do you think the prosecuting attorney would keep quiet about the story or would go public to condemn the attacks ?
I think we all know what the reaction would be.
But it seems things are different when the attackers are Muslim.
To be clear I am not suggesting that the officials are not prosecuting the case. Indeed they are now looking to file new charges against them.
But as you will note from the stories the attacks took place in February and even to this point the coverage has been very minimal.
15 Responses to “Double Standard In Gay Bashing Case”
Hey Patrick — I'm glad you've brought the story to our attention, but I don't really understand the angle you're trying to take with this post. With the high incidence of violent crime in the Bay Area, and the large populations of both Muslims and Gays (and violence is committed both by and against both groups with great frequency), I really don't know why you'd think that there should be more outrage than there is. I mean, the article has 318 comments — pretty huge for the SFGate. The incident was most certainly a hate crime, if the allegations are true, and it's really crappy to do such a thing, but the wounds were superficial enough for the victim to be able to refuse medical treatment. Nobody died, the shooters were arrested. I know of at least 2 worse gay bashings in the last year in this area that didn't even make the papers, likely because there weren't Muslims involved. So the idea that this is somehow downplayed because the assailants were Muslim rings untrue to me.
I have similar thoughts as roro80.
With probably thousands of cases to pick from to allege “double standards,” why select this one?
I don't think we have to worry about true Christians shooting gays…… We may have to keep them from shooting humanists! Where's my BB gun?!
LOL
Assault is assault. I don't care what your motivations are. I do not believe in “hate crimes”. An act of assault should be charged the same as any other act of assault – harshly. If a person (of any walk of life) is beaten, murdered, humiliated – then let the same be delivered upon the assailant seven fold.
People who are incapable of handling the fact that some people love those of the same sex are always lost, and must be subject to every kind of non-violent and civil prosecution and antagonism there is. When the homophobia has religious motivations as well, then the fury and loathing must be twofold.
I agree that assault is assault and should be prosecuted regardless of who is involved. However there are many case where “Christians” (whether “true Christians” or not) attack gay people and the authorities let these Christiand off…. With the belief that “Christians” are good and that gay people do not deserve to be protected, or that crimes against them for being gay are acceptable because they are second class citizens and are going to hell anyway.
My point was not who got attacked but rather comparing the reaction between this and what it would have been had a group of conservative Christians done the attacks.
In both cases the attacks would have, at least in part, been based on the attacker's religious views.
Had they been Christian we'd be seeing headline stories and interviews on Larry King and nightly condemnations from Olbermann et al.
Here it's being treated as a fairly minor story.
In truth I think the media reaction is proper. The attacks were wrong but are being dealt with and to equate the actions of a few with an entire religion would be wrong. But we all know that this quiet reaction would have been different had the religion been different.
Patrick, in general I think it's wise to refrain from speculative “we all know” type stuff…if you have concrete examples then feel free to post it, but I don't remember anyone ever making a big deal about religion of hate crime attackers.
And that includes a crime where some of the perps had Leviticus tattoos…
Patrick, I'm still not buying it. Most gay bashing in this country is done by Christians, if only because the majority of Americans are Christians, and there is a lot of talk in most Christian churches about how being gay is bad or evil or whatnot. Now, if a specific Christian group were to go out on a religiously motivated campaign of shooting gay people, I think you'd be correct, but there's no indication in this story that these men had religious motivations for shooting the victim. The only way we know they're Muslim is by their names. There are a lot of homophobic people who think of gay people as less-than, and these jerks line up with many different religions and races. Jerks are jerks.
Fair enough folks… I respect differing views of the case.
[...] Gay bashing and standards. [...]
[...] Gay bashing and standards. [...]
“However there are many case where “Christians” attack gay people and the authorities let these Christiand off…. With the belief that “Christians” are good and that gay people do not deserve to be protected.
They have a name for that crime as well – it's called complicity to assault. If a cop or any other authority “looks the other way”, then they, too, should be charged with assault and thrown off the force. You can't cure police corruption with special laws for groups.
As a gay man, I hope you know that, even though I don't agree with the lifestyle, I'd never look the other way if you were being assaulted or harrassed. Many cops would not either, as it's their duty to protect ALL citizens.
“Patrick, I'm still not buying it. Most gay bashing in this country is done by Christians,”
In a nation that 85%, self-identified, Christians, it's hard to find a statistic where “Christians” aren't at the top of the list, Roro. I'd be willing to bet that “Christians” commit most of the armed robberies, rapes, arsons, etc.
I put the word Christians in quotes, since if they partake in any of those activities (including gay-bashing), then they are not acting as Christians and Christ would disapprove. They'd have to repent of (turn away from) those activities to be “True” Christians again.
Hey JD, if you had read just one more clause of my comment, you would have seen this: “if only because the majority of Americans are Christians”. So, yeah, I agree with what you're saying — that was my point.
As for putting Christians in scare quotes, I know I've had this discussion with you before. As an athiest, it would be extremely presumptuous of me to try and distinguish between a “real Christian” and a “fake Christian”. I kind of think it's disingenuous for you to do so, as well. Christians (“real” ones) have a history that is both gorgeous and loving and ugly and hateful. We can all pick individuals in our respective self-identified groups that we want to emulate, and ones we don't — that doesn't make those individuals more or less part of that group. It's like saying that members of the KKK are “white”, but not real white people, because I happen to be against what they do, and I happen to want to distance myself from them. They are terrible white people, just as there do exist terrible people who are Christians — no scare quotes necessary. There are also wonderful, deep-souled white people, and large-hearted, loving Christians.
“As an athiest, it would be extremely presumptuous of me to try and distinguish between a “real Christian” and a “fake Christian”. I kind of think it's disingenuous for you to do so, as well.”
Not so, Roro. “True” Christianity is walking the walk. Is it hard to apply Christian principles to 21st century life? Absolutely. We, as humans in society, keep lowering the bar. With that said, But anyone who says they believe the Bible, then act against it, then they are outside of God's will and must make amends for it. I don't make the rules, Roro. I just chose to live by them. AND I wish that all of the other so-called Christians would as well.