Spencerport Hate Crime: This is Why We Fight
This is disgusting. From News10 (story and video):
He said he was beat up until he was unconscious because he’s gay, and police agree. Now police are looking to arrest a suspect in what they’re calling a hate crime.
(snip)
Lance Neve said he was in the bar minding his own business and was then attacked.
“I was punched and I went to the floor,†Lance said. “He continued to beat my head into the floor.â€
Lance Neve doesn’t remember much until he woke up at Strong Hospital. “With a tube down my throat and my arms tied to the bed,†Lance said.
He and his boyfriend went to Snuggery’s Bar in Spencerport last Friday night. He told police while they were there someone started yelling gay slurs at them. When Lance’s boyfriend left the bar room Lance was attacked.
“I have fractures in my face, and skull, it’s a lot of pain,†Lance said.
Lance grew up in Spencerport and has never had a problem going anywhere. He said now every time he’s out he’s going to be looking over his shoulder.
“It’s shocking to think someone could do this to a person, to people like me, people who are gay. It’s not fair,†said Lance.
I always thought of this happinging in places like, I dunno, Wyoming. But freaking Spencerport? How much does having the top elected official in the county (Maggie Brooks) discriminating against gays encourage this kind of hate?
Equal rights is a progressive value, and it’s the right thing to do.
Maggie Brooks has set the tone for this type of behavior. It is the policy of Monroe County that gay people are not to be treated equally. It is perfectly acceptable to treat them as second class citizens, so why not just beat the crap out of them in a bar?
Another quality individual setting the tone for civil behavior in Spencerport is the village’s very own county legislator Dick Yolevich himself. The one person in the legislature that finds even the abstract symbols of people tolerating each other despite their differences repugnant.
How about not at all? Should we blame her for Don and Rashad Peterkin’s crime spree of Easter 2006 too?
Bad people do bad things and it’s pretty obvious they don’t concern themselves very much with what elected officials’ policy positions are before they commit horrific crimes of this nature. New York has hate crime legislation on the books now. It didn’t make any difference for Lance Neve, just as it didn’t make any difference for me.
My family was victim of a hate crime within the past month. The suspects were arrested, charged, and are awaiting trial. I’ve seen the arresting officer’s deposition and the person whose idea this was in the first stated; “I’m not sorry and if given the chance, I will do it again.”
the west side suburbs are starting to have urban issues. I observed on the SCAT’s blog a discussion of fighting (supposedly gang related) at Greece Olympia HS. We need to begin a progressive discussion on how to deal with these emerging issues or they will just be used to inflame the same old hatreds.
Crime is different than HATE crimes. whtwtrdood’s crime I’m certain wasn’t because someone was gay. And I’m certain the fight at the school was yet even more frustration caused because kids have no where to go - especially in Greece where you now have to be 19 to go to the mall, or go with your parent.
Hate crimes are of a different variety, and of a breed being expoused currently by the county.
Hate crimes are of a different breed, as being expoused against people of color and people of economy by our county government.
Hate crimes are illegal. To doctor them up under the guise of an “appeal” or under the reasoning of “controlling threats” still makes them hate crimes.
It goes something like this Maggie: With liberty and JUSTICE (and equal benefits, and public access) TO ALL.
This whole hate crime thing bothers me - I hope Lance turns out fine and I hope the county workers get partner benefits. The people who beat Lance should have the book thrown at them and they should be sent away for a long time because of the violence inflicted.
But…..I think you are assuming that the perpetrators are heterosexual. So, if they beat me the same way they beat Lance they should get off with a lighter punishment?
I can start to buy into your arguments but something holds me back.
Elmer,-
from the DOJ
So crimes such as this go against a group of people as opposed to the individual.
Ultimately there is a difference between “prosecuted as a hate crime” and “convicted as a hate crime” - the legal system will determine if this crime occurred because of the sexual orientation of the victims and they will be punished accordingly.
I guess I am starting to understand. An act of violence toward an individual is a single event. A hate crime not only hurts the individual but, in theory, intimidates people like the victim?
A hate crime intimidates the individual by making them feel that the act of violence was solely perpetuated because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability.
So in simple english Elmer, they didn’t try to rob you to get your wallet, they singled you out and attacked you because of one of the above.
It’s not a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, it’s a matter of BEING the wrong PERSON in the eyes of your attacker, and nothing more. I personally think age should be on that list, as children and the elderly are often attacked due to the vulnerability of their age. But then again, I suppose the list could go on forever.
I hope they find this guy and he get’s the maximin sentence!!!!
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