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Neff: Watch the tape, see the hate
,
columnist,
365gay.com
10.19.2009 8:59am
EDT
columnist,
365gay.com
10.19.2009 8:59am
EDT
Watch the tape, see the hate
by Lisa Neff
The security
camera didn’t provide much security for Jack Price, beaten by two men on a
Queens, N.Y., street early Oct. 9.
But the security camera captured the crime —
for three minutes two men punched and kicked Price, 49, who was on the ground
for most of the assault.
And the video — first made public by WABC, a
Queens ABC affiliate — may help authorities put two men in jail for assault,
aggravated assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment.
Jack Price is gay. And apparently his
assailants knew that.
They encountered Price outside a neighborhood
grocery, shouted anti-gay slurs at him.
The taunts picked up again as Price left the
grocery to make his way to his nearby home.
Then the beating began.
Watch the tape, see the
hate.
Two men chase another in the street on the
blue-tinted tape. The assailants push and punch the third man to the ground. The
victim tries to stand, but is held down by his attackers, who continue to punch
and kick him as they hold him on the pavement.
The victim roles toward the curb, trying to
protect himself, but the blows continue against his head, his stomach, his
back.
With the victim lying on the ground, the two
assailants appear to shout, pointing their fingers at Price’s head, then unleash
more blows.
The attackers turn away, but then turn back
to take something from the victim’s pockets. Robbery was not a motive
A car drives past, just a few away from the
two men standing over the victim, but never slows.
More blows.
Then the attackers leave, talking with
another, and the victim rises from the ground and stumbles away, out of the
camera’s range.
Price suffered a broken jaw, a lacerated
spleen, fractured ribs and collapsed lungs.
When the public learned of the assault, he
had been placed into a medically induced coma and was breathing with the aid of
a respirator at New York Hospital Queens.
On Oct. 12 — 11 years to the day after gay
college student Matthew Shepard died, the victim of two men who tricked him away
from a bar and savagely beat him on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyo. — New York
City officials gathered to denounce the attack on Price, the LGBT community and
the good people of Queens.
“I know the Queens community is outraged that
hate has tainted their streets,” said New York City Council Speaker Christine C.
Quinn.
“This is the fourth time in 19 years that a
gay man in Queens lies near death, or actually died, because he was beaten for
being gay,” said Queens resident Daniel Dromm.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly
called the assault “despicable” and vowed that the city would not tolerate the
intolerance.
This week, the U.S. Senate is expected to
take up a vote on a defense bill — reconciled through conference with the House
— that includes, as an amendment, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.
Act.
In anticipation of the Senate vote, I
received press releases and action alerts from groups and lawmakers on both
sides of the hate crimes issue.
Opponents and proponents of the hate crimes
provision referred to the assault on Price as reason to vote up or down on the
bill.
The opponents’ argument: Two men were
arrested and face criminal charges. The system already works.
The proponents’ argument: Two men — Daniel
Aleman and Daniel Rodriguez — were arrested and may face hate crimes charges in
New York. But New York is one of only 31 states with a hate crimes law that
includes sexual orientation and one of only 12 states with a hate crimes law
that includes gender identity.
The proponents’ argument, which readers here
probably know is the one I accept, continues: Passage of the hate crimes measure
would help local authorities secure federal assistance to investigate and
prosecute an anti-gay crime.
And add to the argument: Passage of the hate
crimes measure would authorize the U.S. Justice Department to intervene in a
bias-motivated case where local authorities refuse to act.
It is worth noting that Virginia is the home
state of one of the two suspects in the Price assault.
It is worth nothing that Virginia law does
not address hate crimes based on sexual orientation, nor does Virginia law does
not address hate crimes based on gender identity.
Virginia is where, in April 2000, a teenager,
motivated by anti-gay bias, beat another teenager with a metal pipe. Virginia is
where, in a gay bar in September 2000, a gay man was killed and six others were
shot. Virginia is where, in September 2002, a university student was assaulted
on his way to an LGBT group meeting. Virginia is where, in May 2005, a teenager
was beaten at a party because of his sexual orientation. Virginia is where, in
July 2005, a church was the target of an arson attack after its national body
adopted a pro-gay marriage resolution.
Virginia is where, in October 2009, we know
federal hate crimes law must be expanded.
And I hope, 11 years after the Shepard
murder, we know nationwide we must expand the law.