It may be that this is an urban legend in the making. Following your link now gets this:
A political hate crime Saturday, March 27, 2004 [I have decided to delete this post for now. The story cannot be confirmed, and I have no desire to be disseminating false information. I'm leaving its position here so the discussion about it can continue. I spoke today to Sgt. Connie Locke, the Atlanta Police Department's liaison to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. She says she monitors cases like this closely and would -- or should -- have been immediately notified in an assault case like this, and was not. Moreover, she says she personally walked the case down to APD's database center and searched for an assault case like this one and came up empty. There is still the possibility that the case simply hasn't been directed her way yet, or that it is actually being investigated by another authority, such as Fulton County. In the meantime, the alleged victim's friends are hoping to provide some kind of substantiation, but it has not been forthcoming. I'm giving this case another week or so to settle out, since it is still possible that tangled wires have kept it from surfacing. I'm being restrained for now because of this possibility. But I'll post some more thoughts on this later, when the matter is definitively settled. For now, I'll simply apologize to my readers for abrogating my own standards for ascertaining the veracity of material sent to me in the process of getting this story up on the Web.] 4:17 PM > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of The Fool > Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 12:10 PM > To: xBrin-L > Subject: RednecKKKlans stalk and assault gay web-poster > > <<http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2004_03_21_dneiwert_archive.htm l#1080433045 > 07322450>> > > A political hate crime > > Saturday, March 27, 2004 > Now comes a fairly clear-cut case of a politically inspired > assault by right-wingers on a gay man in Atlanta -- in fact, > it appears they drove all the way from at least Kansas to > commit the crime. > > The assault -- which included raping the man with a sawed-off > broomstick and holding a knife up to his scrotum and > threatening to cut it off -- was in apparent retaliation for > a LiveJournal post in which the victim, an Atlanta artist, > depicted (through the wonders of Photoshop) George W. > Bush as a Grand Dragon at a Klan rally. Using information > they gathered from the Web, they stalked him and brutalized > him into unconsiousness, leaving him for dead in an alley. > > A fellow named spatula at morons.org pieces together most of > the details from the victim's continuing LiveJournal posts: > > So they stalked him using information they gathered from > LiveJournal, attacked him outside an Atlanta restaurant, cut > his hand so as to inflict nerve damage (apparently to prevent > him creating any more art their found offensive), sexually > assaulted him with a sawed-off broom handle and left him > naked and bloody in an alley. > > All this because they were so weak and pathetic that they > just couldn't cope with a Photoshopped jpeg image. And they > had a gang of them against one small guy, hitting him over > the head first so he couldn't fight back. > > >From what he could remember, authorities were able to locate > a van that > had been stolen from a used car lot in Topeka, Kansas in > which [the victim's] blood was found. If Topeka sounds > familiar to you, it may be because that's where Fred Phelps > and his Westboro Baptist Church who bring us GodHatesFags.com > are located. It's far too early to say whether Phelps and his > clan had anything to do with this assault, but detectives > have found [the victim's] name posted on several sites of similar ilk. > > A few points: > > -- There's no reason to connect Phelps' gang to this other > than the locale. Topeka may have simply been a way station. > It's significant, moreover, that the main motivation for this > assault appears to be the victim's Photoshop post. That > suggests a pro-Bush political motivation -- and Phelps is > decidedly not pro-Bush. > > -- At the same time, the case has the classic appearance of a > gay-bashing hate crime: The overkill violence, the stalking, > the intentional selection, the clear bias motivation. Even if > there proves to be a political motive involved here, that > factor should not preclude an anti-gay bias motivation. > > Unfortunately, that will not make a lot of difference in this case. > Georgia is one of 23 states that do not include sexual > orientation as a bias category in any hate-crime statute. > (Kansas, as it happens, is one of the 27 that do.) > > This is the kind of case where a federal hate-crimes bill > would make a real difference. It clearly involves the > interstate commission of a crime, but unfortunately, those > kinds of cases are typically only enforced under the > bias-crime provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which > covers only race, ethnicity and religion as bias categories. > The FBI is constrained by federal law from involving itself > in this case as things stand. > > The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act -- the most recent > version of a federal hate-crimes bill that includes that > category -- has been languishing in the Judiciary Committee > since its introduction in 2003, and continues to remain > buried there, thanks to the tender mercies of its reigning > chair, Sen. Orrin Hatch, and his fellow Republicans (with the > noteworthy exception of Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, one of > the lead sponsors of the bill). > > -- The Web-oriented nature of the stalking is reminiscent of > the recent case in which a right-wing blogger posted the name > and home address of another blogger who had participated in > various kinds of anti-Bush activity, urging readers to do > something about the guy and wishing for his death. > > -- Finally, it should be pointed out that spatula's > denunciation of the attackers as "wild animals" ("Creatures > like this aren't human beings") is perfectly understandable, > but wrong. These people are all too human -- which is, > frankly, the more disturbing thought. > > UPDATE: I've deleted the victim's name, at his request, > because publication of the story has apparently provoked > further harassment. > > ---- > "I can't imagine that I'm going to be attacked for telling > the truth. Why would I be attacked for telling the truth?" > Paul O'Neill, 60 Minutes > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
