In case you haven’t heard, there was a horrific gay-bashing in Philadelphia earlier this month. Sleuths on Twitter figured it out, using clues from social media to identify the suspects. It was revealed that they were former classmates from a Catholic school.
Why do I specifically mention that they went to a Catholic school? Because the Catholic church has a demonstrated record of continuously saying that gay men are intrinsically evil, disordered and should be put to death. Now I don’t know about this specific Catholic school, but the overall record of the Church both in the U.S. and around the world isn’t great, and now they have the audacity to be shocked that their church members would beat up gay men!
Now, the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia did come out with a statement basically saying “don’t beat up gay people, even if you don’t like them.” Which is a great sentiment, although two points. One, I feel as though any person, Catholic or not, should know that. And two, it’s a little bit late for them to try to backtrack now after years of hatred towards the LGBT community.
So back to the crime: a mob of 12 people beat up two men after they asked if they were a couple since they were holding hands. Think about that brutality for a minute.
Since then, one of the suspects, a basketball coach at a Catholic school was fired (well done) and another suspect who is a nurse was also fired (also since she was sharing patient’s x-rays on Twitter, a big violation of privacy).
But here’s the rub: only three people were charged. Yes, this is an on-going investigation, but that still leaves nine people. And no one will be charged with a hate crime, because sexual orientation and gender identity aren’t covered by PA’s hate crime laws. Brian Sims is making a renewed push for HB/SB 300, which would add those classes to the hate crimes laws (in addition to those with disabilities), and he brought some of the victims and their representatives to Harrisburg to lobby.
Just like the police officer to used excessive force at Pride here in Pittsburgh, who was not charged, there’s no legal recourse for members of the LGBT community here in the Commonwealth.
If you want to do something, contact your local representative to Harrisburg and sign this petition.
All my best,
Mike
