Update: Seven years jail for 'hate crime' machete attack on gay man

backstory

by Elizabeth Roberts
The Royal Gazette

A thug who chopped a gay man's face with a machete in a homophobic attack has been jailed for seven years.

Sending Rashad Cooper to prison yesterday, Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves warned that such crimes of hate will not be tolerated in Bermuda.

Cooper, 26 – older brother of the murdered Cooper twins – had a history of violent crime and homophobia before he launched the attack on Shawn Nusum, 25, in the early hours of November 15 last year.

On the night in question, the pair got into a dispute in Club Ovation, Water Street, St. George's, when Cooper taunted Mr. Nusum once again.

He later lay in wait for Mr. Nusum, and as he left the premises he hit him about the face with a machete.

"In some jurisdictions, such as the United States of America, such offences have come to be known as hate crimes and they attract penalties much above that attracted by the normal offence.

"No such legislation has yet been introduced in this jurisdiction, nor has the defendant been so charged, but the court should take into account the basis for the attack on the part of the defendant. And the court does indeed find that basis to be an aggravating factor."

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Quincy man accused of hate crime slapped with civil rights injunction

By Allison Manning
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY, MA - A Quincy man being prosecuted for a February attack on a gay man has had a civil rights preliminary injunction obtained against him by the attorney general’s office.

The injunction, obtained Wednesday by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office under the hate crimes statute, prohibits Jeffrey O’Connor from threatening, intimidating or coercing the victim or anyone else based on their sexual orientation.

O’Connor, 24, allegedly pulled a Quincy man out of the passenger side of a car on February 28, punching and shouting antigay slurs at him. The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting O’Connor for the actual physical assault.

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Bermuda gay man attacked with machete, court hears

The Bermuda Sun

A homophobic attack on a St. David's man left him with fractured facial bones and a two-inch gash over his eye, a Supreme Court jury heard yesterday.

Medical evidence read in at the trial of Rashad David George Cooper - brother of the murdered Cooper twins Jahmal and Jahmil - disclosed that the victim Shawn Nusum's cheek and jaw were broken in the machete assault, while his nose was fractured and he has partially lost the ability to raise the injured eyebrow.

Mr. Cooper, 25, of Fenton's Drive, Pembroke denies charges of unlawfully wounding Mr. Nusum on November 15 with intent to do him grievous bodily harm, and having a machete with him as a bladed article in a public place.

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Minority rights must be protected

In the Toronto Star a recent letter to the editor caught my attention and I have provided it below as "food for thought".

I agree with Mike Milner that freedom of speech is a "cornerstone of democracy." However, it is not the only cornerstone of democracy. Protection of minority rights is a fundamental feature of any liberal democracy. Thus, the right of minority groups to be free from discrimination should not depend solely on a group's ability to influence the marketplace of ideas by writing letters to the editor or boycotting media organizations, especially since the marketplace of ideas is not equally accessible to all.

"Journalism" that promotes and normalizes racism against minority groups poses a far greater threat to liberal democracy than do Canada's hate laws and human rights commissions. And so while I applaud Milner's undoubtedly "good intentions" in defending freedom of speech, I fear that protection of speech that breeds hate and indifference to hate constitutes the real paving of "the road to hell."

Azeezah Kanji, Markham

New Jersey Gay couple gets day in court

By: E. Assata Wright
Reporter staff writer
Secaucus Reporter

Peter DeVries has waited four years to tell his story to a jury.

He and his romantic partner, Timothy Carter, have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the town of Secaucus, the Secaucus Volunteer Fire Department, and the local police department for violating their civil rights based on sexual orientation.

"Tim said, 'You've got to come hear this.'

"DeVries went to the first floor of their rented home on Schopmann Drive, which was located next to the North End Firehouse.

It was then that DeVries heard three men allegedly yelling, "Homo! Homo! Homo! We don't want you in this town. Come on out, you chicken[expletive]."

He said he then heard something he'll never forget: "We will kill you, you [expletive] faggots."

The threat, he testified, was repeated three times.

The three volunteer firefighters whom the plaintiffs allege were the ringleaders in the attack - Charles Snyder Sr., Charles Snyder Jr., and Charles Mutschler - testified on May 8 and 15.

On the stand, the firefighters invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

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Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me

460,000 results came up on my Google search.

Who knew there were so many variations?

The Phrase Finder site says:

"STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES, BUT WORDS (NAMES) WILL NEVER HURT ME. - Although a physical attack may harm me, I am not bothered by cruel words or name-calling. I don't care what you're saying. This children's taunt was first listed in 'Folk Phrases of Four Counties' (1894) by G.F. Northall and is first attested in the United States in 'Miss Lindsey' (1936) by S.G. Gibbons. The proverb is found in varying forms: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but hard words cannot hurt me; Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me; Sticks and stones will break my bones, but lies will never hurt me." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" (1996) by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

Many of the search results talked about bullying. The Children Today article, titled “Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones -- And Words Can Hurt, Too” represented 18-year-old Heather.

"I was bullied," says Heather from Texas. "Even after 18 years, I can tell you her name, describe what she looked like, show you where she lived and tell you all the horrible things she did to me -- in detail. She ruined all my memories of fifth and sixth grade. Those two years will always be remembered as the time that Christie tortured me."

Here’s a couple other titles:

Sticks 'n stones may break my bones, but words hurt, too

Sticks An Stones Can Break My Bones BUT Words Hurt Forever (YouTube Video)

I rejoiced when I saw this article:

Sticks & Stones Can Break My Bones But Names Can Really Hurt Me!

The overall tone of the article is; not only do you harm others but also bring harm to you.

Granted, it would be a better world if we could all ignore hateful comments.

But a world without the hateful comments is far more desirable.

VIDEO: Speak out against Hate Speech

End hate speech.
It doesn't hurt just us.
It's not about censorship.
It's about having compassion.

Wizard of Oz and Westboro Church

I was reading through the morning news and a Wizard of Oz mental image popped into my head.

You know the part, after Dorothy throws the water and the wicked witch starts to melt. As she’s melting away into oblivion she utters something like “all my beautiful wickedness destroyed by a little girl”.

I was reading an excerpt of a hateful article by Westboro Church. It was a slam against Judy Shepard, saying she murdered her son Mathew because she didn’t teach him better.

After reading how the courts are placing liens on Westboro property. I realised, like the wicked witch, it is only whimpering.

Personally, it’s very sad that nothing much was said about Westboro in the last 20 years. Because, for those 20 years, they did the exact same thing at funerals of AIDS and anti-gay hate crime victims.

It seems the world didn’t care much until Westboro started to attack military funerals. I suspect if they would not have started picketing the military funerals they’d still be “in the clear” and still picketing gay funerals.

As a gay man who has lost many friends and a couple lovers to HIV, this profoundly insults me.

As a gay man I must say, such lack of compassion doesn’t surprise me at all.

As a taxpayer who pays his equal share my government has let me down. Of course, this isn't the first time that's happened and it won't be the last.

But that doesn't change the fact; It’s still and always will be very wrong!

What happened to the value of a human life?

Why does it matter what the person was or did?

Does it somehow change the value of that human life?

It is a real life reference to the lack of love in humans today.

But beware, because those who so callously dismiss the value of a life may one day realize the pain associated with such an attitude when someone they love is devalued.

Over 50 Pastors Will Rally to support Oklahoma Politician

OKLAHOMA CITY, April 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Representative Sally Kern, a devout Christian and Oklahoma legislator, has been targeted by some of the nation's largest and most radical homosexual groups, she has received over 27,000 vulgar, hate filled e-mails, she has been verbally ambushed by homosexual radicals at public meetings, but she hasn't backed down. At noon tomorrow various pro-family and groups and individual Christians will join over 50 pastors at the State Capitol in Okalahoma City to rally in her support.
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UTAH: PTA meeting cancelled due to anti-gay speaker

AMERICAN FORK, UTAH: The American Fork High School PTSA cancelled a Thursday night meeting after the Utah Pride Center and some Utah County residents alleged a presentation on the meeting agenda would have stigmatized and vilified gays and lesbians.

The meeting was to have included one presentation on pornography and another on gays and lesbians by Stephen Graham of Standard of Liberty, "an LDS-oriented educational corporation which exists to raise awareness of sexual activist movements overrunning America's Christian-moral-cultural life," according to its Web site.

He said his organization doesn't hate gays and lesbians, but rather stands against "homosexuality as an activity and accepted mind-set." "This was going to be a ground-breaking opportunity to have family-oriented values honored," he said. "It's a big disappointment that it was cancelled."

Walton said rather than viewing gays and lesbians as a social problem, schools should view the marginalization of gays and lesbians as problematic because it can lead to depression, drug abuse and suicide.

"It's the job of school administrators and PTA members to create an affirming space for everyone," she said.

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Reggae singer Bounty Killer gets axed

Homophobic Jamaican reggae singer Bounty Killer has had two of his three UK concerts cancelled in the last week, following a campaign by the gay human rights group OutRage!

Bounty Killer has performed murder music songs and has ridiculed other singers who have agreed to halt their encouragement of queer-bashing attacks.

Bounty Killer bragged that he was invincible. He vowed his concerts would go ahead and boasted that no gays could stop him. Look who's crying now.

He has released songs inciting the killing of gay people and defended his right to demand death to queers.

A white racist singer who advocated killing black people would not be allowed to perform anywhere in London, even if he agreed to not incite the killing of black people at his concert. The police would argue that any stage performance would threaten public order and community relations. They would ban the singer, full stop.

Yet when it comes to straight homophobic singers who urge the murder of gay people, the police adopt a softer stance. They let the concert go ahead. Why the double standards?

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Reactions mixed when parents find out children are gay

When teenage sons and daughters summon the nerve to come out to their parents, the usual first reactions include anger, denial - and a profound sense of loss.

The best thing they can do is to love them, understand them and give them the dignity to lead their own life.

When the shock wears off, parents must turn pro-active, supporting their children, and realizing they're the priority.

It's important to be strong for your kids because it's taking every drop of courage they have to reveal their sexual orientation.

The fatal shooting Feb. 12 of 15-year-old Lawrence King illustrates the need for parents to make sure their children, once they come out, are safe from bullying.

Parents need to realize there's inherent danger for kids who are coming out.

Parents' goals for their children should be the same, gay or straight - to help them achieve a happy and healthy life.

It makes such a difference when a family stands along with the child.

That's a successful parent.

full article

FLORIDA: Hate begat more hate

With all the hate coming out of Florida from community leaders I wasn't surprised to see this:

Three DeLand teens appeared in court Saturday, facing felony charges for plotting to shoot classmates and then themselves, and they will remain in detention for at least 21 days, according to the mother of one of the middle school students.

Austin Mohr, Tyler Christian and Charlene Russell, all 13 years old, were charged and taken into custody Friday by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, after investigators determined they were planning a Columbine-style massacre at DeLand Middle School. The three are being held at the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center.

On March 5, student Phoebe Lewis contacted the Sheriff's Office disturbed by a conversation she had with Mohr, her "friend" through MySpace, in which he said he was going to kill students at DeLand Middle School similarly to the Columbine massacre, the affidavits say.

"I'm going to take my own life; everyone will pay for what they did to me; they will all die along with me; they call me worthless, poser and faggot; you're all dead," Mohr wrote.

Mohr also had a MySpace conversation that night with Samantha Dyer, according to the affidavit. He wrote to her, "I will kill every person I see; the shooting will happen; no one matters anymore because me and Tyler (Christian) are going to die doing it . . . LA riots . . . Oklahoma bombing; . . . the massacre will happen soon; it's going to be fun as hell; we are going to kill ourselves at the end."

Mohr was taken to Halifax Behavioral Services in Daytona Beach under the state's Baker Act by investigators after he was interviewed March 5, believing him to be a danger to himself and others, the affidavit states.

A student told Susan Erbel, one of the school's counselors, that Mohr had a "following" of several students that included Charlene Russell, the affidavit states.

When counselor Erbel confronted Charlene Russell with accusations that she was talking about killing students at school, she admitted it was true, the affidavit states. She also told the counselor she had friends who would lend her hunting guns, and there would be no consequences to murder.

"Not if I'm dead," Charlene Russell told the counselor, according to the affidavit.

full article

Gay Holocaust; memorials, documentaries and the pink triangle

If tolerance for difference is one of the lessons humanity is supposed to have learned from the Nazi era, the contemporary treatment of homosexuals around the world demonstrates that the lesson has not yet been learned.

87 countries currently maintain laws that prohibit or regulate sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex. These laws are extremely broad in their scope and lend themselves to ideological interpretations which often serve as a pretext for the persecution of homosexuals.

Clearly, in different places throughout our contemporary world, much of the same discrimination and even some of the same crimes that occurred under the Nazi regime are currently being perpetrated against homosexual people.

The past is not past. History is repeating itself virtually every day. This is because the lessons of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals have not yet been taught or learned. We believe that one of the best ways to commemorate and historically legitimize those who were murdered by the Nazis is to prevent such atrocities from occurring again throughout the world.

The pink triangle was pinned on us by the Nazi's. Matt and Andrej ask that we not forget the reason we still wear the pink triangle. In memory of our brothers, murdered by the Nazi's while wearing a pink triangle.

I want to thank Matt and Andrej where I obtained much of this.

I loved their page titled: 8 Memorials to the Gay Holocaust

Other resources:

The book: The Pink Swastika

The documentary: Paragraph 175

It speaks with the 6 remaining gay holocaust survivors.

That wasn't a typo, 6 remaining gay holocaust survivors in the world!

Sally Kern disowned gay son

OKLAHOMA: Sally Kern's (the Oklahoma lawmaker) homophobic remarks have been the talk of the town recently, especially her assertion that gay folk are infiltrating schools to indoctrinate children.

But it turns out there is more to the story, she has a gay son that her and her husband have disowned!

Consider comment seventeen on this Tulsa World article: “How come no-one asks this “supposed” christian woman..about her own GAY son? The one she basically has dis-owned…ahh so christian.”

A little more digital detective work dug up numerous postings naming Jesse as the outcast offspring. One even recalls Jesse’s time at Oklahoma Baptist University, where he was apparently “the biggest queen on campus”:

I find it hilarious that Salacious Sally is such a bigot. Her son Jesse was the biggest queen on the campus of OBU in the mid-90’s. Twice he almost was expelled for making inappropriate advances in the library toilets. When he wasn’t cruising the toilets he was in the glee club and a piano major…there’s your sign.

Another comment, punches holes through Kern’s religious extremism and suggests Jesse’s homosexuality pushed Sally Kern over the edge:

Jesse Kern, Sally’s son, was raised in a strict Baptist environment. If your claims are true then you must blame her and her husband for his turning out that way. Most gays aren’t out there breaking the law and engaging in public sex acts and solicitation. Jesse chose criminal behavior to act out on his desires.
…
I see in this foolish woman much anger and resentment. Her beliefs are challenged within herself, because if she stands by them then she must accept her part in her son being a homosexual. She isn’t strong enough to do that. Instead, she has created a paranoid delusion that there is some vast conspiracy of gays infiltrating schools and governments to turn others gay and force their lifestyles on everyone. Her subconscious has created this great gay evil so she doesn’t have to blame herself and she says her son as a victim.
Had the gays infiltrated Jesse’s school and indoctrinated him then? Funny, how he attended Baptist schools. His attendence [sic] at Oklahoma Baptist University was marred by his repeated censure for cruising the school’s toilets.

Had he been able to live his life openly he would not have had to engage in such actions.

Woof. Those are some allegations! And potentially disastrous for “family friendly” Kern. It also makes you wonder how Kern and her ilk sleep at night - and whether they understand the concept of “hell”.

Sign petition against Sally Kern

full article

Death by Homophobia

Janet Jackson, Portia di Rossi, TR Knight, Ashanti, Calpernia Addams and others speak out against hate and in honor of Lawrence King, the 15-year-old openly gay Oxnard student, shot to death by a classmate.

Click here for video.

You don’t own me

When we hear the anti-gay remarks of the world we often hear things like:

- I’m not gay bashing
- According to “God” it’s wrong
- They have more disease and shorter lives

I think any group of oppressed individuals would have more problems.

However, the reason is not because of our sexuality. It’s because of societal condemnation.

Again this is a difficult concept for a non-gay person to grasp.

If you had grown up gay in this “straight world” where everything says “you need to be straight”, then you might be able to understand. You might be able to understand the years of confusion and the years of fear. You might be able to understand the feelings of inferiority.

We are not inferior but when society keeps trying to shove that down our throats, especially at a young impressionable age, it affects us for life.

Some are not strong enough and commit suicide.

So next time you anti-gay hate mongers want to talk about the ills of a “homosexual lifestyle”, look in the mirror. Because people like you are responsible for it!

Lawrence King and his murderer Brandon McInerney

By Paul Pringle and Catherine Saillant
LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES -- For teenagers living in a shelter for abused and neglected children, school can provide a daily dose of normalcy, a place to fit in, a chance to be just another kid.

It didn't turn out that way for Lawrence King.

According to the few students who befriended him, Larry, 15 years old and openly gay, found no refuge from his tormentors at E.O. Green Junior High School.

The 14-year-old accused of murdering him, Brandon McInerney, had his own troubled home life when he was younger, with his parents accusing each other of drug addiction and physical assaults, court records show. The year before Brandon was born, his father allegedly shot the boy's mother in the arm, shattering her elbow, the records say.

Brandon has been charged as an adult with premeditated murder and a hate crime and is being held in juvenile hall.

For about a decade, the household of William and Kendra McInerney, Brandon's parents, had been in turmoil. The 1993 shooting incident led to William's conviction on discharging a firearm and a 120-day jail sentence, according to court records.

William and Kendra McInerney declined to be interviewed. Brandon's attorney also declined to comment.

Some students say Brandon, tall and strong for his age, was one of the "cool" students and could be unfriendly. "If you weren't part of that group, it was like you didn't exist," said Erin Mings, 12. "He was a real jerk."

Earlier this year, some of Brandon's classmates say, Larry began "hitting" on him and remarking for all to hear that he thought Brandon was "cute." Other boys then ribbed Brandon by saying he must be gay.

Michael Sweeney, an eighth-grader at E.O. Green, picked up on the whispering that followed.

"Brandon told this one girl that he was going to kill Larry," Michael said. "She didn't tell the principal. I didn't either, after I heard about it. I thought it was a joke."

Larry was shot the next day.

The family has established a Web site in his memory, with a photo gallery that shows Larry throughout his childhood -- on his first plane ride, getting a haircut, dressed as the Great Pumpkin for Halloween. Hundreds of sympathetic comments have been posted.

Larry's friends offer differing accounts of whether he had complained to teachers about the taunting. Some say he had decided not to report it, fearing that he would be branded a "rat" and suffer the consequences.

"They used to bug him a lot, pick on him -- 'Hey you, gay kid ... want to wear lipstick?'" Vanessa Ramirez, 15, said of Larry's belittlers. "He'd start crying. ... He didn't want to tell the teachers because they'd start picking on him more."

full article

Simmie Williams Jr: The same thing happened 5 years ago

FORT LAUDERDALE - Five years and a half-mile separate the violent deaths of two young gay men who were dressed as women along Sistrunk Boulevard.

Timothy Broadus: 22, shot dead on Jan. 8, 2003.

Simmie Williams Jr.: 17, shot dead on Feb. 22, 2008

"I can't believe it happened again," said Broadus' mother, Veta Calloway, 66. Now, she is hoping Williams' case will draw attention to her own son's death.

While Williams' recent death made headlines locally and in the national gay media, Broadus' killing garnered little attention.

Broadus died along Northwest 21st Avenue wearing a blond weave in an elaborate up-do that he had someone style the night of his death, Calloway said.

A man driving a gray or silver Honda Accord cruised Sistrunk, waving over a couple women and then motioning them away when he saw Broadus, police said. Broadus, about six feet tall and 200 pounds, strutted up to the car, put his arm up the roof and ducked down to the window. The driver fired a .38-caliber gun, and the bullet pierced Broadus under his arm, traveling through to his chest, Calloway said. Broadus fell dead in the street, his purse and cash scattered behind him, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Mark Breen at 954-828-5708, Detective John Curcio at 954-828-5529 or Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.

full story

Erase the hate

I am the boy who never finished high school, because I got called a fag everyday.

I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

I am the (wo)man who fears that I will never be able to be myself, to be free of this secret because I won’t risk losing my family and friends.

We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

I am the woman who died when the EMTs stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didnt have to always deal with society hating me.

I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don’t believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

I am the person ashamed to tell my own friends I'm a lesbian, because they constantly make fun of them.

I am the boy tied to a fence, beaten to a bloody pulp and left to die because two straight men wanted to “teach me a lesson”

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT HOMOPHOBIA IS WRONG … REPOST THIS.