iphisquandary:

wanderinggay:

iphisquandary:

wanderinggay:

gaywrites:

(TW for graphic, disturbing descriptions of a hate crime.)

Marco McMillian, the openly gay black man who was running for mayor in Clarksdale, Mississippi, was brutally murdered last week in what his family says was a hate crime — but officials refuse to investigate it as one. 

The candidate’s body was found near the Mississippi River last week after he had apparently been beaten, dragged, and set ablaze. His body was recovered a day after his SUV was involved in a head-on collision. McMillian was not in the car at the time of the accident, as investigators believe he had already been dead, and his body had been dumped several hours prior. The man driving the SUV was Lawrence Reed, 22, who was arrested in connection to McMillian’s death. Reed was initially airlifted to a Memphis hospital, but is now being held at the Shelby County Jail in Memphis.

At the time of Reed’s arrest, the sheriff’s department did not release information on any theories about a motive, although the county coroner said he believed politics was not a factor. While Mississippi’s hate crime laws cover race, gender, and religion, it does not protect against crimes spurred by antigay bias. [emphasis added]

This absolutely reeks of a hate crime, and there is no reason to ignore it. We can’t know for sure what happened, but throwing out this extremely viable option is ignorant, irresponsible, and disrespectful to McMillian’s family and his memory. Sickening. 

Wait? How is this a hate crime? I’m sorry he was murdered, but it’s not just a hate crime because he was gay.

There actually needs to be evidence of it being a hate crime for it to be classified as one.

“he had apparently been beaten, dragged, and set ablaze…”

No hate involved in that. Total run-of-the-mill assassination!

Look, no one is asking for it to be classified anything. We just expect the hate crime avenue to at least be investigated because you don’t typically see people murdering people in horrific ways like that unless something is up. Especially when they’re a prominent gay african american figure in MISSISSIPPI of all places.

And did you just overlook how the state doesn’t consider sexual orientation a factor in hate crimes? There’s clearly bias going on here—it smells very, very foul.

His murder was a horrible thing. No one is trying to argue otherwise. But it doesn’t necessary mean that it was a Hate Crime.

Yes, the states law should consider sexual/gender orientation in it’s list of immutable characteristics. But because it is not, the state can not try the case as a Hate Crime based on his Sexual Orientation.

Is there a possibility that it is based on his race? Maybe. The evidence that I have read hasn’t pushed my opinion one way or the other.

And I argue that the OP is arguing that is should be classified as a Hate Crime. In this sort of case, the prosecution would need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the perpetrator killed McMillian because of his race and ethnicity. And so far, I have not seen the evidence to prove it to that level.

And if you are going to tag this as LGBT, you are being to disrespectful to people who are queer. Use the correct acronym LGBTQ.

Ok, first off, I identify as queer. Which would be pretty easy for you to find out if you went on my fucking blog for two seconds and saw that in the first line of my self-descriptor. For you to claim I’m being disrespectful is laughable when you’re the one who is being extremely disrespectful to a man who has just been killed in a very brutal way and his family who are calling for this to be investigated further as a hate crime. Give me two fucking legit reasons why me not including every letter in the queer community alphabet soup is more disrespectful than the stupid game you’re playing with this argument.

OP was NOT trying to classify this as a hate crime. They clearly stated it was one avenue of investigation.

Your argument is really, really flawed. I’m hoping the FBI/federal government will get involved because it’s a fucking CRIME that LGBTQQIP2SAA fuckin people aren’t protected under Mississippi’s law from hate crimes (and yes I know what each of those letters stand for and are you being “disrespectful” for not including all of them?). If you think that it’s justifiable Mississippi doesn’t include sexual orientation in hate crimes, I guess that’s your opinion, but it’s a really shitty opinion to have.

When Matthew Shepherd was slain there was national outrage. There also were people like you who came out of the woodwork later on to try to argue that what happened to him wasn’t a hate crime, by pulling from irrelevant details about his personal life, his killer, and setting the bar unreasonably high for proving it. Although what you could be doing now is justifying the methods Mississippi’s law enforcement are taking in investigating this as opposed to justifying the way their law is, but you don’t make it super clear in your post. And it also saddens me that you care more about that than the great injustice of their flawed hate crime law and the tragedy of Marco McMillian’s death which may or may not have resulted from queer hate.

ratfem:

catandkitty:

There was a “scandal” at my college where a woman was raped by a classmate and it’s still all over the media, it’s in a fucking Jessica Valenti book, it’s the first five hits when you google the rapist’s name.

Do you know what the rest of the hits are?

Links to…

igivelapdances:

This is for all the well-meaning friends and allies of sex workers. I know you have the best of intentions, but sometimes you still make mistakes. So, here’s your starter guide to making your sex worker friends comfortable.

1. Don’t ask them about their job unless they bring it up first, or you check in with them to see if they’re okay with discussing it. They are not your personal google, nor are they your special insight into this ~exotic~ world.

2. Try not to assume anything about their finances. There’s a common misconception that ALL strippers, prostitutes, pornstars, etc. make at least $100,000 a year, and never have to worry about money. Yeah, that’s just not true. There are SO many factors that influence income for sex workers. It varies depending on the person, the season, and even just night to night. Class, race, ability, and weight also factor in, and I’m pretty sure the ideas about money from sex work are based on thin, white, able-bodied, cis women. The experience is undeniably different for other people.

3. Don’t fall into the trap of exceptionalism. “Oh, you’re so awesome, not like those other dumb porn stars. You’re intelligent and feminist. That’s so rare.” No. This sort of thinking lets you hold onto negative stereotypes while still having a high opinion of your friend. Try to avoid this.

3. Under no circumstance should you ask for a “freebie” or demonstration. This seems really obvious, but I’m saying it anyway. If a stripper offers you a free lapdance, just for funsies, awesome! Accept it if you’d like, and say thank you afterwards, but don’t be the one to ask for it. That’s just rude.

4. Listen to them if they do want to talk about work, and respond with love and compassion. Never tell a sex worker, “Well, what did you expect?” when she confides in you about the customer who assaulted her. Again, this shouldn’t have to be said, but such a shockingly common response that I’m including it here. NOBODY should have to expect or accept abuse, rape, violence, or violation of boundaries as part of their job.

5. Don’t make everything about their job. If you wouldn’t constantly joke about your friend’s waitressing job, don’t keep bringing up the fact that “there’s a stripper at the party!!!11!!” It’s not really that big of a deal, and it makes you look like an ass.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and feel free to add to it!

xo IGiveLapDances

(Source: moxiehall)