My first reaction was shame. I have questioned the need for hate crime legislation and protection in the past. Shouldn't people who do violence to others be punished for the violence, and not the intent? Isn't every crime a hate crime, I foolishly asked.
My second feeling was the realization that action is needed.
You know what? On second thought, I'm just pissed off and ready to do something about this.
In my hometown, which I love very much, a man and his partner have been targeted by the worst, most violent kind of hatred.
Swastikas were painted on his property, along with threats. They tried to break his door down and do God knows what to the people inside. And this is not called a hate crime -- because by the standards of my state's laws, it is not a hate crime.
According to the article:
Oklahoma is one of 17 states that have hate-crime laws that do not protect homosexuals from crimes directed at them because of their sexual orientation.
One of the victims of this horrible crime is a United States Marine Corps veteran, who has been disabled due to his service.
This is not the only time gays have been targeted recently in my state. Also from the article:
In October, Steven Domer, a gay Edmond resident, was abducted and killed. Darrell Lynn Madden, a member of a white-supremacist group, is charged with his murder, and authorities say Madden targeted Domer because he was gay.
These are hate crimes of the most obvious sort, and they are not because the law says they are not.
I have sometimes doubted the need for specific legislation that covers hate crimes. Now, there is no doubt. This man is my neighbor, as is his partner. And in all likelihood, so is his attacker.
I just want to know one thing. What can I do?
UPDATE:
I found some local TV news coverage of the story posted at YouTube.
UPDATE II:
I have written a letter to my Congressman, Rep. John Sullivan.
Rep. Sullivan,
I never write to government officials, but after reading about what has happened at the home of someone who I share a hometown with, I felt obligated.
An East Tulsa man and his partner have been the targets of repeated hate crimes. Robert Stotler is a man who has served his country bravely in the United States Marine Corps.
Thugs have vandalized his home, destroyed his personal property, threatened to return -- and did return to terrorize him and his family again.
But because there is no specific protection against hate crimes in the state of Oklahoma for gay and lesbian couples, the police have no choice but to treat this as just another case of vandalism.
This is not vandalism. These crimes have targeted Stotler and his partner because of who they are, making it a completely different case than some car full of teenagers knocking down mailboxes in a neighborhood. One is a hate crime, and one is not.
Oklahomans who are the victims of hate crimes deserve the protection that the crimes deserve. I know that you may have been against specific protection for GLBTs in the past, but surely this incident reveals that people are falling in between the cracks of the system.
This will happen again and again until these gaps in the law are closed. Today it's Mr. Stotler. In a few years, it could be my 4-month-old son.
Please write me back or contact me so we can talk about what can be done to offer all Oklahomans targeted by hate crimes the same protection under the law that they deserve.
Thank you for your time, sir.
Here is Sullivan's contact pagefrom his Web site. He is my congressman, as well as Stotler's. If you choose to contact him, please be polite and respectful or do not do so at all.