Some People Refuse to Acknowledge the Obvious

Well, Ms. Massresistance is back at it again. She's complaining because the Boston Globe did an article on a peace vigil in New Bedford one year after a man, who walked in a bar, asked if it was a gay bar, started shooting at the patrons:

This is news, rating a huge color photo on page one of the Globe's second section: A candlelight vigil by a bunch of young people for the one-year anniversary of a crazy man's rampage in a New Bedford bar? All this hypercoverage just because it was a homosexual bar? What was the point of the vigil? Are we going to quell the incidence of insane outbursts by lighting candles?

As any normal person could tell, the vigil was held because of the violence inflicted on gay and lesbian people. Violence that is often incited by hate speech, but again, Massresistance/Article 8 believes that their hate speech wouldn't incite anyone so they're not to blame. How offensive!

Here is a reminder of what the head of the NGLTF said last year:

Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force"The hatred and loathing fueling this morning's vicious attack on gay men in New Bedford is not innate, it is learned. And who is teaching it? Leaders of the so-called Christian right, that's who. Individuals like James Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, the Rev. Pat Robertson and their ilk are obsessed with homosexuality. They use their vast resources, media networks and affiliated pulpits to blame lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people for all the ills of society. They disguise their hatred as 'deeply held religious beliefs.' We have witnessed seven years of vicious anti-LGBT organizing in Massachusetts — and endured the hate-filled rantings of Brian Camenker of the Article 8 Alliance and Parents Rights Coalition and Ed Pawlick of MassNews. The blood spilled this morning is on their hands."

I should note that MassNews is no longer even on the web. They were only posting every month or so and now the anti-gay website is just plain gone. One down, more to go.

Note to Ms. Massresistance, just so you know what a hate really is:

Hate crimes are the most extreme form of discrimination: a crime motivated, in whole or in part, by hatred, bias, or prejudice against an individual because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or gender. The victim’s individual identity - real or perceived - doesn’t matter to the offender; any person who appears to be a member of the group will serve his or her purpose. And that purpose is to send a very simple message: “You don’t belong. We will hurt those who are different.”

From the Mass Attorney General's document entitled "Hate Crimes in Massachusetts: A guide of victims and communities" June 2005.