Michigan gay journalist receives threat from right-wing terrorist group
A Michigan gay journalist received a threat from a religious, right-wing terrorist organization on September 11, 2007. The letter to Todd Heywood used religious language and an analogy inclusive of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
The group, the Army of God, is the same group which once counted as a member Eric Rudolph the Olympic Park, abortion clinic and gay club bomber.
In a column published at The Michigan Messenger Heywood states:
And while nothing in the letter was illegal per se — we do after all live in a country where free speech is a sacred tradition, and religious speech even more so — the act itself is one of terrorism.
I have contacted law enforcement, and there is now an investigation.
“This was not sent to some relatively anonymous queer person,” said Jeffrey Montgomery, executive director of the Triangle Foundation, a statewide group that monitors hate crimes in Michigan. “This is someone who has a record of working against this sort of thing. The more visible the target of the message is, the more it is meant to supress and scare those who have less visibility into being silent.”
The target of course is me.
[...]
This is a threat from a known terrorist organization using its regular terror tactic. They hope their terror tactic will force me to undergo a Charlemagne baptism (he used to line European tribes up in rivers and shoot arrows over their heads and have them baptized in Christ). Guess what? It’s not going to happen.
I first heard of the letter the day it Todd received it. I was chatting with him online and he told me about it. I’ve certainly received hate mail in the past. Everytime I received hate mail, it has always been in response to an article appearing in the Greensboro News & Record, which often mentioned my position as Legislative Committee Chairman of the UNCG Student Government Association Student Senate; the letters were always mailed through the main UNCG address and then forwarded to my home. Todd’s was sent - I believe - directly to his home. I’m glad I’ve never had that happen to me and that my home address (I hope) is safe (which is something I have to have - My mom and my little siblings live there, of course).
I’m grateful that Todd was able to get law enforcement involved.
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C., where he serves as the Editor of Q-Notes, the Carolinas' LGBT news source. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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