Police in North Carolina town investigate possible anti-gay hate crime
by Matt | January 25th, 2006 |Police in Hendersonville, NC, are investigating a crime which may very well be an anti-gay hate crime:
Hendersonville Investigators are now looking into whether the recent beating of a gay man could be a hate crime. The problem though is North Carolina does not have the hate crime law on it’s books.
The victim says as he walked down the road he met three men who needed help moving boxes at the Star Motel on Asheville Highway.
He then told investigators the three men drove him out to a Clear Creek Road and Hyder Farm Road. That’s where he says the men beat him with a rock, robbed him, and made fun of his homosexuality. Right now the case is still under investigation but detectives say the alleged attack was not random.
In an earlier post of mine I discussed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and how this type of bias in employment and hiring is still legal in North Carolina.
This possible hate crime shows us another shortcoming in North Carolina law. This shortcoming, however, is a life-or-death issue. Without hate crimes protections LGBT people are worse off. Any crime motivated by hate of an unchangeable characteristic of another person is worse than murder for, let’s say… because someone cheated you out of money or something.
If EqualityNC hasn’t picked up on this story yet, I sure hope they do so soon.
Technorati Tags: hate crime, gay, lgbt, gay rights, hendersonville, north carolina
Matt, 21, is an LGBT activist and youth advocate working mainly within the cities of Greensboro & Winston-Salem and the State of North Carolina. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14, now currently serving as the Executive Director/Co-founder of Activate! - The North Carolina Advocacy Coalition.
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