Gay Seattle Man Responsible For Own Beating Court Told

[davidinalameda]

http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/03/031005beating.htm

Three men accused of beating a gay man on a Seattle street during last year's Pride celebration were the real victims their lawyers say.

Micah Painter, 23, a landscaper and personal trainer, was severely beaten and cut with a broken liquor bottle while leaving the Timberline a gay bar on Denny Way last June. (story)

Painter said he was outside the bar when he was approached by three men, who asked him if he was gay. He told them he was and was attacked. He was slashed across the face, back and side.


what utter bullshit

[Ediacara]

1. What a crock...

It's extremely unlikely that this will gain any sympathy, and will probably just engender ire from the judge and jury. The gay panic defence, although used a lot, is complete and utter bullshit and simply will not work in Seattle.

[w13rd0]

2. The "gay panic" defense isn't just a crock...

...anyone who uses it is guilty as hell. Do I beat women who hit on me? Do women routinely stab to death men that hit on them? Hell, do I slash a woman in the face with a broken bottle because she's hereosexual and might threaten my identity? The use of the "gay panic" defense should be taken as admission of a crime worse than that which they are accused, automatically, like a confession of incurable stupidity.

[sui generis]

3. why oh why won't they ever pick on me?

I'll give them gay panic. I'll say I was gay, I panicked, I kicked their motherfucking asses into a bloody broken pulp and then threw their bloody carcasses into oncoming traffic.

And believe me I could do it.

[renaissanceguy]

4. I like the way you think.

Granted it's easier said than done, but I'd fucking give them a run for their money. I mean, I'm going to get stabbed and possibly killed anyway...might as well put up a good fight.

[BobbyinPortland]

5. FIGHT OR DIE

I'm with sui generis,

I think we should start fighting back BIG TIME!! If anyone were to try and attack me I'd surely rip some eyes out of sockets and any dangling parts I could get, completely off. There's no such thing as a fair fight and we have to fight back or die.

The best thing is to try and travel with friends or at least one other person so that no one can gang up on you.

Protect yourself at all costs.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

6. While I don't think it's healthy to be paranoid, I will share this story:

When I was little, we would have family over to "visit" and my homophobic same-age cousin used to harrass my older gay brother. He endured time after time after time, until one day, my brother turned to him and grabbed him by the collar and said something like, "I may be gay, but I can fight back!" My cousin never again said boo to him.

Scary the lengths to which gays and lesbians have to go in order to just defend their very existence or end up dead like Matthew Shepard or even just maimed. Makes me so effing angry. This is what leads to mental illness, closeting yourself in order to accommodate bigots.

[UncleSepp]

7. When I was in high school

I got harassed by a lot of the girls, and just put up with it. I was pretty odd - small for my age, a punkish nerd, who was also openly bi. Things thrown, nasty remarks, nothing dangerous or worth fighting about. I'd usually respond with dead honesty. I finally figured out that it was because I didn't think I should hit girls ;-)

Woe befell a guy who decided to lash out at me. He'd gotten in trouble for doing something in class, and decided to say "Well what about the dyke eating the sandwich in the back of the room?"

As he walked away, I felt myself rise up out of my chair and punch him. I wanted to get him in the face but he'd already turned around, so instead I got him in the back, right where your spine goes from sticking out to sticking in below the shoulder blades. The kid fell over flat on his face - must've been a good spot. I told everyone in the room, who were all paying a great deal of attention, that I was tired of being called a dyke and tired of being picked on by these people. I turned to a girl who gave me crap every day and said "You're one of the worst, I take shit from you every day, and I'm tired of you too."

The teacher of this class, a coach who was a kind of short white guy married to a tall black woman who was also a teacher, handled the situation in a good way but a way that would never happen today. He told the guy he had it coming, and told the girl she'd better cut out whatever she was doing. All three of us went to talk to the principal, who was an older black man. Oddly enough I was the only one who didn't get in any kind of trouble.

I have a strong feeling that the critical authority in this story, the short white guy in the interracial marriage, the older black man with a master's degree, had all experienced bullying and much much worse due to their age, what year it was, and that we were in the South. (That's why I thought it was important to put that in there, otherwise I wouldn't care if they were plaid). That probably guided their decision toward a fairness that went past just the events of that one moment, but considered the past and also the future.

I don't think it was so much that these men were being fair to me, as it was being fair to everyone. People who drag other people from truck bumpers probably started out kicking dirt at the playground. People who shoot up the school, the office, or a random shopping mall probably started out as those on whom the dirt was kicked. I believe that stopping bullies, regardless of the pretext of their violence, will save lives. GBLT people visibly standing up for themselves and fighting back benefit not only GBLT people, but everyone.

[BR_Parkway]

8. Don't forget to charge them with attempted rape - it'll be hell on their

egos way after the bruises have healed.