Sad state of affairs...

[DarkTirade]

Yet another attack on a gay couple, thankfully not a directly violent one against them this time.
http://www.unlockablebox.com/
It's not just in the south that things like this happen.

[gator_in_Ontario]

1. well

rednecks are everywhere,sad to say. Idiocy knows no borders. Intolerance does not have its own slice of real estate. It would be nice if it did, so us sane folks could avoid it. But...

[idgiehkt]

2. not just in the south?

wtf?

Didn't that kid go into a gay bar with a machete in Massachusetts?

Wasn't Matthew Shepard killed in Wyoming?

Didn't Kevin Aviance just get the hell beaten out of him in New York City?

Come ON.

[DarkTirade]

3. Exactly my point.

The most open displays of homophobia are usually in the south, yes, but there's plenty elsewhere too.

[idgiehkt]

5. what are you basing that on?

I'm sorry for what happened to those ladies, but I wouldn't paint with such a broad brush, since you've kind of disproved your poing above with your OP. Because gays are getting killed and queer-bashed all over this country, and I get so sick of people talking about racism and homophobia being 'so bad' in the south. It gets on my nerves because it allows people to discount the hate that this country is shot through from 'sea to shining sea'. Basically, the south is to hate crimes what queers are to human sexuality. People point to it and go, 'we may have problems, but thank God we're not like that'. it's a cop out.

Here's a nice link of FBI hate crime stats for 2004, the most recent I could find:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/hate04.html

If you scroll 4/5ths of the way down there is a state by state breakdown. Some southern states have a high number of reportings, but so do states like New Jersey, which reported more than twice the number of any southern state. New Jersey population was just half a million more than my state, NC, yet NC reported only 66 hate crimes to New Jersey's 769. California tops the list at 1300. Ohio, New York, Massachussetts and Michigan are also high.

[DarkTirade]

6. That's exactly why I said, 'this doesn't just happen in the south'.

Because, as you said, and I get so sick of people talking about racism and homophobia being 'so bad' in the south. I'm pointing out that it isn't just in the south. The south may be the ones passing the laws and having their hate groups more out in the open, but that doesn't mean that hate crimes only happen there.

[idgiehkt]

7. "the south" doesn't pass any laws or have any hate groups.

You have some regional prejudice here that isn't supported by data, which I provided at the link. How can you honestly fault 'the south' for any prejudices 'it' has, when you have one of your own that you aren't willing to part with.

[DarkTirade]

8. ... WTF????? You're entirely missing what I'm saying.

I was pointing out that there IS a generalization that this sort of thing 'only happens in the south' and that this is evidence that it does NOT.
There ARE more openly active hate groups in the south however. You'll be hard pressed to find a KKK meeting out in the open in northern states. And as far as passing laws, the south is where most of the civil rights movement battles were fought back in the 60s, and the south is where a good portion of the anti-gay laws are still being passed today.
I have no bias against the south. I'm stating simple facts. A) the impression people have that 'this sort of thing only happens in the south' is not true, and B) the south does have more openly active hate groups(which is more than likely the reason most people have an that impression). I live in an area that is half southerners and half displaced northerners. I've seen both sides of things.
And if you're not willing to actually read what I'm saying before you accuse me of something, then you have absolutely no right to accuse me of passing judgements on others. Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.

[idgiehkt]

9. I think Orlando is mostly transplants.

You'd probably be hard pressed to find a handful of people who are actually from there.

The 'impression' is what I am fighting and why I posted the link because it's a cop-out and people who are victims of hate crimes, in this case gay people, need to face the music that the whole country is fucked up and this kind of thing could happen to them anytime, anywhere. There is no 'it can't happen here' in this country and there never was.

I've never come across a KKK meeting out in the open in any of the southern states I've lived in. Here's the link from the Southern Poverty Law Center on KKK activity by state:
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp?T=26&m=4 with Ohio and Oklahoma's chapters listed just for sake of example.

Ohio
Amelia · Imperial Klans of America Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Cincinnati · Imperial Klans of America Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
· National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Cleveland · International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Dayton · Mystic Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
· Mystic Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Germantown · U.S. Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Marion · Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
St. Clairsville · Aryan Nations Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
St. Marys · Imperial Klans of America Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Wooster · "Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, The"
Ku Klux Klan

Oklahoma
Atoka · Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Cement · Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Coalgate · Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Coweta · National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Hinton · Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Lawton · Imperial Klans of America Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Moyers · Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Shawnee · Bayou Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan

[DarkTirade]

10. You've obviously never been to the same parts of the carolinas that I have

[idgiehkt]

12. I've lived in both of them

but I believe that anything is possible.

I've spent 4 years of my life in South Carolina and 20 years in North Carolina. So I do believe I'd have stumbled on to one of these meetings by now, especially since it's likely some of my backwoods cousins might have been involved in them.

Sorry to hijack your thread though, I realize this wasn't the intent of your posting. That 'south' thing just gives people a false sense of security despite all evidence to the contrary, and it's one of my pet peeves.

[DarkTirade]

13. And if you'd read my original post instead of just REACTING

you would have seen THAT WAS HALF MY POINT. You were arguing about something we agreed on. And when I pointed that out, you kept arguing. Multiple times.

[idgiehkt]

14. no, I think you've misunderstood.

I made a statement and supported it with data. I bothered to apologize for hijacking the thread because I know that this is unrelated to the intent of your original post. It doesn't mean that I feel I was wrong. This is one point I argue alot, because there are too many gays and racial minorities being bashed all over this country for people to keep making stupid statements about 'the south'.

[NMMNG]

4. Unbelievable

The hate people have. And no doubt these are "good Christian" fundies. :eyes:

[zcflint09]

11. No matter where it is, this is terrible.

That's the bottom line--and it could happen to any of us. Let us take a lesson from the fact that this was from a supposedley "small town", which I'm sure as described as "quiet". And pray to whatever up there that this country progresses past this point.