Remember, the people who fought for Prop 8 were innocent victims in the face of the wrath of the LGBT community in California after the election. Teh gayz committed such atrocious crimes, like boycotts and sternly-worded postcards, that average, pro-family folks didn't think they were safe.
Well, that's been further proven to be bologna, according to law enforcement statistics:
Hate crime cases involving anti-gay sentiment shot up in Santa Clara County last year, a striking increase that a leading prosecutor attributes to controversy over Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on gay marriage.
Anti-gay incidents accounted for more than half of hate-crime cases last year -- 56 percent -- a big jump from only 15 percent in 2007. There were 14 anti-gay cases out of 25 hate-crime cases in 2008, compared with only 3 out of 20 in 2007.
Not really surprising, when you think about it, considering that the message to Californians was that gays were going after their children. Apparently running a multi-million dollar TV, radio, and rally-based campaign to promote scare tactics against a small minority of people can actually lead to violence. What a thought.
The homophobe-in-chief reacts predictably:
"I certainly hope Proposition 8 did not result in more crime,'' said Frank Schubert of the group Protect Marriage. "But if it did, it did so on both sides.''
That's a great response there, perfesser. If actual, reported statistics prove a fact to be true, then the opposite also has to be true. Because that's how reality works.
Actually, Frank's having a bit of fun with this meme. He even got in Time:
Meanwhile, lists of donors to Prop. 8, once trumpeted on the Yes on 8 website, have been taken down to protect individuals from harassment. "It's really awful," says Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Yes on 8. "No matter what you think of Proposition 8, we ought to respect people's right to participate in the political process. It strikes me as quite ironic that a group of people who demand tolerance and who claim to be for civil rights are so willing to be intolerant and trample on other people's civil rights."
Except he was lying to Time then: the "harassment" directed at Prop 8 supporters wasn't awful. The illegal harassment and violence directed towards LGBT people actually is awful.
Not that these new statistics will kill the "Gays were violent after Prop 8 and homophobes were docile and scared" meme. There's nothing the Religious Right likes more than appearing to be the victim. A little thing like reality isn't going to get in the way of that.
As for the Frank Schubert himself, I'll leave you with the words of his lesbian niece:
Now, though, the values upon which were the BASIS of this country are completely disregarded, and new, once-again-religious values are stuck in their place. This time, it was done by my uncle, the homophobe.
So, on behalf of him, I apologize, and I hope he gets all the hate mail he deserves. I'll even provide his address if you really want it.
And on behalf of the gays (and, in fact, those who are simply living the way people in the US were intended to- the straight people who let gay people live their own lives), fuck you Frank. You suck. (And your Thanksgiving pie sucked, too, by the way.)
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3 Comments
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I'll just say it. His niece is bloody awesome.
Matthew | March 17, 2009 12:44 AM
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The sticks and stones (and knives and guns) that break bones inevitably follow words that DO hurt you.
Monica Roberts | March 17, 2009 11:37 AM
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The same pattern of assaults developed in SF after Newsome began signing marriage licenses and was ordered to stop. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) does an analysis of the FBI’s very incomplete stats on violence against GLBT folks every spring. http://www.ncavp.org/
Here's Amnesty Internationals explanation of why the FBI/police stats are so incomplete. http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGAMR510012006&lang=e
There was another nationwide spike in the aftermath of the 2004 elections with state DOMA’s on the ballot. http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/Articles/000,007.htm
Christist attacks on our basic rights, abetted by gutless politicians like Obama, the Clintons and McCain regularly result in a spike in violence. This is Obama on an amazing MTV video shortly before Prop 8 passed. In just a few minutes Bill Clinton lost his title of sleazemeister to the new kid on the block, Hopey. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcSdwF39e-Q
The latest NCAVP stats are for 2007, the year liberal Democrats ditched the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill after it passed both Houses of Congress in an effort to capture more votes from bigots. They show the beginning of the current spike.
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/Articles/000,007.htm
Bill Perdue | March 17, 2009 5:26 PM
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