Early Thursday morning, Cameron Nelson became the third gay Utahn in less than two weeks to report being attacked because of their sexual identity.
Nelson was on the job at an American Fork hair salon when he said two or three people began beating him up and yelling anti-gay slurs at him.
The 32-year-old was taking out the garbage at the salon near Center Street and 100 North at 12:45 a.m. when the assault began. Nelson said he is gay and that he believes that was why the attackers, whom he did not know, targeted him.
Sgt. Gregg Ludlow of the American Fork Police Department called the remarks made toward Nelson "disgusting" and said the actions of Nelson’s attackers were "quite repugnant."
Nelson was taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries and a broken nose, Ludlow said.
Police in Salt Lake City are still investigating attacks on two other gay men.
The two were attacked in separate incidents on Aug. 26. Dane Hall, 20, was assaulted by four men as he left a club. The suspects repeatedly punched Hall and stomped the side of his head. His cheekbone was shattered and he lost six teeth.
In the other assault, a group of men broke into a gay man’s apartment near 33 W. 200 South and beat up his boyfriend.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52546372-78/gay-nelson-lake-salt.html.csp
In this story an LGBT activist claims that the recent attacks stem from a lack of concern among state officials (in fact, one of the reasons Utah does not have hate crimes is because hate crimes include people with different sexual orientations).
Do you agree with the activist's claims? Do you think Utah should legislate hate crimes?
I think that the answer to the question is very clear. Yes, Utah should enact legislation that punishes, quite severely, persons who commit hate crimes.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a question of sexual orientation. Let people live their lives how they choose. That is a basic right given to every American, and I would hope every human being, but we all know that that is not the case. This is a question of will state officials tolerate crime that lies at the darkest emotion in the human body. HATRED!
If the state of Utah takes a tolerant stance to people who attack out of hatred, then no one will be able to stop hate crimes ever. Bigotry and Racism will have found a very secure foundation on the state law books. The state of Utah would be no better than the Nazi's who at the beginning of Jewish oppression, turned a blind eye and allowed hatred to control the vast majority of the population of a civilized nation.
So yes, for all of the people out there who are victims, have been, or will be victims of crimes of hate, Utah needs to take a firm stance on the issue of hate crimes. Otherwise they will be categorized as no better than the Nazi's of the Third Reich.
I agree with the activists claim! I strongly believe that Utah should create SOME sort of legislation. This is ridiculous! How can the state of Utah not have legislation that can protect people that are having constant problems.
ReplyDeleteUtah is really lagging in this department. It is not enough for police officers to simply state how they feel about this crime and move on. Laws must be put into place. This is becoming too much of a consistency that it is turning scary and disgusting. A crime is a crime, no matter how you look at it and people think that it is okay just because of their sexual orientation?!
Bottom Line: We are all children of our Heavenly Father and we all deserve to be treated with respect and love. The fact that there have been 3 REPORTED crimes in two weeks is absurd and should be stopped. Come on, Utah and step up!
There's no doubt that what happened to this man is absolutely ridiculous. There is NO reason anyone should commit such a violent crime against someone just because they do not agree with their beliefs. Every has agency; they can live the way that they choose. If someone doesn't agree with another person's actions/beliefs,that's perfectly okay. However, there is absolutely no reason to act upon those disagrees through violence.
ReplyDeleteIllegal attacks are a crime no matter what the motive is, however, if you commit a crime against someone based on the fact that you don't like the fact that their gay, then you must of thought about it more and planned it out. It's much different than if someone became angry and randomly attacked someone. The fact that these crimes were done out of hate makes them more severe, and therefore there should be a more severe punishment. Utah should look at these attacks and know that something needs to be done. Hate crimes should be legislated in Utah!