The Republic of T.

I mentioned earlier that the shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church had jump-started my return to the LGBT Hate Crimes Project. Specifically it was Joe Lauria who put it into a context that immediately gelled for me.

Even if this man hopefully acted alone it is chilling to all progressive people and groups, like the Unitarians. Are we free to express our views, indeed to allow our children to perform in a church play?

Th answer, of course, is no. Well, sort of. Maybe. Not really.

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[Ed. Note: In light of the Knoxville shooting, I've decided to spend most of my blogging this week focusing on hate crimes.]

I rarely set foot in a church these days, for the most part, except for weddings and funerals. I did a few months ago, when a D.C. area “welcoming church”, offered Rainbow Families DC a space to gather and decorate our tricycles, bicycles, wagons, scooters and skateboards for the Capitol Pride Parade. But if I were, I’d probably feel most comfortable in a Unitarian Universalist church.

So, when I heard about the shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, and the motives behind it, my first thought was that my own family could have been sitting in that sanctuary if we lived in Knoxville. (In a place as conservative as Knoxville, the church was described as an “oasis” to the city’s LGBT community, and I suspect it was to anyone who held progressive/liberal views.) Sad to say, I’m used to the idea that my family may be targeted simply for being the kind of family we are. But what struck me was that the hatred was so deep in this case, that the gunman lashed out not just at gays, but at those who supported gay and lesbian equality.

In the pre-civil-rights south, whites who supported equality for African Americans were called “nigger lovers,” and as such were as much targets as blacks who stood up for their rights. Now, are heterosexual supporters of LGBT equality the new public enemy?

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It’s been a while since I last updated the LGBT Hate Crimes Project. That was partially due to life events (adopting a baby, losing a baby, adopting a baby, etc.), but also due to the nature of the work. Spending so much time researching each story inevitably, for me, means spending a lot of time feeling a story, as much as researching and writing it. Having a new baby, for a while, made me less inclined to focus on the uglier realities of the world my family and every other family lives in.

But the shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church nudged me out of nesting mode a bit. Dylan, now eight months old, is not only sitting up, but surpisingly mobile in his own way. A combination of rolling and scooting himself backwards allows him to cover quite a bit of ground. (Though it doesn’t necessarily take him where he wants to go, but moves him further from it instead, leading to frustration on his part.) Crawling may be a month or two away, but he’s actively exploring the world around him now, where he used to just gaze at it from the safety of our arms.

He’ll be walking soon; probably sooner than I expect. And, like all children, he’ll walk out in to the world someday; probably far beyond the reach of our arms. So, now I’m back to looking at the world our children will walk into and walk through, as we all have. We are all somebody’s child, after all.

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I haven’t written much yet about the shooting at a Unitarian church in Knoxville. By now, the particulars are known. The shooter acted (at least in part, though mental illness almost certainly played a role) out of a hatred of liberals, if he is to be taken at his word. Speaking of words, among the things police found in his home were books by Michael Savage, Bill O’Reilly, and Sean Hannity.

A while back, I bought book called Take them at Their Words: Startling, Amusing and Baffling quotations from the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004. I thought of that book when I heard about the shooting, and about this quote from Ann Coulter.

“When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty. We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors.” 2

That really is the message in acts like this one, as any group subjected to hate-inspired violence knows — whether its a lynching, a gay-bashing, of a little target practice with liberals: You can be killed, too. You are not safe. Don’t forget it, and don’t get too far out of line.

There’s more where that one came from of course.

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I don’t remember how old I was the first time it happened. I couldn’t have been more than ten years old. We were in Philadelphia — my mother, my younger sister, and I — visiting my great grandfather on my mother’s side of the family. For my sister and me, it was our first time traveling that far from home, and our first time in a city like Philadelphia. Everything amazed us, from the size of the buildings, downtown to the narrow little houses on my great great-grandfather’s street, with no yards to speak of and no space between them; so different from our suburban home back in Augusta, GA.

Even going shopping was different. Instead of driving to the store, my mom pushed her grandfather’s folding cart a few blocks to a store a few blocks away, and we followed her. The store was a wonder unto itself; on the outside a rowhouse like the one my great grandfather lived in, but on the inside there were long, narrow shelves holding food, toys, and other items we’d never seen before.

Our mother had told us time and time again not to touch anything whenever we went shopping, but we couldn’t help it this time. We picked up toys and candy and other items, exclaiming to each other to “come look at this.” Until it happened.

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The Washington Post has wrapped up its 13-part “Who Killed Chandra Levy” series, and I’ve been following it; unable to resist a combination of local interest and the kind of crime story that has always fascinated me. (I think in another life I’d like to be a crime writer of some sort. I channeled some of that into the LGBT Hate Crimes Project, I think.)

But as I followed along I never forgot about some of the cases I wrote about in the previous post. In the process of researching that post, I came across many more cases that I didn’t include because the length of the post made me decide to limit it to the cases of those women mentioned in the comments of a WaPo blog post about the Levy series. Since the series on the Levy case is wrapping up, I wanted to take the opportunity to post about a few more cases that have gotten less attention than the Levy case.

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I guess I have to admit that I have been drawn in by the Washington Post’s series on the 2001 disappearance/death of Chandra Levy. I’ve been reading each installment as they are published. It’s likeI can’t help it. Before Natalie Holloway, before Elizabeth Smart, before Kristin Smart, before Laci Peterson, before Laurie Hacking, before the Runaway Bride, there was — at least here in D.C. (I don’t know how the story played elsewhere)— there was Chandra Levy.

It’s long since turned into a syndrome. It has several names, and one rather of them popular. I have my own name from it, taken from a scene in Scary Movie.

White Woman in Trouble!

A pretty high school student, knowing the killer is close to breaking through her bedroom door, calls 911 on her PC. Her eyes wide and her heart pounding, she types in her message: “White woman in trouble!” In an instant, her suburban driveway is crowded with cruisers, sirens shrieking and lights flashing, and her wouldabeen slayer is beating a hasty retreat.

And Eugene Robinson has the best working definition.

Someday historians will look back at America in the decade bracketing the turn of the 21st century and identify the era’s major themes: Religious fundamentalism. Terrorism. War in Iraq. Economic dislocation. Bioengineering. Information technology. Nuclear proliferation. Globalization. The rise of superpower China.

And, of course, Damsels in Distress.

But of course the damsels have much in common besides being female. You probably have some idea of where I’m headed here.

A damsel must be white. This requirement is nonnegotiable. It helps if her frame is of dimensions that breathless cable television reporters can credibly describe as “petite,” and it also helps if she’s the kind of woman who wouldn’t really mind being called “petite,” a woman with a good deal of princess in her personality. She must be attractive — also nonnegotiable. Her economic status should be middle class or higher, but an exception can be made in the case of wartime (see: Lynch).

Put all this together, and you get 24-7 coverage. The disappearance of a man, or of a woman of color, can generate a brief flurry, but never the full damsel treatment. Since the Holloway story broke we’ve had more news reports from Aruba this past week, I’d wager, than in the preceding 10 years.

The damsel— the “White Woman in Trouble” — thanks to the Post, is back.

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And nobody came? This was apparently the case with the D.C. gun registry, following the Supreme Court decision.

With the ban lifted after a momentous, years-long legal battle that led to the landmark high court decision last month, here’s how many applications the city received by day’s end: one.

Bracing for a crowd at the registration office, at police headquarters on Indiana Avenue NW, officials set up a reception counter in the lobby and used portable metal railings to reserve one of the building’s entrances for “gun registry applicants.” Officers stood guard at the door, and a dozen reporters and TV cameras were waiting expectantly at 7 a.m., when the registration process was to begin.

But in the eight hours that the office remained open, there was no crush of people eager to avail themselves of the newly affirmed right to own a revolver in the nation’s capital. Police gave out 58 registration packets to people stopping by for the materials. But only two people showed up to apply to register handguns, and one was turned away by police officials because he didn’t bring his weapon with him, as the registration rules require.

And the beauty part?

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I’ve never spent much time in or near family court. Even when Parker’s adoption was finalized, D.C. family court was having an “adoption day,” where almost nothing was on the docket but adoption finalizations. Our attorney told us that the judges really loved “adoption day, ” because it was such a welcome change from what they saw on a daily basis. But that day, we were so happy that we didn’t give much thought to what the family court judges see all day. After all, we hadn’t seen it.

But yesterday was different. We were among four families finalizing adoptions yesterday, but it wasn’t adoption day, so much as “adoption hour.” And we were in among the other families, who are in and out of family court for reasons a lot less joyful than our reason for being there. We sat beside some of those families, talked with them, saw the judge, finalized Dylan’s adoption, and went home.

I didn’t think much about the experience, until I got home and read the fallout from John McCain’s comments on gay adoptions.

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Unfortunately, it’s not really Bush. Just the guy who’s playing him in a movie. But it is kinda funny that the lead actor in Oliver Stone’s Bush biopic has been arrested in drunken brawl.

Actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright were arrested during the early hours of Saturday morning after a fight in a bar in a Louisiana city, police said.

Sergeant Willie Lewis said the pair, who star in Oliver Stone’s new film about George W Bush, were held along with five other people in Shreveport.

Officers would not confirm whether Mr Brolin or the others had been released. The Times of Shreveport newspaper said the others arrested were also working on the film, called W.

Filming began in May.

Mr Brolin, who has also starred in American Gangster and No Country for Old Men, plays President Bush.

Wright, best known for playing Felix Leiter in the last two James Bond films, plays former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Brolin has already been accused of method acting, and I suspect the same on Wright’s part. I could understand if Colin Powell wanted to deliver a richly deserved ass-whuppin’ to W, after all.

Well, that didn’t take long. Just this morning I asked:

I’m just wondering if it’s too far-fetched to suggest that we’re probably not too far from the day when someone — a gay couple who gets married, or the person who officiates — does get arrested and locked up. What happens then?

I guess I have my answer.

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I know I’m all kinds of late with this, but gimme a break. I’ve just cleared out “starred” items — stuff I wanted to read and/or blog about — going back to mid-June. I just gave up on most of them. But this I couldn’t quite let go.

There’s an irony to this happening in Virginia, famous as the state that launched the Loving v. Virginia case. I missed blogging about the gay couple who got a license and got married before the state figured it out.

The couple walked into a Norfolk, Va., courthouse on a spring day, exchanged a few words, and within 10 minutes, were seemingly husband and wife.

It was an unremarkable ceremony — except that several weeks later, officials realized the shapely bride might not have been a woman.

Now authorities in Virginia, where same-sex marriages are illegal, are weighing whether to file misdemeanor charges against the couple, Antonio E. Blount, 31, and Justin L. McCain, 18. An announcement is expected this week.

A prosecutor says the decision to press charges could turn on whether the pair knowingly misled officials when they applied for a license and later, traveled to a courthouse for a ceremony. If the bride was transgender, and identified as a woman, it is unclear whether the marriage would be considered illegal.

The pair went to Newport News Circuit Court on March 24 to obtain a marriage license — McCain appearing as a woman and saying the name “Justine” before a deputy, said Newport News Circuit Court clerk Rex Davis.

McCain produced a Virginia driver’s license, but a design quirk — the ‘m’ or ‘f’ for male or female appears directly against a darkened state seal — meant nobody noticed McCain’s gender, Davis said.

Authorities were considering whether to press charges? That’s interesting

One of the most often heard refrains during the wave of anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives and state constitutional amendments a few years ago went something like this: “Nobody’s banning gay marriage. You can’t ban it because it’s not legal in the first place. This is just defining marriage as between man and a woman.” The other favorite tactic was to point out that “no one’s being locked up for getting married.”

Well. Not yet. And not this time, fortunately, since Virginia won’t prosecute these men.

A couple who obtained a Virginia marriage license and had a ceremony before authorities realized both were biological men will not face charges, officials said Monday.

Antonio E. Blount, 31, and Justin L. McCain, 18, faced misdemeanor false information charges, punishable by a fine up to $250.

Authorities said the couple applied for a license in Newport News Circuit Court in March and passed off McCain as “Justine.” Officials realized later that McCain was actually born a man in North Carolina.

Court clerk Rex Davis sought an investigation because same-sex marriage is illegal in Virginia.

The case turned on whether the pair knowingly committed a fraud, something prosecutors couldn’t determine, according to a letter Davis received Monday from Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard E. Gwynn.

“We don’t have the ability to prove beyond a reasonable doubt there was an intent to deceive,” said Jack Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Gwynn.

Fitzpatrick said Virginia law does not clearly define “bride” and “groom,” which at the time were the only spaces on the marriage license application the couple filled out. The forms have since been changed to specify “male applicant” and “female applicant.”

“Now that the forms have been changed, that is a crime and should someone do that again, they will be prosecuted,” Fitzpatrick said.

I’m just wondering if it’s too far-fetched to suggest that we’re probably not too far from the day when someone — a gay couple who gets married, or the person who officiates — does get arrested and locked up. What happens then?

It’s been a while since I’ve made any updates to the LGBT Hate Crimes Project. Honestly? The project requires more research and writing than I have time to do right now. So, though there are more stories I want to add, it just hasn’t happened. And even some of the cases I’ve written up so far need updating that I haven’t gotten a chance to do. (In fact, I almost didn’t get the chance this time. Right after I wrote the previous sentences —the first tiny bit of writing I’d been able to do all day — at about 11:40 p.m., our entire neighborhood lost power.)

I wanted to update at least one case, briefly; the murder of Thalia Mosqueda, which I compiled back in November 2007, but never posted here. So, I’m posting it now, along with an update on the conviction and life sentence in this case.

Thalia Mosqueda

Thalia Mosqueda, a transgender woman, was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Daytona, FL, nightclub on July 29, 2007, and died soon after. Her killer, Cesar Villazano, said he became enraged when Mosqeuda made sexual advances toward him.
The Background

Thalia Mosqueda

Born Oscar Mosqueda, in Mexico, Mosqueda, 34, was a member of the Farm Workers Association of Florida. She lived in the United States legally, worked at a fern farm, and regularly sent money to her mother in Mexico.1) On July 29, Mosqueda went to Garibaldi, a restaurant which operated as a club in the evenings, and catered to a clientele of Latino crossdressers, transgender Latinos, and gay men.

Mosqueda encountered Cesar Villazano at Garibadli when, according to Wesley Rosser, a friend Mosqueda’s, Viillazano was trying to persuade a drag queen at the club to go with him in his car. When she refused, he pulled her hair and tried to force her into the car.2)
The Attack

The shooting occurred when Mosqueda intervened, saying to Villazano, “Leave her alone. Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be with you? Villazano argued with Mosqueda before pulling a gun, firing two shots in the air, and then fired a shot at Mosqueda, striking her in the head.3)

Villazano shot Mosqueda in the head at about 2:30 a.m. Police were called to the scene around 3:30 a.m. and arrrived to find Mosqueda lying on the ground.4) Mosqueda was transported to Halifax Medical Center, where she died at about noon on July 29. 5)
The Aftermath

Villazano & Acosta

Following his arrest, Villazano told police that he was in the United States illegally, and police reports showed two warrants against Villazano for failure to appear in court on a charge of driving without a license. Villazano said that Mosqueda approached him in the restaurant, and that he became angry because he is not gay.6) Villazano said Mosqueda grabbed him by the penis, and that angered him because he was not gay.7)

Rosser said that Villazano was a regular at Garbaldi’s, and though he did not identify as gay, engaged in sexual activity with other gay men. “In Spanish culture,” Rosser said, “you’re not considered gay if you have sex with another guy as a top.”8)

Villzano later fled the scene after the shooting.9) Around noon, Villazano was stopped by a Volusia County police officer, arrested, and charged with second degree murder. The driver of the car, Louis Acosta, 21, was arrested on a cocaine possession charge.10)

On July 7, 2008, Cesar Villazano was convicted of Mosqueda’s murder and sentenced to life in prison. Villazano rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors, which would have sentenced him to 25 years in prison. 11)