The Political Whore

In a case that suggests the potentially dangerous consequences of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, a gay sailor was found murdered on his base, Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California, early Tuesday morning. He had recently complained to family members that he was being harassed.

The sailor, August Provost, kept his private life quiet for the most part, but trusted that his friends knew, according to an interview with his partner in the San Diego Union-Tribune. His family had encouraged him to report the harassment to a supervisor. It’s not clear whether he did, or whether he even could have; admitting that he’d been harassed could have led to admission that he was gay, which is grounds for dismissal from the Navy. In an online article for San Diego’s Gay and Lesbian Times, the chair of the San Diego Human Relations Commission, openly gay City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez (pictured right), refers to sources on the base that say the harassment was in fact gay-related and that Provost had been facing a possible discharge based on his sexual orientation.

Murray-Ramirez says there was a long delay between the murder and public release of information, noting that U.S. Congressman Bob Filner was on the base Tuesday and was not informed of the murder. The Human Relations Commission is calling for an investigation into whether this was a hate crime. Meanwhile, a “person of interest” is being held in custody. Read the full text of the Union-Tribune story after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

From Equality Florida:

Today, Joseph Bearden, one of the two accused killers of Ryan Skipper, was found guilty of second-degree murder and robbery.

On March 15, 2007, Ryan Skipper was stabbed 19 times and left to die on a dirt road in Polk County, Florida. His death is a bloody reminder of the anti-gay hatred faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in our state.

Just days ago, a prosecution witness revealed that shortly after the killing, Joseph Bearden, the defendant, said, “He felt he was doing the world a favor by getting rid of one more faggot.”

The 19 stab wounds that Ryan Skipper suffered are what the FBI calls ‘overkill’. That’s when the violence in an assault is beyond what would be necessary for a robbery and more than would even be required to take someone’s life. Overkill is a key indicator of a hate crime.

During his closing statement, State Attorney Castillo said the brutality of Ryan’s murder indicated, “hatred, contempt and utter disregard for another human being because he was gay.”

Hate crimes are directed at groups of people. They are intended to make an entire community afraid simply because of who they are.

But hate crimes are only effective as a two-step dance: first the offender sends fear into people’s hearts with a heinous act of violence. Then leaders around them act like nothing more happened than a car theft gone wrong. No action. No public acknowledgment of what has happened. No commitment to ensuring this never happens again. Their silence is as terrifying as the violence itself.

Just when you thought the Hulk Hogan saga couldn’t get any wackier, the father of the soldier left in a near-vegetative state in an accident caused by Hogan’s son, Nick, is in jail, charged with plotting to kill his wife.

Ed Graziano paid more than $2,000 in cash, check and a Westshore Plaza Pizza gift card in an attempt to have his wife, Debra, killed in what was supposed to look like a car accident, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Tipped to his plot, Pinellas County sheriff’s detectives had an undercover deputy act as a go-between in the plot.

Graziano was jailed yesterday. And today, 10 Connects reports, Hogan’s estranged wife, Linda Bollea, believes she may have been a target of Graziano’s as well.

Bollea’s publicist tells 10 Connects “people around the case” have told Hulk Hogan’s estranged wife Graziano also made threats aimed at Bollea. After hearing about the possible threats Bollea’s publicist described her as “scared to death.”

Bollea issued a statement Thursday night saying “Any threat from Ed Graziano would and is being taken very seriously.”

Today brings a break in the 2001 Chandra Levy murder case. You remember, the Hill intern for then-Congressman Gary Condit, who was suspected of killing his secret lover and dumping her body in a D.C. park.

Now, it turns out it was a different scumbag who did it. This from the AP: