tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590465.post115358574614162786..comments2024-03-11T05:58:13.874-04:00Comments on Halbert's Cubicle: Gay Panic DefenseHalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17985840356273623901noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590465.post-1153765499676492272006-07-24T14:24:00.000-04:002006-07-24T14:24:00.000-04:00How many times do I have to write that?So you symp...<I>How many times do I have to write that?</I><BR/><BR/>So you sympathize with the idea that they were driven temporarily insane by the idea that they had been deceived by someone they had sex with without <I>checking to see if that person was a dude</I>, but don't sympathize with the actions that, according to their defense, they had no control over? It's one thing to think that Gwen's actions were inexcusable (they were), but it's kind of implicit in "sympathy for the defendants" that you understand why they did what they did, and think that that's somehow ok.<BR/><BR/>I apologize if I've misread that though, but it did allow me to get the facts about what actually happened out there.-Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16841346338225366728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590465.post-1153749018362194412006-07-24T09:50:00.000-04:002006-07-24T09:50:00.000-04:00My sympathy for them was limited to the "gay panic...My sympathy for them was limited to the "gay panic" part. In no way do I condone murder (How many times do I have to write that?), especially one so obviously savage.<BR/><BR/>I suppose it might have helped if I'd known those details before I wrote about it. <BR/><BR/>The CNN article didn't seem to clearly indicate that defendents wanted complete exoneration for their crimes. I assumed it was just an attempt to argue a lesser sentence.Halhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17985840356273623901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590465.post-1153729103974343172006-07-24T04:18:00.000-04:002006-07-24T04:18:00.000-04:00This law would essentially deny that a person coul...<I>This law would essentially deny that a person could be, to put it bluntly, grossed out by homosexuality.</I><BR/><BR/>Not really. In fact, it denies nothing of the sort. The "Gay formatting holds for a great majority of cases) arguing not that a murder was not premeditated, but rather that the accused is not culpable for his actions, because he has lost the ability to judge right from wrong in the aftermath of being hit on by a dude (one of the higher profile cases was sparked by the murder of Scott Amedure, who admitted on national television that he was attracted to the guy that eventually killed him). Whether or not it's premeditated has nothing at all to do with the Gay Panic Defense.<BR/><BR/>I don't really have a problem with defending attorneys using the Gay Panic defense, I just hope that prosecutors can debunk it sufficiently, and that the prejudicies of juries against homosexuals don't enter into it.<BR/><BR/>In Gwen (née EDward) Araujo's case, the guys found out at a party (at which the guys had decided to forcefully check out whether or not Araujo had male genitalia, suggesting that they'd expected such and that this wasn't entirely without premeditation) quite a while after they'd had anal sex with her that she was a guy, then choked her (with bare hands), beat her with a frying pan, canned tomatoes and barbells, strangled her with a rope, hog tied her, threw her in a truck and buried her in a park. Autopsy was inconclusive as to when she died.<BR/><BR/>And you sympathize with the <I>defendants</I>? I don't care if she did have sex with these guys without revealing her biological gender, which is deceitful and indefensible, what they did to her was abominable. Pretty upset does not justify that kind of savage behavior. Pretty upset would justify kicking her out of the party, not talking to her anymore and putting the whole thing behind them. Not beating her with a frying pan and strangling her until she was dead, then burying her in a park.<BR/><BR/>I imagine that quite a number of people that get shot, stabbed, beaten or otherwise murdered probably did something to anger the murderer. I don't think I'd say that I sympathize with the murderer though, simply because they were angry. <BR/><BR/><I>I'd be pretty upset, too, if I found out that I'd just unknowingly had sex with a man. It goes without saying, but that doesn't excuse the murder.</I><BR/><BR/>May I suggest you try to figure out who you're having sex with beforehand, then? It would seem that responsibility on the part of the killers in figuring out who they're having sex with before they actually go through with it would have prevented this whole thing. Unless, of course, they decided to beat her for being transgendered.-Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16841346338225366728noreply@blogger.com