Homophobes silent on gay man beaten to paralysis who died yesterday

[ck4829]

Andrew Anthos, whose dream was to light up the Michigan State Capitol dome in red, white and blue, died Friday of injuries sustained in a Feb. 13 hate beating.

Though Anthos, 72, was visiting with friends as recently as Wednesday, his condition declined rapidly in the past two days and he was administered the last rites late Thursday in Detroit Receiving Hospital.

The attack, which left Anthos paralyzed from the neck down and virtually without speech, shocked the gay community, which reached out to his family with love and support -- as well as anger and a resolve for justice.

http://nateo.blogspot.com/2007/02/rest-in-peace-andrew-buddy-anthos.html

Do a blog search, look what is missing, the "Hate the sin, love the Sinner" RW'ers.

http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&client=news&q=andrew+anthos&ie=ISO-8859-1&sa=N&start=0

[marmar]

1. Because sadly many of them probably believe they were justified....

It's why Dan White got six years for killing Harvey Milk and George Moscone, and why the former Wyoming governor cautioned against "overreacting" to Mathew Shepard's beating death. Sad.

[acmavm]

2. I've read about this numerous times in numerous places and it still

doesn't get me any closer to understanding how someone justifies beating an old man like that, for any reason whatsoever. Justifies it to himself, to his family, and to whoever/whatever he thinks is his ultimate judgement or fate.

Do not understand.

[BOSSHOG]

5. "Conservatism" is a cancer of the brain.

Beating to death a homosexual is justified in the conservative community. They are sick, hateful, disgusting scum who do not deserve their constitutional liberties. I welcome the input of any conservative who wants to set me straight on this issue.

[BOSSHOG]

3. hannity should take this issue on

Spend three hours justifying this as "just a homicide" and not "a hate crime." Put the conservative logic on public display. Show the world the heart and mind and morals of the conservative movement in America. sean can pull it off because of the dumbass dna of his loving audience.

- Hey sean, love your show, this is bubba in bama. This ain't no hate crime, we don't hate queers. Hell this is america. After somebody does some vestigating will discover this anthos dude did something to deserve being beaten to death. Your a good american sean. Keep raggin on them "ragheads" and illegals. This is our country sean by gawd.

My hate is rational.

[Thickasabrick]

7. Speaking of Fox....did they even report this story?

[yurbud]

44. they said a gay man maliciously bruised the knuckles and bloodied the bat of a patriotic American

[NI4NI]

9. Let a gay man defend himself

against a homophobic hate attack in a "shoot first in self defense law state" then see how fast he gets locked up.
Just once I love to see a gay man defend himself from an attack by any means necssary, or bash beating the bastard senseless and brain dead more than they already are.

[walldude]

27. He's too busy supporting the troops by bashing

the G.I. whistle blowers who are going to appear on 60 minutes tommorrow...

[Midlodemocrat]

4. I still can't believe this shit is happening in this country.

RIP kind sir.

[chaska]

6. What, are you kidding? Have you looked around you lately?

This is not a civilized country. :(

[asjr]

12. I have seen no assaults, but in the

town where I used to live (small, religious, nosy) a gay couple bought a house across the street from my house. They wanted to turn it into a bed and breakfast. We made friends immediately because I wanted to be a good neighbor. I was still a "newcomer" despite the fact I had lived there for 23 years. Their next door neighbor was a school principal who was, and I presume still is, the most holier-than-thou person I have ever met. His wife staked out a watching post from her bedroom window into their bedroom window. She never "saw" anything and she was very frustrated about that. Pretty soon they were badmouthing the new home owners to everyone in town. A couple of other neighbors joined me in welcoming the new couple. They proved to be a real asset to the town. The principal managed to get the planning commission to vote against the bed and breakfast. After about 3 years they sold the house and built one out in the country. Our loss. The town's loss. I will never understand why someone so "Christian" can be so un-Christian. I do not miss that town.

[Snot Hannity]

8. Like it wasn't already bad enough,

homophobia, xenophobia, racism and religious bigotry have been meticulously cultivated in the last six years. It will take at least a generation to get back to where we were six years ago, that is if the promotion of hatred stopped now.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

22. The Clinton generation is the last hope. They came of age in a world that was more peaceful and

reasonable and, edited to add, forgiving and tolerant.

They have an understanding how devastingly the wrong choice for POTUS can be, unlike the "hey, even it's bad, it's only four years and how bad can it be really" 2000 Gore/Bush laissez faire crowd. Of which I wasn't, I still remember where I was when I heard Al Gore conceded. :cry: MKJ

[LeftishBrit]

10. Wow what evil disgusting cowards

Murdering a 72-year-old man in the act of helping a friend through the snow - I can't think of many things more disgusting; it makes me sick.

[JackBeck]

13. A friend who was in a wheelchair.

This act was pure, unadulterated, evil.

[yurbud]

11. scapegoats--still a pretty potent tool of the right.

[Yukari Yakumo]

38. and the Nazis too. {nt}

uguu

[yurbud]

43. After seeing Costas Gravas Z and the REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED, calling these guys Nazis is

redundant. It's an extension of the same movement by the wealthy to get suffocate democracy so they can do what they please.

[Duncan Grant]

14. Attention: Snickers and Hardaway apologists -- you should be posting to this thread!

I'm shocked by the lack of response to this thread. If you don't know what to say may I suggest, "My deepest sympathies to his friends and family"?

:banghead:

[Bluebear]

15. Oh, "lighten up!"

:cry:

[Duncan Grant]

17. I'm so light. Light as can be.

I hear ya. :cry:

[LeftyMom]

16. Surely they're just waiting to tell everybody that homophobia isn't a real problem

and that people blow it out of proportion for no good reason. Surely, some brave soul is here to tell this man that he's overreacting, and wasn't really beaten to death.

Or maybe one of them will apologize for their small part in creating a social climate that lets this kind of thing happen.

Any moment now...

[Duncan Grant]

18. Don't hold your breath.

Let me pull up a chair. I'll wait with you. :pals:

[terrya]

21. I'm certainly not an apologist for either.

This story makes me sick to my stomach. A 72 year old man beaten into paralysis...and then dies...simply because he's gay.

Homophobia HAS consequences, goddammit. Words and thoughts DO matter. And here we are...seeing it first hand.

No, my friend, you're not going to see any of the "god, you silly homos...lighten UP" assholes who trivialized, who ridicules homophobia as we saw with the Snickers ad and Tim Hardaway respond to this post. Because...it doesn't matter to them. A man beaten to death because of who he was....well, so what. right? We'll just have to "lighten up" about things like this in this country.

[Duncan Grant]

23. I wonder where the "get a sense of humor" folks are now?

I guess it's hard to be complicit in these matters and then post about it here at DU? :shrug:

[NMMNG]

39. Probably out munching on Snickers bars

:eyes:

[Cabcere]

19. That's so horrible.

:cry: Rest in peace, Mr. Anthos.

[cui bono]

20. Wow. It's bad enough for anyone to get beaten/killed for being gay, but

a 72 year old? Fucking assholes. And a guy in a wheelchair?

No shame, no morals, no heart and no brains.

Gawdamn RW hate mongers, shitty RW radio, fucked up Faux News...

FUCKERS!!!

[Dastard Stepchild]

24. Triangle Foundation in Michigan....

is on the case.

I've volunteered for them in the past. Good group of very dedicated people. They have a hate crimes division, and take these matters very seriously.

Terrible, terrible tragedy.

http://www.tri.org/violence/attack.html

[blonndee]

25. K & R! Homophobia has REAL and tragic consequences! n/t

[k_jerome]

26. what are the chances this was gay on gay crime? nt.

[JackBeck]

28. You're right.

Since most homophobes are closeted gay men.

[Forkboy]

30. I'm not sure I follow the logic.

Couldn't a closeted gay man just be afraid of the reaction of his family/friends/society etc.?

How does that make him homophobic?

[JackBeck]

31. I'm jabbing at the folks

who continually refer to a flawed study that claims that homophobic men secretly get turned on by gay porn, thus, are actually closeted gay men.

This has been going on for weeks, so I'm sorry if you didn't get my thinly veiled reference.

[Forkboy]

32. Totally went over my head

Like most things :)

Thanks for explaining.

[JackBeck]

34. It's all good.

Things have been very non-progressive around here as of late.

Scary, quite frankly. Hopefully, good will prevail.

[Forkboy]

29. The story doesn't really give that impression

I admit to knowing no statistics on this but I can't imagine the frequency of gay on gay crime can be higher than the frequency of guys like this just being sick fucks.It's always possible,but it seems slim odds,especially going by the story.

[Duncan Grant]

33. Since homophobes are closeted gay men...

it only stands to reason, no?

[PresidentObama]

51. What a stupid statement.

It was a hate crime. Why speculate if it was gay on gay crime? Seriously.

[k_jerome]

52. uh uh.nt.

[Pushed To The Left]

35. The right wing is against hate crime legislation

They claim to be tough on crime, but are soft on crime if the victims are those they don't like. RIP Andrew Anthos. Have the perpetrators been caught yet?

[JackBeck]

36. The right wing?

You don't even have to look past DU to see people against hate crimes legislation.

I swear, I feel like I'm living on another planet around here sometimes.

[Pushed To The Left]

37. I don't know how anybody can oppose hate crimes legislation!

It still boggles my mind that "tough-on-crime" conservatives don't support hate crime legislation, let alone people that are supposed to be liberal!

[NMMNG]

40. Of course the conservatives don't support hate crime legislation

They know they'd be the first people to be locked up for violating it. They can't grasp the difference between merely opposing things like homosexuality and abortion and harming people because they oppose those things.

[terrya]

47. I agree. It's just not a big deal to some people around here.

It proves, sadly, that the right wing doesn't have a monopoly when it comes to homophobic bigots.

[Hippo_Tron]

50. Hate crimes legislation is difficult for some people to understand

But I agree that if you murder or assault someone because of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation you are essentially sending death threats to entire groups of people. Death threats are illegal and therefore hate crimes deserve longer sentencing.

[Eurobabe]

41. This is atrocious.

Sorry, this won't win any friends in the anti-death penalty crowd -- but for heinous crimes such as this, I think why not fry the killer(s)?

[Edweird]

42. The fact that he was 72 years old and in a wheel chair

oughta do it. It's just wrong. Way wrong.

[knitter4democracy]

45. Oh, no. How horrifying!

What a beautiful idea, too. We should do it anyway, light up the capitol building.

What a sad, sad day for all humanity--a beautiful person killed by hatred, fear, and ignorance.

[Chovexani]

46. Absolutely disgusting

There are no words. An old man helping someone in a wheelchair?

I hate this goddamn country sometimes. I really do. :cry:

[malaise]

48. This should shock every caring human being

It's a hate crime plain and simple.

[salin]

49. of course they are silent... the egg on their unbalanced

followers with tons of hate-filled rhetoric, and then when the predictable occurs (unhinged goes murderously violent) they shrug their shoulders... I mean, *they* would never actually avocate violence... their hate speech is just freedom speech and they didn't pull a punch.

:GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR:

I was frightened during the Schaivo events - that the rhetoric of the fringe religious right was pushing more and more overt violent tones that would serve to 'justify' individuals acting out on their sickest impulses - as they would perceive it likely that they would be lauded by their violent acts. Whenever I read about pointless, tragic events like these - I fear that as a society we are getting closer and closer to an abyss of hate from which it becomes harder and harder (esp with the fomenters of hate on rw media and in fringe pulpits) for us as a society to backup.

:cry: