STOP THE HATE
By Melanie Nathan, May 18, 2013.
It happened blocks from New York‘s historic Stonewall Inn, where I have many friends. We walk in the streets, arm in arm, with lovers, with friends. Hey, Its Greenwich Village, New York. Its safe to be gay here. Today we are sad, and furious. I am furious with the (Urgh-“alleged”) murderer of a young man from our community. I am also furious with everyone of those gay hating bastards who hide behind their religion professing WE ‘love the sinner not the sin,” sprouting their misstated biblical theories that being gay is not okay! Yes, in Greenwich Village – a young gay man was shot in the face while his assailant yelled anti-gay epithets.
Mark Carson’s murder took place on 6th Ave. near W. 8th St. The alleged gunman in the crime is now in police custody.
Before opening fire early Saturday, the gunman confronted the victim and his companion in Greenwich Village, yelling: “What are you, gay wrestlers?”. The suspect then asked if the pair “want to die here” before killing Marc Carson.
Young Carson, only 32, was taken to hospital but died of his wounds. The gunman, identified as 33-year-old Elliot Morales, fled but was chased by officers and arrested. Let my anger not spew what I imagine his fate to be….. but so be it!
What now? Police have indicated that this could be linked to a rash of recent homophobic attacks, police said.
“This is clearly a hate crime,” said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Christine Quinn, the New York City Council speaker who is bidding to be the city’s first gay mayor, said there was a time in New York when hate crimes were a common occurrence, but that time had passed.
“We refuse to go back to that time,” said Quinn, who represents Greenwich Village in the city council.”This kind of shocking and senseless violence, so deeply rooted in hate, has no place in a city whose greatest strength will always be its diversity.”
As a community we must be vigilant? Be careful? That is not how I want to live. This is America. It should not be that way.
While blame always rests with the perpetrator of any crime – we must surely also focus on the hate that still abounds, it is still all around us. We are still a marginalized community and we will be that way until the hate stops; and will that stop if we have yet to receive our full equality? Some believe they have a good reason to hate us. As a community, we all have a duty to speak out and tackle those haters – the myriad of hate groups, so named by SPLC – those preachers who spew their hate hiding behind out of context interpretations – via rhetoric couched in myth – the likes of Brian Brown and NOM – and the rest of them – now that we are winning some of our rights those haters are ‘amping’ up the rhetoric and we are in greater danger?
NOTE: On Monday there will be a rally at the LGBT Community Center at 5:30PM, followed by a march to the scene of the murder.
5:30 @ GLBT Center, 13th Street, NYC
RELATED: TWO MEN CHARGED IN GAY-BASHING ATTACK AT PATH STATION
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Great, they catch the haters after our Brothers die. Sounds like the Village needs beat cops again? I know, I know, no money. The city would rather pay law suits, grrrr. I read about this earlier, everyone commented, get a gun! Yeah right, let’s just have shoot outs in every street. Stay safe everyone. Try to go in large groups, take a cab? I hope the police pay attention now?