Would it be wrong to say this about a gay man

  • Thread starter Thread starter gam197
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I don’t understand the question. Would it be a hate crime to identify the man as gay? Or could his crime be construed as a hate crime?

I followed your link, and while it showed the man as hate-filled, it was sketchy on the crime. Did he kill the men because they fell into one of his hated categories (Christian, part of the “anti-gay movement”, “Sheeple”, etc. etc.) or did he kill the men because he was full of hate?

Hard to say without knowing motive.
 
I think you have the wrong link :confused: (nevermind, it’s in there, just way, way down in the little details since the article appears to be more about inmate penpals)

As to your question, it isn’t a hate crime to say ‘a gay man killed three people’, though I’d be interested to know why you thought the man’s sexuality needed highlighting; and the murders would only be hate crimes if he killed them because they were straight, black, white, female, Jewish, or whatever – and that doesn’t seem to have been the reason, from what little information there is.
 
originally posted by Cari
I don’t understand the question. Would it be a hate crime to identify the man as gay?
Click to expand...
Exactly.

The question for me was that this man killed three twenty-something men who just happen to stop in the store to buy something. Now when the case was published over and over in the newspaper, no one said he was gay.

The man went to jail at age 16 for robbery. We are told that gays are born or the envionment affects them at an early age and they are gay usually at a young age. Being imprisoned did not cause him to be gay so why publicize a whole long article to say he was looking for a “male companion” just come right out and say he was gay in the headline of the regular story.

You are right, it was way down in the middle of a very long article about pen pals before they even said “looking for a male companion”.The newspaper has never done this nor would any newspaper come out directly and just say he is gay. I suppose he could deny it and say he was bi-sexual and sue them. It would not be politically correct. It could be classified a hate crime?

Yet I think it would just be part of the regular news that he was gay (not that this caused him to kill), maybe I am wrong?
 
I looked the situation up on other sources

boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/07/06/suspect_admits_to_nh_triple_slaying/
A man charged with killing three people at a New Hampshire outdoors equipment store told reporters outside court yesterday that he committed the slayings because he “needed the money.”

A reporter asked him, “Did you do it?”
“Unfortunately, I did,” Woodbury answered.
Asked why, Woodbury replied: “Needed the money.”

"Edward Woodbury, Michael’s adoptive father, said Michael Woodbury was mentally ill and didn’t get adequate treatment in the prison system.

But he said that he was not attempting to diminish Michael’s actions.

“There’s three people dead, and we’re sick to our stomachs about that,” he said, adding that “Michael is a major criminal and belongs in jail for the rest of his life.”

pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=121598&ac=PHnws
“Michael L. Woodbury told police within hours of his arrest that he shot and killed three men inside a military surplus store after becoming paranoid that the store manager recognized him, since he was wanted in several states.
Woodbury, 31, who grew up in Windham, Maine, said that he entered the Army Barracks store in Conway on July 2 because he wanted to steal a Toyota Corolla that belonged to the store’s manager, James Walker of Denmark, Maine.”

"Woodbury said he became concerned that the two men who were entering, friends from Massachusetts named Gary Jones and William Jones, would try to stop him from escaping or try to make a citizen’s arrest. He said he shot and killed them, too.

Woodbury has told reporters that he shot the three men during a botched robbery, but there was nothing in the affidavit indicating that Woodbury intended to take cash from the store on Route 16"
 
gam197 said:
The question for me was that this man killed three twenty-something men who just happen to stop in the store to buy something. Now when the case was published over and over in the newspaper, no one said he was gay.

There was just this one long article saying he advertised for a “male companion”. The man went to jail at age 16 for robbery. We are told that gays are born or the envionment affects them at an early age and they are gay usually at a young age. Being imprisoned did not cause him to be gay so why publicize a whole long article to say he was looking for a “male companion” just come right out and say he was gay in the headline of the regular story. The newspaper has never done this nor would they. It would not be politically correct. It would be a hate crime?

Yet I think it would just be part of the news that he was gay, maybe I am wrong?
Click to expand...
Perhaps none of the other news sources said “gay man” because his sexuality is about as relevant to the crime as his preferred brand of toothpaste? Would those men have been any less dead if a straight man had “wanted money” or wanted to steal a car? Is there any evidence that he targeted them for sexual reasons? You yourself characterize it as “men who just happen to stop in the store to buy something.”

I honestly don’t know that the entire “male companion ad” article is really relevant to the crime either, other than as a bit of interest.

About the newspaper, I would imagine they would if the person’s sexuality was relevant to the crime—for instance if he had solicited sex from the men and then killed them, if he had killed them because they rebuffed his sexual overtures, if he had killed them because they were attacking him for being gay, etc. Are you basing this claim on specific examples of past events in which the perpetrator was gay and his or her sexuality was relevant to the crime as described in the article and they chose not to include that as part of a headline?
 
originally posted by KarenNC
"Woodbury said he became concerned that the two men who were entering, friends from Massachusetts named Gary Jones and William Jones,
Click to expand...
Thanks.

They did not know Woodbury. They were hikers who stopped at the store to buy something they needed. The hikers were not related but friends. The three murdered people were in their early twenties.
originally posted by KarenNC
I honestly don’t know that the entire “male companion ad” article is really relevant to the crime either, other than as a bit of interest.
Click to expand...
I think this was the newspaper way of saying he was gay and so they wrote this very long article because they couldn’t come right out and say he was gay. The homosexual community would not have allowed it.
originally posted by KarenNC
]Perhaps none of the other news sources said “gay man” because his sexuality is about as relevant to the crime as his preferred brand of toothpaste? Would those men have been any less dead if a straight man had “wanted money” or wanted to steal a car?
Click to expand...
Yes but in many stories they will say he was a teacher or bus driver and really how relevant is that to many stories? They often give many details which mean little to the story.
 
gam197 said:
Yes but in many stories they will say he was a teacher or bus driver and really how relevant is that to many stories? They often give many details which mean little to the story.
Click to expand...
True, but not in the headline, unless it was relevant to the crime. For instance, if a bus driver, while drunk, runs a bus off the road and kills everyone on board, the headline could be expected to read, “Bus Driver Responsible for Deaths of 17” However, if the person shot them in a store, the headline might read “17 Dead in Robbery”, and not until further down in the article would it be revealed that the suspect was a bus driver.

So it is with this case. The suspect identifies as gay, but that didn’t spur his crime. Greed and (according to the adoptive father) mental illness did. So it would follow that the word “gay” wouldn’t show up in the headline, but further down in the article, even obliquely, as the article you linked to did.

As for “hate crime”- no. The suspect did not kill these men because he hated some aspect of their lifestyle, race, religion, etc., but because he was full of hate. Difference.
 
Oh okay, I think I get what you’re saying 🙂

No, it’s not technically a hate crime for the newspaper to make such a big deal out of his sexuality, but one could easily make a case for libel.
 
originally posted by Mirdath
No, it’s not technically a hate crime for the newspaper to make such a big deal out of his sexuality, but one could easily make a case for libel.
Click to expand...
The reason they wrote the long article after was probably to include information on his personal history but this came out way after the main story had played for some time. No one knew he was gay. They never mentioned it in any on the news articles on him when the story was the main news. They would never use gay or homosexual in the main story.
originally posted by Cari
True, but not in the headline, unless it was relevant to the crime. For instance, if a bus driver, while drunk, runs a bus off the road and kills everyone on board, the headline could be expected to read, “Bus Driver Responsible for Deaths of 17” However, if the person shot them in a store, the headline might read “17 Dead in Robbery”, and not until further down in the article would it be revealed that the suspect was a bus driver.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I get it why it should not be in the headline.
 
gam197 said:
The newspaper has never done this nor would any newspaper come out directly and just say he is gay. I suppose he could deny it and say he was bi-sexual and sue them. It would not be politically correct. It could be classified a hate crime?

Yet I think it would just be part of the regular news that he was gay (not that this caused him to kill), maybe I am wrong?
Click to expand...
it’s just not newsworthy. 🤷 the bit about the personals ad, while not exactly newsworthy, gives us insight into how he thinks and what he’s like as a person. that’s sort of interesting.

and no, saying someone is gay, whether they are or aren’t, is not any sort of a crime. the national enquirer has been saying for years that tom cruise is gay.

i’m reminded of an onion article (satire) that had a headline something like this: “GAY MAN RESCUES NEIGHBOR’S CHILDREN IN HOUSEFIRE”. several times in the article, it would say “smith, who is gay, smelled smoke and leaped into action.” hee!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top