Leaders decry gay-bar shooting in Mass.

[quote:20ad1ea429][i:20ad1ea429]PlanetOut Network
Friday, February 3, 2006 / 09:25 AM[/i:20ad1ea429]

Political and LGBT community leaders strongly denounced the anti-gay rampage that seriously wounded three patrons of a Massachusetts gay bar Thursday, saying the attack highlights the need for a new federal hate crime law.

"When a man walks into a bar, asks if it's a gay bar and starts shooting, there couldn't be any more glaringly obvious and enraging example that we need a uniform hate crimes law and that Congress has stubbornly failed to act," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT lobby group in the country.

Press reports indicate that a teen opened fire early Thursday morning at Puzzles Lounge in New Bedford, after asking the bartender if the establishment was a gay bar. Police are searching for an 18-year-old suspect, Jacob D. Robida, who is wanted on charges of attempted murder, assault and civil-rights violations.

One of the three injured men is reportedly in critical condition with head wounds.

About 150 people, including Mayor Scott Lang, held a candle-light vigil for the victims on Thursday night, the Associated Press reported. Lang called the gay-bar rampage "a crime against the entire city."

Sen. Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore., also responded to the attack. He is co-author of the hate crimes bill, known as the Local Law Enforcement Act, that was introduced into the Senate last year.

"[Hate crimes] strike at the freedom of every American because they seek to intimidate entire groups of Americans and separate them from the communities in which they live," Sen. Gordon said in a statement. "This vicious attack shows again why the Senate should pass legislation that will equip local law enforcement with the tools they need to combat hate crimes."

The Senate bill would extend existing federal hate crimes laws to include gender, disability and sexual orientation. The House passed similar legislation (including transgender protections) last September.

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, blamed gay-bar attack on the "Christian right," from national leaders like the Rev. Pat Robertson to local conservatives who fought same-sex marriage in the state.

"We have witnessed seven years of vicious anti-LGBT organizing in Massachusetts -- and endured the hate-filled rantings of Brian Camenker of the Article 8 Alliance and Parents Rights Coalition and Ed Pawlick of MassNews," Foreman said on Thursday. "The blood spilled this morning is on their hands."[/quote:20ad1ea429]

I've said for a long time that the American GLBT community needs to focus on hate crimes legislation and not marriage. Love it how it takes something like this to get that point across. They'll forget about it soon enough. Wonder how many actually know the name Matthew Shepard. /sarcasm off