Using the Book of Leviticus to Beat Gay Men Into Comas

by Michael Jones · 2009-10-14 15:43:00 UTC
Topics:

Holy Bible

As the U.S. Congress prepares to finally pass hate crimes legislation that includes protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, a bloody and gruesome example of why such hate crimes protections are needed is coming out of New York. Over the weekend, two men beat and mauled 49-year-old Jack Price near his home in Queens, New York. They left him for dead, crushing his lungs, breaking his jaw, and lacerating his spleen. His condition was so bad that when he was finally rushed to a hospital, he had to be put into a medically-induced coma so that doctors could treat him.

Disturbing. Brutal. Bigoted. Disgusting. And beyond these terms, what's another scary part? Friends of the perpetrators are saying that the hate crime was justified because of the book of Leviticus.

One of the friends gave an interview to WABC News in New York, and the commentary is repulsive.

"I don't want no man blowing me a kiss either. I mean things happen," said Marcel Gelmi, a friend of one of the attackers. "I've been beat up like that too, but you don't see me on the news and my family crying and this and that. Wounds heal."

Somehow I highly doubt that Gelmi has been beat up to the point where he had to be placed in a medically-induced coma so that doctors could save his life. Gelmi also showed the TV reporters a tattoo he has on his arm, from the book of Leviticus.

"Leviticus. You should not lay with a man as one does with a woman. It's an abomination."

Of course, if Gelmi actually bothered to open his bible instead of just tattooing religious right soundbytes onto his arm, he'd find that the real abomination is interpreting a biblical verse as license to violently assault people because of their sexual orientation. I don't seem to recall anything in the Bible where God blesses the beating, the lacerating of one's spleen, the breaking of one's jaw, or the crushing of one's lungs simply because one is gay.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown summed up this beating pretty damn well: "This is probably the most vicious and brutal incident that I've seen, captured as it was on videotape."

If these two men are guilty -- and all indications, including video that captured the horrific assault, seem to suggest that they will be -- they deserve to be held accountable for their actions. And if there was ever a reason to make sure that expanded hate crimes laws find their way to President Obama IMMEDIATELY, this is it.

(Photo from Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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