Another Victory For Transgender Justice

[Carolyn Marie]

Man convicted of manslaughter and a hate crime in the killing of a transsexual woman in New York State.

This is only the second incidence of a hate crime statute being used successfully in the prosecution of

the murder of a transsexual person.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...0,2233040.story

[Guest Sydney_W]

Whoa. This could be big. Really big.

[Guest Alyssa Leigh]

It is sad that someone else had to die that way due to their gender identity but at least the future is looking more promising for us with them passing bills to protect us against hate crimes.

[Guest]

The question is would the murder have happened if the murderer knew he would be also charged with a hate crime? Sadly I think the answer is yes. One could argue that's because being charged with a hate crime is fairly new and that somewhere down the road it would make a difference. I'm not convinced though. It is a step in the right direction and is well intended.

Laura

[Guest Donna Jean]

It is a step in the right direction and is well intended.

Laura

I totally agree, Laura....

There's miles to go, but each and every victory is moving us closer!

Geez...it's a sorry state of affairs when you have to legislate equality......

Good for us!

Donna Jean

[Guest Eth]

It's disgusting that someone else had to die, just for being themselves, but at least it was not in vain.

愛 Eth

[Guest Jean Davis]

It's just a shame , such a high price for such a little victory. Perhaps we can all say a little prayer for her and her family.

[Guest April63]

The question is would the murder have happened if the murderer knew he would be also charged with a hate crime? Sadly I think the answer is yes.

We live in a country where people don't respect the government or laws. If people did, it would be beautiful. But since people don't, it doesn't matter what laws you put in place. People break them anyway, no matter how absurd or good they are.

[Sally]

We live in a country where people don't respect the government or laws. If people did, it would be beautiful. But since people don't, it doesn't matter what laws you put in place. People break them anyway, no matter how absurd or good they are.

This is the real problem.

I had a friend who was from India and when he had to layover fo just a short time in Singapore he felt dirty, even the airport was a mess, it was among the filthiest and most dangerous spots in Southeast Asia.

The the people voted for strickter laws and enforcement of them and they turned their country around - Singapore is now one of the cleanest and safest places in the world, they gave up some 'roghts' like the 'rigth' to throw gum wrappers on the ground - most places don't even sell gum because of this.

They even have laws governing how old of a car you can drive and make it more expensive to drive an older car - it keeps emission standards better and they look nicer.

Their penalties seem extreme to us, remember the caning of the vandal that damaged a bunch of cars - he was one of ours from the US and we lost sight of the damage that he had done and just tried to stop the punishment.

Litering is fined in money and community service time, cleaning the parks - you are also listed in the newspaper and the TV news crews tend to show up.

The community must help by viewing criminals as what they are - criminals, there cannot be shades of illegality, it is either right or wrong, that's why there are so many different charges for killing someone from justifiable homicide to Murder in the first degree, the laws have provisions for self defense but we don't trust them or respect them.

We are unwilling to give up anything for our freedoms, but in fact by not giving up anything we are losing the freedom to be safe in our own homes.

As long as we cannot see that the result of total freedom is anarchy we will never be able to reverse our downward spiral.

Love ya,

Sally

[Carolyn Marie]

We are unwilling to give up anything for our freedoms, but in fact by not giving up anything we are losing the freedom to be safe in our own homes.

As long as we cannot see that the result of total freedom is anarchy we will never be able to reverse our downward spiral.

Sally, dear, I have to disagree with you on this one.

Yes, Singapore is a clean and orderly place. It's also run by a totalitarian government, and my understanding

is that the people there have few freedoms of any kind, and live in fear of their government.

Is that really what we want here? Would a total absence of crime be worth giving up all or most of our

freedoms? Which ones would you be willing to dispense with, the 5th amendment, the fourth, the right

to habeas corpus? Where I live, we have a three strikes law, more prisons and prisoners per capita than

any place in the country (with the possible exception of Texas), and yet we continue to put people behind

bars at a record rate to the point where California is nearly bankrupt.

I don't have all the answers (otherwise I would be Governor). But I will never believe that we would

be better off sacrificing our freedoms for an appearance of order.

The answer to the people who commit crimes like the one in New York? Educating people to be tolerant, for a

start. Will that take time? You betcha. But we can't stop trying. 40 years ago people were beaten and killed

in the South for demanding equal rights. Now we have a Back President. Change is slow, but you and I have

lived long enough to see it for ourselves. Let's not sell the new generation short.

BTW, I'm no bleeding heart liberal. I was in law enforcement for 20 years.

I'll put my soapbox away now. Thanks

Carolyn Marie

[Sally]

Singapore went way too far but the two main problems are:

1) We waste the money of putting white collar criminals in jail instead of making them work to restore the funds that they have stolen.

2) Way too many loop holes in the laws - because the people making them know that they might need them - drunk driving is an example just look at the repeat offenders.

The three strike law doesn't work any better than the death penalty - nothing will deter someone from doing something that they don't feel is wrong.

The fault lies in our complete lack of morality - it has become a dirty word and no one wants to give up anything just because it is hurting someone else - take smoking, in and of itself a nasty habit in fact addiction but it does kill others and yet the smoking spouse of a non-smoker who dies from Emphysema doesn't get charged with manslaughter or even ever forced to admit that it was a lot slower than just shooting them but just as deadly.

No we don't need totalitarianism but we do need a social conscience.

And no freedom comes without a price, we have to find the right balance of freedom and restrictions and try to instill in people a desire to not harm others but first just to acknowledge the existence of other people on their planet.

Sally now returns the soap box.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest April63]

The fault lies in our complete lack of morality - it has become a dirty word and no one wants to give up anything just because it is hurting someone else - take smoking, in and of itself a nasty habit in fact addiction but it does kill others and yet the smoking spouse of a non-smoker who dies from Emphysema doesn't get charged with manslaughter or even ever forced to admit that it was a lot slower than just shooting them but just as deadly.

Exactly.

We need to not educate people, but convince people what is true, just, and the best for our happiness, success, and prosperity. Only after people have been convinced what is right to do, will we be able to live in a good society.

[Guest gwenthlian]

surely this convincing must start with education. A generation of adults is hard to mold or shape but the next generation of children, with care, can be brought up knowing what is right and wrong from the very beginning. How long that would take is hard to say.

[Guest sara w.]

wow obama is having a whole month for gay, lesbien, bissexual, and transsexual pride! Makes me wish i lived in the U.S