2 posts tagged “law”

Time for "gay panic" to end

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticle...

Angie Zapata's killer claims that he simply "snapped" when he learned the woman he had begun to date was transgender. Thirty-six hours after the revelation, Zapata was dead, the victim of a brutal blunt-force beating with a fire extinguisher. She was 18 years old. The killer never disputed his culpability in the murder itself. The wealth of DNA and other evidence made an innocent plea impossible. Instead, his defense attorneys requested a reduced sentence on the ground that Zapata's gender was, in itself, a "provocation." This legal strategy, often referred to as "gay panic" or, in the case of Angie Zapata, "trans panic," is still depressingly common in American courtrooms. One part temporary insanity and two parts institutionalized bigotry, its very existence precludes the family members, friends and loved ones of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) murder victims the legal remedies others take for granted.

Society's attitudes on LGBT equality have changed, and it is time for the law to catch up. The legal profession must resolve to kill the gay panic legal strategy once and for all.

At its core, the gay panic tactic defines unwanted sexual advances or statements of one's identity from LGBT people as somehow more severe, or "provocative," than similar overtures between straight people. In our culture, most women, even before reaching adulthood, learn how to react to unwanted male attention: We simply say, "No." Our legal system offers no leniency to a woman who reacts violently to a pass from a man, no matter how undesirable she may find the offer.

Furthermore, any similar defense would be inconceivable in relation to other minority populations. Our legal system would not, for example, accept "race panic," as a legal strategy to someone accused of violence against people of color. In fact, the opposite is true. We often administer harsher punishments for violent acts that are directed specifically against other minority groups.

Yet in an LGBT-specific context, and only in this context, a sexual solicitation or a statement of one's gender is equivalent to an attack. Using this maneuver in court means that defense attorneys believe the victim's assertion of his or her orientation or identity is an actual threat. This is the very definition of discrimination.

Bush wants Supreme Court to bar torture victims from describing torture.  "Alternative interrogation techniques" are now our nation's most important secret weapon, the argument goes, and people who have been subjected to these "techniques" are privy to top secret information.  Thus, they should not be allowed to describe what happened to the public, because then terrorists might be able to create training programs to help terrorists deal with the "alternative interrogation techniques."

The revolution has come... to New Hampshire!  Libertarians make up 1% of the U.S. population.  But if several thousand of them would just move to New Hampshire, they just might achieve political significance.

Canada will probably raise age of consent to 16.  Only two openly gay MPs objected at the bill's second reading in Parliament, and it will become law if it is accepted at the third reading.  Though the bill is not worded in a way that targets homosexuals, in actual practice morality laws are used by police to target homosexuals and other sexual minorities to a much greater extent than heterosexuals.  Oh, and did I mention the term "age of consent" will be changed to "age of protection?"  Because you just gotta protect those children....

Cold virus eats your brain.  Picornaviruses, which can also cause diarrhea and polio, can damage brain cells related to memory, leading to forgetfulness and, over the long term, chronic memory deficits.

Scientists give AIDS... AIDS.  Scientists gutted and reversed the HIV virus into an "antisense" HIV virus, which was then injected into CD4 T-cells, which were infused into five HIV sufferers who were beginning to fail normal treatment.  When HIV viruses attacked the T-cells, which normally turns them into little HIV-spewing factories, they instead released sterile, nonparthogenic particles.  The test was meant only to demonstrate that the procedure was safe, but three years later, none of the patients show any ill effects, the virus remains suppressed, and four of the five have had their immune systems partially restored.  Phase two trials on patients who have the disease well-controlled by drugs are now underway.  The scientists have hope that the antisense viruses may someday be part of a vaccine, although that isn't a certainty at this point.

UK scientists seek permission to create chimera embryos.  Human eggs for stem cell research are in short supply.  Scientists have a plan to use cow eggs infused with human DNA to create 99.9% human embryos, which they would destroy after six days of research.  Opponents are sure this will threaten human rights and human dignity somehow, but exactly how this would encourage gay marriage remains unclear at this time.

Yahoo! is trying to patent interestingness. 

Customer service departments are getting "emotion detection" software.  NICE systems is selling software to Fortune 500 companies that will automatically detect when a caller becomes angry.  This information will surely be used altruistically, to benefit all mankind.

Animal bordellos are coming!  Some U.S. zoos offer "sex tours" around Valentine's Day for people, primarily couples, interested in seeing the mating habits of animals.  Do not delude yourself into thinking that's what we're talking about here.  Denmark has "animal bordellos," which purportedly attract a largely Norwegian clientele.  Since neither Denmark nor Norway have laws against sex with animals, provided that the animal is not harmed in the process, it is considered likely that the bordellos will soon spread to Norway.

Naked man arrested for concealing weapon.  Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyup.

Reichen Lehmkuhl wants his boyfriend to be a hot new slang term.  The boyfriend of 'N Sync idol Lance Bass was recently interviewed by AP Radio News.  He insisted that when someone in the media forces a celebrity to come out to the public, "They're calling it a 'lancing.'  It's to be 'lanced.'"  Apparently, just everyone is saying that now.