Let’s first begin with the trial of CeCeMcDonald. Last we left off I had explained some about her situation: how she was attacked late one night by four white assailants and by the end of the night two of them lay dead. Well, though only a week has passed quite a lot has happened. During her trial CeCe plead guilty to a reduced manslaughter charge; a sentence which will carry an incarceration time of 41 months in prison.
Reasons of which CeCe accepted the plea deal are rather obvious to see: bigotry. With a court of her so-called peers obviously unpleasant to her situation (the judge here, in an incredulous statement, ruled that CeCe’s attacker’s Swastika tattoo was not a sign of his transphobia while nor was his several prior convictions of violent assault; the judge ruled this while also stating that CeCe’s supporters could not wear “Support CeCe” shirts while in court), and none of them, to my knowledge, being Transgender themselves, many people would have done the same as CeCe when faed with a potentially much heavier sentence.
Under bourgeois democracy this is what humanity has been reduced to: pleading for mercy after nearly being murdered by fascists. Queer people of color are safe nowhere. This is not only present in CeCe’s case but also in the case of Brandy Martell. Brandy, who was a Transwomen, was found shot to death early last Sunday morning. Investigators managed to piece together that Brandy’s attackers assaulted her once they discovered she was Transgender.
So it appears that the theme lately has been race; that pointless societal construct built out of economic plunder. It not only has been race but it has been how said construct factors into oppressed communities. Well, here is another story that will boil some blood.
One might have heard of the North Carolina struggle over Gay Unions, how the conservative monsters are attempting to do away with any trace of partial equality. Well, recently it has been revealed, by his own wife no less, that NC Amendment 1 was drafted by Peter Brunstetter in order to “protect the Caucasian race.” A splendid show of how White Supremacy fits into anti-gay nuclearism. Only in the twisted minds of these ultra-nationalists could homosexual civil unions threaten heterosexual procreation.
Speaking of procreation, on April 27th GOP member Sandy Adams introduced an alternative bill, HR 4790, of the “Violence against Women Act.” What is different about this bill? Well, it is largely the same as its processor except for that it leaves out protection for Queer couples. Wonderful, right? What do you do when those pesky women get their way? Well you draft a bill in which you take a potshot at queer people, that’s what!
As usual the end result of all this hatred is death. This week was no different, unfortunately. For earlier this week, Gay Northern Utah teen Jack Reece took his life. Queer organizers in the state have called it a tragedy but remain sober as, in their own words, “This happens at least once a week.”
The Queer Gathering 