Duke Rape Suspect Has Violent History Against Gays
Tuesday April 25, 2006
Collin Finnerty, the 19-year-old Duke lacrosse player charged with raping a North Carolina stripper, forfeited his second chance by a Washington D.C. judge who gave him community service last fall after an attack on a man he repeatedly called gay. The D.C. judge felt Finnerty's arrest in the rape case was a violation of his agreement to stay out of trouble and thus charged him with assault in the D.C. case.Sounds like no one would've even heard of Finnerty's Washington hate crime had he not been charged with rape in North Carolina. And is Judge John Bayly merely covering his own skin just in case Finnerty is found guilty of rape? After all, he was the judge that let a violent teen- and now a suspected rapist- back on the streets after an unwarranted hate crime. All Finnerty had to do was promise to stay out of trouble. Sounds like a judicial time out to me.
I'm not sure who's the biggest gay foe in this case: A drunk Finnerty beating a man he thought was gay or the judge who thought it was a cute teenage prank that warranted community service and a mockery of a promise?Is justice only applicable to certain victims? Did Judge Bayly see Finnerty's violence against a man he thought was gay as a crime that didn't warrant punishment? Only Judge Bayly can answer that for sure. Unfortunately, the perception of his message is clear: Bashing is fine as long it's acceptable in the public eye. Had Finnerty assaulted an African-American in D.C., he'd be serving time. Had he assaulted a female victim in D.C., he would've been on the violent criminals list by now. I'm not saying ethnic hate crimes and rape are any less appalling than hate crimes based on sexual orientation. They're all equally despicable. I'm merely pointing out that lucky for Finnerty, Judge Bayly felt gay based violence didn't deserve the same attention the first time around.
News: Duke suspect to stand trial for 'gay' attack
Hate Crimes: Gay Hate Crime Legislation
Resources: How To Avoid a Hate Crime
Resources: Rape: Healing, Surviving and Helping a Rape Survivor
©Photos courtesy of Jason Kissel.
Comments
In addition to the judge and Collin Finnerty, I think our culture is to blame as well. What do we expect from these male athletes? Just because they can throw a ball well, we raise them to the status of heros. We create spoiled babies, giving them anything they want. Money, women, drugs and alcohol, it’s all expected. It’s a lot to ask a young man of 19 to turn his back on those kinds of things when they are freely offered. And when they do break the rules, by cheating on an exam or raping a woman, they are just given a slap on the wrist and sent on their merry way. No wonder they do it over and over again.
He should be punished if it really was a hate crime. But it’s so hard to tell why people do the things they do. Was it hate, or whould he have done it to any unlucky soul that walked by? As far as the rape case goes, I have not yet passed judgement on this. I would have to see the facts and talk to others that were there. I don’t like how the victom keeps changing her story. If he did do it, then he needs to be punished just as in the gay hate case. We will see what happens when more of the facts come out.
finnerty will get hate crimes and human right’s violation’s against this bias crime awesome!