Gay Men Cannot Be Murdered
Sunday, July 12th, 2009Gay Men Cannot be Murdered
Blog Number 17: 12 July 2009
Sometimes I get overwhelmed with a rage that is so deep that I find it difficult to articulate any behaviour or emotion other than a destructive and futile desire to shut myself away and not listen or read any news ever again.
It has taken me two days to raise my head after reading the news item in the New Zealand Herald (10-07-09) about a verdict of manslaughter in a current court case where an elderly man was horrifically bashed to death by a man called Ferdinand Ambach. The dead man was 69 years old and the murderer was 31. This age gap was not taken into account. The BIG news was that the defenceless elderly man was gay.
Ambach was charged with murder but after the defence lawyer had fabricated a scenario of the elderly man attempting to rape the younger man, the jury changed the verdict from murder down to the lesser felony of manslaughter.
The defence lawyer claimed that the attempted rape ‘triggered a monstrous rage’ and Ambach lost his self control. In other words, the elderly man, Ronald Brown, caused his own death.
Ronald Brown was the victim of a hate crime, pure and simple. I have no doubt that if the accused had been a burglar and Ronald Brown a straight guy, Ambach would have been found guilty of murder.
This has happened before in New Zealand. A sub-text to these tragic cases is that many people still believe that they have a moral right to thump the crap out of gay men simply because of their sexual orientation.
Which leads me to this inevitable conclusion. Gay men cannot be murdered. So if any of you staunch macho guys out there get the urge to punch, or choke, or stab another man, make sure that in court your lawyer describes the deceased as gay.
It will get you off every time.