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Florida activists continue to push for tougher hate crime statutes by Joseph Erbentraut
EDGE Great Lakes Regional EditorThursday Nov 5, 2009 While the president signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law last week at the White House, he stood among a crowd of many onlookers that included the Byrd and Shepard families. Damien Skipper, the brother of Ryan Keith Skipper, a gay man beaten and stabbed nearly 20 times before his assailants slit his throat two years ago in Polk County in what many activists have described as "Florida’s own Matthew Shepard."
A jury on Tuesday found William Brown, Jr., guilty of first degree murder and robbery. A judge sentenced Joseph Bearden to life in prison earlier this year in connection with the murder, but Skipper’s death has inspired local activists’ efforts to push for more stringent hate crimes legislation in the Sunshine State.
"This is one of the most anti-gay states in America and our legislature is made up of many politically extremist types who enjoy vilifying the gay community," Vicki Nantz, a spokesperson for the Ryan Keith Skipper Foundation. "[Skipper’s murder] is a wake-up call for our community to really care and accept the responsibility to demand our equality."
While existing hate crime legislation has protected Floridians on the basis of sexual orientation since 2001, state lawmakers have yet to add gender identity. And the state statute is limited in not enabling a separate charge, but rather a punishment enhancement for other charges. The federal law will open the way for a separate federal charge in any incidents found to be hate crimes.
Equality Florida spokesperson Brian Winfield said the newly signed federal law will allocate much needed resources to enhance local police departments’ efforts to investigate these crimes.
"The federal legislation goes a long way in providing these resources, and certainly has a direct, significant impact," Winfield commented. "While it obviously won’t end hate violence, it creates a context in which we as a nation, community and state can come together and say ’no more’ to this kind of hate violence, gay bashing and unequal treatment."
Recent events have certainly provided activists with more than enough evidence a conversation on anti-LGBT hate crimes in Florida remains long overdue. A report published last week found Broward County had the state’s highest number of hate crimes in 2008, while violent hate crimes toward LGBT people statewide have increased more than 30 percent three of the last four years. The recent death of Craig Cohen, an openly gay 47-year-old man who had remained in a coma for nearly six months after two men severely beat him near his Oakland Park home in what police have yet to label a hate crime, has further highlighted the problem.
Scott Hall, founder of Gay American Heroes, said he feels the Matthew Shepard Act was "a step in the right direction." He expressed frustration, however, in what he sees as vague state-supported definitions of hate crimes that make it difficult for local authorities to accurately investigate and prosecute them. Hall added he had hoped the law would encourage reform.
"It’s ludicrous that we have had [hate crime legislation] while it is not being used," Hall said as he noted Skipper’s murder was also not officially classified a hate crime. "It diminishes us as people because we’re not valid enough to be classified. If you just look at the brutality of these attacks, how can they not be classified as hate crimes?"
Winfield also stressed he feels anti-LGBT hate crimes in Florida are under-counted. He pointed to a higher standard of proof required for official LGBT hate crime designation due to what he described as the playground culture of anti-gay epitaphs. Winfield added another problem remains local law enforcement’s reluctance to hinder their relationships with area residents over increased visibility of violence. He concluded activists around the state still had much work ahead to counter that culture and enhance reporting.
"Because that culture exists here in Florida, we have a lot of work to let people clearly understand that these kinds of hate crimes are absolutely unacceptable," Winfield added. "Silence in the face of these violent acts is not acceptable."
Nantz said she was optimistic to see how the new federal hate crimes would be applied. And she added she remains hopeful activists will continue to work to eradicate the acts of anti-LGBT violence that claimed both Cohen and Skipper’s lives.
"There is a long road for us here and I hope other cases do not face the same judicial void that [Skipper’s] did," she said. "It has been such a long struggle to make people give a damn. Though we are a minority here, we are a million strong in Florida and its our own people who need to be educated on our power."
Joseph covers news, arts and entertainment and lives in Chicago.
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