Gay Beating Prompts Calls for Hate Crimes Legislation

When I read about the attack on Joshua Esskew here in Rock Hill the other day, I knew this was coming.  It’s so predictable.

ROCK HILL –In the wake of a brutal beating of a gay man caught on a Rock Hill store’s videotape, the sponsor of a hate crime bill that last year went nowhere in the General Assembly plans to re-introduce the bill next week and ask that it be discussed immediately by legislators.

However, two key area Republican legislators said Tuesday that while the crime against Joshua Esskew at the Spot convenience store in Rock Hill is “horrific,” existing laws are enough to prosecute people who violently attack others – regardless of who the victim is or the motives of the attackers.

And a spokesman for Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday the newly elected governor does not support state hate crime laws, either.

Still, state Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, the bill’s sponsor, said he will ask that the bill be taken directly to the House floor Tuesday when the Legislature reconvenes after a week off.

Hate crimes should not be tolerated and deserve harsher punishments, he said.

The Herald

No Representative King, all victims of crimes should receive harsher punishments than what typically get doled out today.  The motivation behind them shouldn’t make any difference.

What’s difference between Joshua Esskew walking down the street and getting the crap kicked out of him because he’s gay or me walking down the street and getting the crap kicked out of me because someone wants to rob me?  In both cases we’re both victims, both being brutalized, and both deserve justice.  Esskew doesn’t deserve more justice than me because he happens to sleep with other men.

That is the problem with hate crimes laws.  They create special classes of victims and essentially deem that those people are more important than the rest of us.  Furthermore, you have to prove what the perpetrator was thinking at the time he committed the so-called hate crime.  How conclusive is that?

But state Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester, who represents part of York County and sits on the Judiciary Committee, said existing laws that prosecute violent crime – bolstered just last year – are sufficient without adding hate crimes to the list.

What happened to Esskew is brutal and wrong, Delleney said, but existing laws can handle prosecuting those responsible.

“We do not need special status for all people,” said Delleney, a defense lawyer by trade. “A crime is a crime. A murder is a murder. An assault is an assault.

My point exactly.

“Hate has become a family value in South Carolina,” Rutherford said, “and that is just wrong.”

Insulting the families of our state won’t win you any supporters, Representative Rutherford. Surely you can make your case without offensive and absurd hyperbole.

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