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Today - Holiday - Solving Gay Bashing case important to SXM - 15th May 2006

Today - Holiday - Solving Gay Bashing case important to SXM - 15th May 2006

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Submitted by Flipper on Tue, 2006-05-23 23:48.

Throwing fuel on the fire....
Dick Jefferson | Wed, 2006-05-24 01:53

Just when I thought it was safe to go with my life, TODAY and Chief Holiday remind me that I have a steel plate in my head, friends in St. Maarten, and a fight worth fighting.

First, I want to thank again all the people in St. Maarten/St. Martin who have helped and remind all residents that this fight is really your fight. It's your island, not mine. Chief Holiday is right, solving the case is important to the island if you want to regain the status of the friendly island. The police on both side of the island can't do it without some help from the citizens.

Chief Holiday also says that it is important to handle cases against tourists and that they breed negative attention. Really? Is that why Chief Holiday has yet to deliver the report on the mishandling of my case to Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein that was ordered by the government.

It is the police department's non-response, and his refusal to explain it which is the reason a boycott is being considered and would be justified. I don't blame the guy who crushed my skull for the police indifference to the crime. I blame the leadership of the department for creating the atmosphere to allow that behavior.

As to a lawsuit, I would be interested in Mr. Holiday's thinking on why the victims were NOT planning one.

And to my friends at TODAY. I haven't been able to meet the man who crushed my skull with a tire wrench. I haven't been able to ask why he did it. All I have to go on is what my friends and witnesses have told me. There was a flurry of anti-gay name calling and threats by him and his friends towards mine. He and his friends were ejected from the club because of thier behavior. It is reasonable to assume that's what lead to the attack. It's reasonable to call anger based upon fear of another sexual orientation a gay-bashing or hate crime. What would your newspaper call a lynching of an Afro-Caribbean simply because of the color of his skin?

Witchhunt? That implies no wrong has been done. My steel plated head begs to differ.

Defamation? Truth always wins.

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Fight the fight
Anonymous (not verified) | Wed, 2006-05-24 12:21

Glad at last to hear that you are doing better. Keep up the fight. The other visitors to SXM are behind you!

Bob Pasino

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Attack
Anonymous (not verified) | Thu, 2006-05-25 21:13

There are a lot of warm, wonderful people on the island but as any adult realizes the world also has more than its share of numbskulls and homophobes. Some of them, it appears, work at the Today newspaper...but that's the newspaper's problem. The others already introduced themselves to you, sort of...

It is great to see that you are on the mend. As a former crime reporter and briefly an investigative reporter, I know these things take longer than they should. But in the case of St. Maarten, a lot of things that should have happened didn't, and vice-versa. Whether the island ultimately does what it must will make a profound statement about the character of the island. As the editor of an internet newsletter, we look at this closely too...and we hope the results are exactly what we expect and what the guilty parties deserve.

Jeff Berger
everythingstmaarten.com

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Getting Results
Anonymous (not verified) | Fri, 2006-05-26 18:17

Jeff ( and Flipper) Thanks for watching, waiting and hoping for the right results.

You are so correct about the world having more than its share of numbskulls and homophobes. And yes, I was introduced to them. That group didn't even know I was gay since I wasn't a party to the earlier events inside Bamboo Bernies. I just happen to come along at the wrong (or right time) when my friends were under attack.

I differ with you on the TODAY affect. Its rantings are not isolated to its readers on the island. Unfortunately, I see its sentiments echoed on internet bulletin boards in many cases word for word. While everyone has the right to their own opinion, the attitudes portrayed by TODAY paint a far different picture of the island than you or I know. Even before the attack, I knew there were a lot of warm wonderful people on the island, and they remain. I didn't know how prevelent and vocal a minority, represented by TODAY, existed.

Nor could I imagine a police department which was appears to have a systemic problem of indifference. And that is scarier than a newspaper out of touch.

Again, here's hoping that a lot of good comes out of this tragedy.

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