This is a response to billclausen's observation that this incident "probably" would not have occurred fifty years ago, presumably because we had a better "sense of right and wrong" then.
Fifty years ago, two midwestern teenagers went on a high-profile killing spree that left 11 people dead in two states. This was clearly recognized as a crime at the time, and it shocked the nation. Lynching black people, however, was not so high-profile and was rarely news outside the local area. Although officially a crime, it was seldom seriously investigated and the perpetrators were seldom prosecuted. Moreover, murders of gay men were not at all unknown, in spite of a climate of palpable fear which made many such killings difficult to identify. Finally, the "sense of right and wrong" that pervaded the period appears to have generated odd responses to them among those charged with upholding the law.
Here is a case from the period: In 1953, the powers that be in Miami decided that "homosexuals" were responsible for a spate of child murders (murders of little girls) that had occurred that year, and began high-profile harrassment gay beaches and bars. The rhetoric gradually escalating until letters to the editor of the paper were talking about "Shooting them all." Then, in July of 54, 19-year-olds Charles Lawrence and Lewis Killen used guns to kill William Simpson, claiming that he'd made a pass at them. In his statement to authorities, Lawrence admitted that this was a regular thing for he and Killen. They would hitch rides with homosexuals, and then rob them. This wasn't their first shooting, but it was the first time they'd actually killed the victim. The authorities responded by redoubling their attempts to shut down all gathering places for gay people, and to weed out and lock all all the 'perverts.' Moreover, the police chief warned parents that 'rolling' homosexuals and stealing their money was a common practice in the area, and that they should keep and eye on their kids becuase in the midst of all that harmeless beating and stealing, their children might also be exposed to perversion.
I am willing to bemoan the absence of decent parental discipline, civility, and respect in our society. What I will not do is sit silently while unjustified nostalgia erases the violence and incivility and disrespect that lay beneath the surface of that era's stifling conformity (now happily recalled by some as "values"). No, this problem will not clear itself up if we just become more like the people we were then. Returning to bigotry and moral rigidity will not save us.
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Posted on March 3 at 1:46 p.m.
This is a response to billclausen's observation that this incident "probably" would not have occurred fifty years ago, presumably because we had a better "sense of right and wrong" then.
Fifty years ago, two midwestern teenagers went on a high-profile killing spree that left 11 people dead in two states. This was clearly recognized as a crime at the time, and it shocked the nation. Lynching black people, however, was not so high-profile and was rarely news outside the local area. Although officially a crime, it was seldom seriously investigated and the perpetrators were seldom prosecuted. Moreover, murders of gay men were not at all unknown, in spite of a climate of palpable fear which made many such killings difficult to identify. Finally, the "sense of right and wrong" that pervaded the period appears to have generated odd responses to them among those charged with upholding the law.
Here is a case from the period: In 1953, the powers that be in Miami decided that "homosexuals" were responsible for a spate of child murders (murders of little girls) that had occurred that year, and began high-profile harrassment gay beaches and bars. The rhetoric gradually escalating until letters to the editor of the paper were talking about "Shooting them all." Then, in July of 54, 19-year-olds Charles Lawrence and Lewis Killen used guns to kill William Simpson, claiming that he'd made a pass at them. In his statement to authorities, Lawrence admitted that this was a regular thing for he and Killen. They would hitch rides with homosexuals, and then rob them. This wasn't their first shooting, but it was the first time they'd actually killed the victim. The authorities responded by redoubling their attempts to shut down all gathering places for gay people, and to weed out and lock all all the 'perverts.' Moreover, the police chief warned parents that 'rolling' homosexuals and stealing their money was a common practice in the area, and that they should keep and eye on their kids becuase in the midst of all that harmeless beating and stealing, their children might also be exposed to perversion.
I am willing to bemoan the absence of decent parental discipline, civility, and respect in our society. What I will not do is sit silently while unjustified nostalgia erases the violence and incivility and disrespect that lay beneath the surface of that era's stifling conformity (now happily recalled by some as "values"). No, this problem will not clear itself up if we just become more like the people we were then. Returning to bigotry and moral rigidity will not save us.
On Homophobia in Our Schools