Gay bashing in Tennessee: It could have been me (Graphic)

Photo Courtesy of David Keck

When I posted an article discussing the assault of David Keck on facebook it was soon shared by a close friend  with the the comment "I've made a drunken pass at a straight guy before. This could have been me." and thats the brutal truth. It could have been him, it could have been me. In a time where gay marriage is now legal in over half the united states its easy to make the mistake that we are in the promised lands for the LGBTQ community and that the days of being physically attacked for being different are over. But the sad truth is that it isn't. 

The highlights from the article are: "Wilder is quoted in a police report telling officers he had hit Keck "several times" after David came on to him sexually at the apartments." The attack was so brutal that Keck is suffering memory loss from the savage beating he took at the hands of Wilder in addition to beating up keck Wilder took 100$ cash and his car. "Wilder told them he was afraid he'd killed Keck."

I got into martial arts because of getting gay bashed in highschool and its a pretty world shattering experience no matter how bad the physical damage and It can leave you emotionally messed up even longer than the physical injuries. I didn't leave my house for a long time and I'm still afraid of being in crowded areas by myself and was incapable of Public displays of affection without becoming an nervous wreck. I'm lucky that my incidents have never been as close to fatal as Davids and my thoughts and prayers are out to him in this difficult time. 

Despite Tennessee having laws and regulations making targeting someone specifically because of their sexual orientation a hate crime, its looking like the prosecution won't be seeking to bolster the charge and will be treating it as if it was any other crime. I find this troubling because of Wilder's confession. If he hadn't said it was because Keck "came onto him" then I'd be willing to hear an argument but because even the attacker openly admits to there being a motive based on sexuality and thats what these laws are meant to punish and discourage they should be used. The only glimmer of light in this tragic story is that because of the stealing of the car and cash by Wilder they charge is currently at aggravated robbery.

I get that hate crime stuff is a touchy subject and a hot button issue but so is beating someone near death because they make drunk pass at you. I've read a lot of comments online in forums including the subreddit for Knoxville that argue against it so I wan to make a case to others of the public. Do you really think that the man would have beaten a woman near death and stolen her car if she made a pass at him and he wasn't interested? These statutes to protect members of the LGBTQ community are toothless and token gestures if our representatives don't have the balls to stand up and use them.



Disclaimer: This blog post is based on the following article and is under the assumption that everything posted there is fact as of 11/6/2014.
Article http://www.local8now.com/home/headlines/Knoxville-police-investigate-beating-281507291.html