THE HATE TIMES
a subsidary of the Gay Defence League all contents (C)1998 the Gay Defence League Issue no. 1, November 1998 |
FREEDOM
FROM FEAR! FREEDOM FROM HATE! |
GNN--PHOENIX AZ, 22Nov98 The Gay Defence League announces the creation of 'The Hate Times', an on-line newspaper. "I hope that the Times will be able to function entirely
on volunteer energy, with most submissions comming from the people who
"This morning, I awoke to the sounds of childish delight and
childish disgust. Curious, I went to my front door to see the object
of the children's interest. There, on the sidewalk to my home, lay a
dead squirrel, obviously flattened by a car tire. Too far from the
street, it had to have been put there. I can only imagine by whom.
And if they think that they're only antagonizing me, what about the
impression it must have made on those children?
"My name is Doug Bradley. Perhaps you've heard about me. On
October 2, 1998, as I was leaving Union Street Station [a local
eatery and bar in Traverse City], my friend and I passed Dillinger's
Pub [just a couple of doors down from Union Street Station] where
two men started following us, and as we crossed State Street, they
began yelling obscenities at us.
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"The
closer we came to my home in Central neighborhood, the more intense their
onslaught became until at one point, I asked them why they were harassing
us and they responded, 'Because we're going to kill you faggots!' "We
naturally quickened our pace, but they caught up, for the first time
becoming physical, tripping, kicking, and hitting us. As we came into my
front yard, one of the assailants viciously hit my friend in the back of
the head and, unable to stand the blows or the abuse any longer, I blindly
struck out with a beer bottle from the six pack I was carrying, at the
nearest attacker. The prosecuting attorney said that I 'escalated' the
crime by retaliating in this manner, but I ask the prosecutor and you,
what would you do in the same situation? Now I find out that, even though
I was the victim, I am being sued by one of my attackers for defending
myself! Is this justice? "I ran into my home and called 911. The
assailants began throwing rocks from my rock garden at the front of my
home, bashing in my door. I ran back outside, clutching my cordless
telephone, both to check on my friend and to hopefully frighten the
attackers away by informing them that I'd called 911. One of them
responded, 'I don't care who the f--- you called; I'm going to kill you,
faggot!' "I dialed 911 again. Still holding the telephone, I was attacked
from behind, being choked until I almost lost consciousness and pummeled
with fists until I fell to the ground. One of them picked up a rocking
chair rocker from an old chair in my yard and savagely beat me about my
head, shoulders, and back, resulting in a broken nose, loose teeth,
abrasions, cuts, bruises, and swollen lips. I distinctly remember a third
person standing there, coldly observing as I was beaten, then giving his
friends a ride away from the crime scene, yet he was never charged with
anything. "I would like to say that Sgt. Joe McCarthy was by far the most
efficient, caring, and sympathetic police officer I have ever encountered
in Traverse City. I honestly believe that he did his job to the best of
his ability. "Now, whatever happens is up to the court system, but I
firmly believe that it's high time the residents of Traverse City wake up
and realize that it is no longer the wonderfully quaint all-American
storybook town that my ancestors hailed from and I've loved all my life,
but a city of thinly-veiled hatred."
M. Douglas J. Bradley |
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