Meet Senator John Eichelberger And Police Chief Jeff Halstead
You may remember Pennsylvania State Senator John Eichelberger, whom you read about here just two weeks ago. He’s the one sponsoring a bill to ensure gay marriage never comes to the Keystone State. On a local radio program, Senator Eichelberger said gays are “not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.†Special, right?
Enter Ft. Worth Texas Police Chief Jeff Halstead. Late Saturday night, in a violent police raid that rounded up seven men – coincidentally, perhaps, on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall raid and subsequent riots – because, according to police, the men in the bar made sexual advances to the officers. Chief Halstead said of the assault on the patrons,
“You’re touched and advanced in certain ways by people inside the bar, that’s offensive. I’m happy with the restraint used when they were contacted like that.”
The restraint the officers used included delivering force so brutal and excessive it placed Charles Gibson in intensive care with a traumatic brain injury from which he may not survive.
Dan Savage is all over this. I hope you’ll read his entire piece; it’s very thorough. He writes,
Allow me to translate the chief’s comments: “Them faggots in that thar bar touched mah officers and now they’re complainin’ about some rough stuff and one little ol’ faggot with a brain injury? Those perverts should be grateful they’re alive.”
“This is a classic example of the Gay Panic Defense. In the very recent past all a straight man who brutally murdered a gay man had to say was, “He made a pass at me!”, and the jury would ignore the evidence and let the murderer off. The Gay Panic Defense doesn’t fly in many courts of law these days but it still has currency in the court of public opinion. And the chief of police in Forth Worth, a major U.S. city, is attempting to use the Gay Panic Defense to convince the citizens of Fort Worth to ignore the evidence—to ignore photographic evidence and credible eyewitness accounts—and let his officers off.
“And you’ll never guess who the police are accusing of being the groper: Chad Gibson, the one man arrested at the Rainbow Lounge who can’t defend himself and may never be able to give his side of the story.”
Let’s go back to John Eichelberger. Ten days after his horrific (and in my opinion, threatening) comments, the Senator met briefly with LGBT protesters who handed him a petition with over 5000 signatures. He refused to apologize. Watch the video.