SC gay man attacked by mob

This is insane. An attack of a young gay man, Joshua Esskew, on video. Luckily the young man wasn't seriously hurt but if anyone knows anything, please call the police. The following footage is ugly but it could have been worse.




Right now there are no arrests and we don't know why the situation went down. But Esskew is sure that he was attacked because of his sexual orientation:

Joshua Esskew said he stopped at the Gas Spot on South Cherry Road last Saturday. The 19-year-old said one second he heard a gay slur and the next second he was almost unconscious.

"I responded with, 'What was that you said?' But nothing offensive toward them," Esskew said, describing the encounter.

Surveillance video from the store shows a man hitting Esskew over the head with a beer bottle.

"Three came up from the gas pumps. Two came up toward the Laundromat. There were three or four already standing there. They all just came," Esskew said.

Investigators say a mob rushed to join in the attack just because they could.

I want to send a shout out of support to Esskew. Don't be afraid of who you are and don't ever shrink from defending yourself. At the same time, pepper spray or mace isn't a bad idea.

It's not a joke. I've had to carry some myself and I would not be ashamed if I had to use it to defend myself.

There are times when you should act like King or Gandhi and there are times when you should "get to slicing." And there is no shame in knowing AND acting on the difference.

Lastly even if this situation did not turn out to be an attack on Esskew because of his sexual orientation, what the @!*& does it say about a group of people who would pile on one person simply because they can?

Disgusting.

Is the Family Research Council finally a 'damaged' brand?

Where was Peter Sprigg at Friday's DOMA hearing?

Friday's Congressional charade of a hearing on "Protecting Marriage" was intriguing to me.

Not because who was there as witnesses, but because who wasn't there.

Where was the Family Research Council? I find it bizarre that an organization which has spoken in front of Congressional committees in the past and has a webpage devoted to "Defending DOMA" was conspicuously M.I.A. during this hearing.

Not only that, but I couldn't find a word about the hearing on its webpage.

Now there could be a multitude of reasons the Family Research Council was missing during Friday's hearing, but since we don't know any of them, I am going to take advantage of the situation to speculate.

Where was FRC's chief witness, Peter Sprigg? Sprigg has crossed the country speaking in front of state legislators on the subject of marriage equality (opposing it of course), so one would think at this hearing involving a national policy regarding stopping marriage equality, he would make an appearance.

Perhaps there are two reasons why Sprigg was absent.

Reason 1: His belief that the United States should "export" lgbts:




Reason 2: His belief that "gay sex" should be outlawed



I can just imagine the fun Congressman Jerome Nadler (D-NY) could have challenging Sprigg on those statements alone.

Another good thing to speculate about is this -  since FRC has taken a leading position - the lead position in fact - in challenging (rather poorly I might add) charges from the Southern Poverty Law Center that it and other so-called morality groups like it stoop to lies to demonize the lgbt community, I imagine that Sprigg would be questioned regarding that.

That's almost certain, especially when one takes a look at the material on FRC's Defend DOMA webpage. One of the items on the webpage, Q&A What's Wrong With Letting Same-Sex Couples Marry?, unashamedly makes the inaccurate connection between homosexuality and pedophilia - just one of the main reasons why SPLC has charged FRC with being an anti-gay hate group.

Is it conceivable that Sprigg and the FRC didn't testify in front of Friday's Congressional hearing because both are "damaged goods" whose appearance would do more to undermine the case against DOMA?

That is such a lovely thought to ponder.

My mouth is practically watering at the thought.