PROTEST RALLY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA, HATE CRIMES & DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL
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Boston Protests Savannah Gaybashing by Marines
Join the Impact MA held a protest rally on Tremont Street in downtown Boston on Monday, June 21, to draw attention to the bashing of a gay man in Savannah, GA by two marines. The attack on Keiran Daly occurred in the early morning hours of June 12, 2010 in Savannah’s historical district. Daly, an openly gay civilian, was eating pizza with friends when he was confronted by two marines, Keil Cronauer and Christopher Stanzel, who accused him of “winking” at them. As Daly denied the accusation and turned to walk away, one of the marines slugged him in the back of the head, knocking him to the pavement and causing a concussion, requiring hospitalization. The marines were arrested by Savannah police as they fled the scene of the crime, then charged with misdemeanor assault and turned over to military police. Because the marines, based in South Carolina, crossed state lines to commit the attack, the FBI is investigating a possible violation of the federal Matthew Shepard hate crimes statute.
About 30 JTIMA protestors gathered on both sides of the street facing the Boston Armed Forces Recruiting Center at 141 Tremont. The rally protested both the discriminatory policy of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the military, and the homophobia that policy reflects and promotes. Chants rang out: “LGBT/We Demand Equality;” “I am somebody/And I demand full equality/Right here/Right now;” “I don’t know but I’ve been told/Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is getting old/I don’t know but it’s been said/Who cares what people do in bed.” Colorful signs bore messages including “Standing in Solidarity with Savannah;” “Gay Panic Is Never an Excuse;” and “Do Ask, Do Tell.” Informational leaflets were distributed to passers-by.
As Join the Impact MA board member Don Gorton explained, “the policy of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell contributed to the attack on Kieran Daly. The armed forces sanction homophobia by requiring LGBT service members to stay in the closet. When homosexuality is treated as something loathsome to be concealed out of concern for the sensibilities of bigots, hate is nurtured and, unsurprisingly, acted out. Cronauer and Stanzel have exposed the truth about what Don’t Ask Don’t Tell represents.” Gorton also noted that the Marine Corps has been particularly resistant to President Obama’s tentative steps toward ending the exclusion of open gays and lesbians from the military.
Cronauer and Stanzel are confined to their base as the investigations proceed. Marine Corps spokesmen have tacitly defended the assailants by parroting their “gay panic” rationale for the violence against Daly, and trivializing the attack—inaccurately—as a “bar fight.” On June 20, 2010, 150 people rallied in Savannah to demand justice in response to the hate crime—in a city which has failed to address hate crimes effectively in the past.
In solidarity with the LGBT community of Savannah and Georgia, Join the Impact MA and the Anti-Violence Project of Massachusetts are closely monitoring developments in the case. Demands are being made that the Obama Administration enforce the Matthew Shepard Act passed amidst much fanfare last October.
