Thursday, November 12, 2009
News Attempted Flag-Burner Has Military Ties
Posted by Bianca Phillips on Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Ross Burton, the 23-year-old arrested early Wednesday morning in an attempt to burn the gay pride flag at the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center (MGLCC), is a member of the Memphis-based 164th airlift wing of the Tennessee Air National Guard.
- Ross Burton
Burton was arrested after plainclothes Memphis police officers spotted him and another man attempting to set fire to the rope that holds the rainbow flag in front of the MGLCC.
Burton and the other suspect struggled with the police and even tried to disarm an officer. The police received minor cuts and bruises in the fight, and the suspects fled the scene. Burton was located about an hour later and charged with aggravated assault and vandalism over $500. The other man got away, but a police spokesperson says they now have another person in custody for questioning. No charges have been filed against that person at this time.
Though there is no known connection at press time, an MGLCC billboard depicting gay local former Marine Tim Smith was destroyed in September. The billboard, located at Poplar and High, read, "I'm gay and I protected your freedom."
Comments (25)
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Burning the gay flag won't change what's on the inside, Ross.
You have to love youself as you are.
This is question regarding legality, not morality: could he be legally charged with a hate crime?
Well, actually Vandalism can't be a hate crime unless you can prove it. If he owned the flag, instead of stealing it, he could have burned it under his first amendment rights. What the police got him on was assaulting a officer and trying to burn private property. As of right now he was just trying to burn a flag. Now, if he would of spray ppainted anti gay stuff on the building, then it would be a hate crime. There is a burden proof to prove he was burning the flag b/c it was gay and just not burning it as a prank. If a white person goes in a black neighborhood and breaks winbdows just to break windiows, it's not a hate crime, but if they go break windows in a black neighborhood dressed as a clansman and are screaming racial slurs, then it's a hate crime.
However, I knew with this extension of the hate crime law, people where going to try to label everything a hate crime. Just a dirty look at a person is not a hate crime.
Not for what is pretty much a misdemeanor, vandalism by slightly burning a rope attached to something else.
And unless he was saying some pretty stupid things while assaulting the cops, that wouldn't qualify for 'hate' enhancements either.
Had he done something more serious to the MGLCC, the new law which added sexual orientation as a category could have been applied.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the definition of 'sexual orientation' develops through the courts.
"Though there is no known connection at press time...."
So you'll just manufacture the implication of one? Yay Bianca!
I think Memphis is probably the most hostile place towards gay people I've ever lived in. Another black eye for Memphis. Can't wait to see what hate crime happens next (of course, noone will call it a hate crime)
The concept of extrapolation is the fallacy in this legislation. Just because someone hates a group and attacks one person or a few from that group, does not mean that the entire group has been attacked. Hate crimes infers that the entire group has been attacked en masse. It applies generalities when only particulars have been acted upon.
Hate crime laws grant special rights, not equal rights. If it was equal, gays would be subjected to the same law when they attacked Christians. Have any of you pondered what will happen when the islamic fundamentalists take over this country after you silence all the Christians? Hows the gay rights struggle going in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iraq? Why do you only target Christians, who only hate only your sin and believe, as a creation of God, you can be saved, but not the islamist fundamentalists who just want to chop off your head? When has actup ever attacked a mosque instead of a Christian church full of little old ladies? The only place gays are being murdered daily is in islamic countries. America is very tolerant, not embracing you, but tolerent.
I found a translator on line for CHGs posts. I will use it here for the rest of the readers. His post translates........."I hate gays."
Yes, Mr. E, we're all cheering for the day when "we" can silence Christians (even thought some of "us" are Christian) and then Islamic fundamentalists can take over America......do you wingnuts even actually think about what you write? I've had enough for today, I'm taking my son deer hunting. Spot-on translation, zippy, btw.
Zip... that's so weird because my (admittedly vintage) Vingnutt Pocket Translator said, "I hate myself and these confusing dreams I have about James Cavieze."
Damn....all I have is my old, dusty Curtis-Mathis tube translator. I got it to light up just long enough to read, "The cattle are dying." James Cavieze? Wow! What an under the radar reference. Wasn't he in "The Streets Of San Francisco?" No, wait! He's the one Mel Gibson referred to as sugar t*ts.
Truth is truth as gravity is gravity, it applies to all the same. Using only the portion of the Bible that you agree with doesn't make you a Christian, it is making a god in your image which is idolatry. An unrepentant sinner cannot be a Christian, regardless of what sin they fail to repent for. The Christian realizes every sin is a pain in the heart of Jesus. To hate, in the eyes of God, is to murder, to lust is the same as adultery. I pray for all people, do not follow the false teachings of man, of hedonism, and follow the teachings of God. If I did not truly care, I would not try to break through to you. It really amazes me how much hate all of the gay people seem to have in their hearts and how vile and angry they become when they are challenged. I know this comes from living a lie. We all can change and be better. Anger and bitterness kills from within, seek the truth and know the peace and stop living your lie.
Mr. E, those who are truly at peace don't feel the need to preach their version of the "truth" to people they don't know on websites. You are anything but at peace, my friend.
It's kinda like Johnny Paycheck says, "Nobody wants to play rhythm guitar behind Jesus, everybody wants to be the lead singer in the band."
I've always had a problem with those who elect themselves to condemn others. Perfect, Chris.
The Paycheck quote, I mean. BTW I played one night with Johnny somewhere down in the delta. I remember at one point my liver on a payphone calling a cab...
Ross Burton's father is Colonel David Burton, former commander of the 164th Airlift Wing. The second man, Wesley Huggins, is also in the Tennessee Air Guard.
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