Sue 'Em

In the wake of the Tucson massacre, it's time to hit upon a new strategy in terms of curbing right wing hate speech and violence aimed at transgender people

Sue 'em.

When the battle was happening over the Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Bill in 2009, Bigot Harry Jackson and his merry group of drum majors for injustice in the Hi Impact LeadershipCoalition, their masters in the Traditional Values Coalition and otherright-wing fundie groups came up with the lie that the bill would 'muzzle our pulpits'.   

But what they were really worried about was the potential of an adverse (for them) legal result and the impact it would have on their money grubbing greed is good for them 'ministries'

And they have good reason to fear a successful lawsuit based on what happened in these two legal cases.     

.

In the wake of a 1981 Mobile,.AL trial n which an African-American defendant was charged with the murder of awhite policeman and ended with a hung jury, several Klan members decided they would kill a Black man in retaliation.   

On Saturday March 21, 1981 they discovered nineteen year old Michael Donald walking homealone, forced him into a car and subsequently lynched him.   

That act led to a series of cases that not only led to the conviction of the perpetrators in 1983, but a 1987 civil suit filed by his mother Beulah Donald and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Morris Dees that resulted in a $7 million judgment that destroyed the Tuscaloosa, AL based United Klans of America

This was the Klan group responsible for many of the well known atrocities of the 60's Civil Rights era.  Their terroristic resume included beating down theFreedom Riders in the Birmingham bus terminal in1961, bombing Birmingham's 16th Street BaptistChurch in 1963 and  murdering civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo in 1965.

The sue 'em strategy also shut down the White Aryan Resistance group as well.

It was bankrupted as the result of a civil lawsuit centered on itsinvolvement in the 1988 violent murder of Ethiopian college student Mulugeta Seraw byracist skinheads in Portland, OR.    

Morris Dees and the SPLC filed a civil suit against Metzger,arguing that WAR influenced Seraw's killers by encouraging their group EastSide White Pride to commit violence.

WAR national vice president Dave Mazzella testified duringthe trial how the Metzgers instructed WAR members to commit violence againstminorities, which resulted in Tom and John Metzger being found civilly liable under the doctrineof vicarious liability.    In other words, a person can be held liable for a tort committed by asubordinate or other person taking instructions.

The jury also returned the largestcivil verdict in Oregonhistory at the time—$12.5 million—against Metzger and WAR. The Metzgers' housewas seized, and most of WAR's profits go to paying off the judgment.

So with these two cases as major examples, what I’mproposing is that the next time a transgender hate crime occurs, we employ thisstrategy to sue the senior pastor of the nearest megachurch to the scene of the crime that has ahistory of spewing transphobia/homophobia..    

I would also include suing any right wing media outlet or talk show host that spews hatred on the airwaves on a regular basis as well.

If the suit is successful, depending on the damage award, itwill either bankrupt that church or media outlet, force it to disband or pay a sizable amountof its earnings to satisfying the judgment against it.   It will also send the message that open TBLGhatred or hate speech period will cost you and have a chilling effect on other megachurches and right wing organizations involvedin similar hate speech.

Individuals and churches have every right under the Constitutionto say and preach whatever message they want, even if it is distasteful tous.   But when those messages cross theline and incite someone to murder another human being, they not only need to becalled on it, but if the hate sermon or speech results in injury or death toanother person, be severely punished for it as well.  

And if they have to pay a severe financial penalty to thevictim’s family for their hate speech, then so much the better.