Gang Members Kill Suspected Gay Member

Two members of a Baltimore-area gang have been charged with killing a fellow gang member they believed was gay.

While MI5 in the UK is actively recruiting gays and lesbians, and the states of California and Massachusetts in the US are allowing them to marry, there are harsh reminders, on a deplorably regular basis, that being gay in our society, is still one of the most dangerous and hated incarnations one can be.

While I think Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender, and Bisexual people would make excellent spies because we are extremely adept at covertly infiltrating society and maneuvering our way through life without being detected, I seriously doubt anyone who doesn’t have to live that way would really risk the danger involved in choosing such a closeted life style.

In May, 18 year old Steven Parish, of Baltimore, Maryland was maneuvering through his life in the machismo environment of the notorious Bloods gang, when his secret identity was uncovered. According to court charging documents, filed August 14th, Steven Hollis and Juan Flythe believed Parish was gay when they found suspicious text messages on Parrish’s cell phone, and became concerned that a gay member would make the gang seem weak.
The autopsy report showed that Parrish died as a result of blunt-force and stabbing injuries. He also suffered a stab wound to the chest and 50 superficial cuts.“Like most hate crimes,” said Dan Frumansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, “the graphically violent details of this incident are a jarring reminder to us all that we live in a culture where being perceived as LGBT for some people is a crime above all others.”
The Baltimore Sun reported that on the day before Parrish’s death, several gang members met at Parrish’s house, where they conferred about finding “gay” text messages on his phone. It was determined at that meeting, according to police documents, “…that Steven Parrish ‘had to go.”

We have no idea what text messages set this horrible tragedy in motion, but we have heard this story, in various iterations, over and over again. A group of friends, acquaintances, etc. discovers one of their members is gay and must be eradicated from the group before further contamination occurs. We hear statistics every day about how dangerous it is to be a black male in this country, about how young black men are more likely to be shot by a gun than any other group. We forget, I think, that LGBT are members of every other group, making it exponentially more dangerous be gay.

Sources:
The Washington Blade: http://www.washblade.com/2008/8-22/news/localnews/13131.cfm
Govt Bulletin on Gun Victims:http://www.ovc.gov/publications/bulletins/gun_7_2001/gun2_2_01.html\
FBI Report on Hate Crimes:http://www.lambda.org/ncavp_hc_2003.pdf