7.20.2005

Speechless

A few years ago I worked with a woman, I'll call her Mary, who was terrified that her two-year-old son was gay. Her reasons? He liked to play with dolls. He had this one doll in particular, it had eyes that would open and close when you tilted the head back and forth. No matter what Mary did, how many new trucks and footballs she bought, her son refused to part with his doll. So Mary did what any good mother would do--she waited until her son was asleep, poked the doll's eyes out with a knife, and in the morning sadly informed her son that the doll was broken and needed to be thrown away. I've known more than a few gender-phobic people in my time, but Mary tops the list.

Back in February, I blogged about Maine State Rep. Brian Duprey, who introduced legislation that would prohibit women from obtaining abortions if their fetus is gay. At the time, I joked about the logistics of this, considering medical science has yet to identify or isolate a single gene that determines sexual idenity. I mocked Rep. Duprey for getting the idea while listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show. Later, I mused about the cognitive dissonance involved--after all, usually those people who so vociferously oppose homosexuality that they would refuse to give birth to a gay child are also those that just as vociferously oppose abortion rights. Lots of laughter ensued, and I felt better knowing that the Right must be seriously out of touch with reality if they have spokespeople like Brian Duprey.

I'm not laughing anymore.

A 21 year old Tampa man is charged with murder after his 3-year old son was pummeled into unconsciousness and then died.

Ronnie Paris Jr. went on trial for his own life this week in a Tampa courtroom. The toddler's mother, Nysheerah Paris, testified that her husband thought the boy might be gay and would force him to box.

Nysheerah Paris told the court that Paris would make the boy fight with him, slapping the child in the head until he cried or wet himself. She said that on one occasion Paris slammed the child against a wall because he was vomiting.

Mary's doll-murder seems a little less disturbing to me now. And Rep. Duprey officially scares the shit out of me; why abort your gay babies when you can slam them against a wall and then pummel them until they die?

Both Ronnie and Nysheerah Paris are being charged in response to their son's death, but frankly, that's not enough for me. Not when the article continues to say:

The court was told there had been a history of abuse by Paris. Prosecutor Jalal Harb said that in 2002, the Florida Department of Children & Families placed the child in protective custody after he had been admitted to the hospital several times for vomiting.

He was returned to his parents Dec. 14. A month later he went into a coma and was rushed to hospital. Six days later he was removed from life support and died. An autopsy showed there was swelling on both sides of his brain.

Why the fuck was that child returned to his parents? And when can I expect to see Jeb Bush fire every single employee of the Florida Department of Children & Families who so much as looked at this little boy's file? After all, sending a child home to an abusive family to die a horrible death doesn't go very far in protecting Bush's culture of life.

Labels: LGBT

annamaria at 11:41 AM

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1 Comments

at Wednesday, July 20, 2005 5:12:00 PM  Anonymous said...

Ugh. That story actually made me feel physically ill.

 

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