Mother attempts force the 'gay' out of her 4 yo son...

[Lace Neil Singer]

I should have turned out lesbian, according to that thought process; I played with toy guns, cars and boy's toys as a kid. I climbed trees, played football and refused to wear dresses or even dress girly.

Yet I turned out straight. XD You can't watch a child of four and predict that they will grow up gay, or straight, or bi, or pan or whatever based on the clothes they like to wear, the toys they play with and their prefered choice of playmate.

[Andara Bledin]

I agree- I'm just pointing out that it isn't truly homophobia- any more than Russia really cared about russian-speakers in Crimea. ( they wanted to annex Crimea)

Oh, no, this is absolutely homophobia, in a rather more literal sense than it's often used. Just because the target is misplaced, doesn't make the fear and reaction any less homophobic.

[s_stabeler]

Oh, no, this is absolutely homophobia, in a rather more literal sense than it's often used. Just because the target is misplaced, doesn't make the fear and reaction any less homophobic.

let me explain why I don't believe it is truly homophobia. From what I can tell, she would have abused the kid anyway- that is, the abused was not actually motivated by any hatred of homosexuals ( she has also abused her other kids from what I read. Is she homophobic? probably. Was the abuse homophobic? no- since the abuse would happen anyway.

[siead_lietrathua]

the child may have been abused either way, during his life, sure. but the child was beaten to death because of homophobia. her hatred of gays made the beatings worse then they might have been otherwise.
some of her other children had signs of abuse, bruising, broken ribs. but that kid was tore up inside like he'd been hit by a car.

this article has more details into the injuries of him and his siblings, we well as his sister's testimony. suffice to say, trigger warning on it.
http://www.oregonlive.com/tigard/ind..._daughter.html

[patiokitty]

Y'know, I don't really care what 'reason' the mother provided for beating her child to death because there is no way to excuse what she did. Maybe she really did beat the poor boy worse because of her perception of him, I don't know. I do know that she should be tossed in jail and left to rot for abusing ANY of her children. I am also certain that it was only a matter of time before the baby started being abused as well because that sort of 'parent' does not know how to deal with her kids in any other way, which is really sad.

I know all too well the trauma that can be caused from being severely beaten as a child - spent enough time in the hospital due to what my step-father did to me. Abuse stories do two things to me - 1) make me want to shelter those poor kids, and 2) beat the ever-loving shit out of the abuser. But you know what the kicker is? In most abuse cases, the abuse was abused themselves, and for some reason lack the ability to stop the cycle.

[Andara Bledin]

Y'know, I don't really care what 'reason' the mother provided for beating her child to death because there is no way to excuse what she did.

It doesn't really make a difference for that boy, and that mother, but for society, the reason why what happened happened is of vital importance.

This is a major societal malady that needs to be treated, and the only way to do that is to know the cause, not just the symptoms. This was absolutely exacerbated by her homophobia, and it's that unreasonable and unreasoning fear of the 'other' that has got to be stamped out.

[patiokitty]

I guess I'm not really looking at it from that point of view - I don't think any sort of abuse, regardless of the 'cause', is acceptable. Yes, homophobia results in some pretty bizarre behaviour, but frankly I think some people are just bound and determined to be assholes. They have found a convenient outlet for being an asshole, and in many cases are an abusive asshole who picks on those who are least able to defend themselves.

Perhaps I am missing something, but it seems that only time the mother's alleged homophobia manifested was when dealing with her son. I am not seeing incidences where she stated that she hated gay people, unless referring to her son. A homophobic individual usually has more than one outlet for their hatred, and I'm only seeing one here.

[Andara Bledin]

Perhaps I am missing something, but it seems that only time the mother's alleged homophobia manifested was when dealing with her son. I am not seeing incidences where she stated that she hated gay people, unless referring to her son. A homophobic individual usually has more than one outlet for their hatred, and I'm only seeing one here.

That was the only time it reflected on her. When it was other people's children being gay, she could point and laugh and talk shit about them with her boyfriend. But this was her son, an actual blood relation, someone for whom she was responsible, including the being gay part.

She abused all of her children, but she only severely abused one - the one she talked about "fix"ing.

[HYHYBT]

I guess I'm not really looking at it from that point of view - I don't think any sort of abuse, regardless of the 'cause', is acceptable.

Saying the cause matters isn't at all the same as saying abuse for other reasons is acceptable, especially when it's spelled out that the reason it matters is that knowing the cause is important in stamping out said cause.