Charlotte-based National Gay Rights Advocate Speaks Out After Horrific Rock Hill Attack

ROCK HILL -- The brutal beating of a gay man has prompted local representatives to re-introduce a hate crime bill when the state Legislature reconvenes next week, but those intentions are being met with resistance.

The measure, led by SC state Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, was prompted by the beating of Joshua Esskew at a convience store, which was caught on the store's video tape.

King's hate crime bill, which went nowhere in the General Assembly when first introduced last year, is expected again to be met with opposition. A spokesman for Gov. Nikki Haley told a reporter from the Rock Hill Herald that the newly elected governor does not support state hate crime laws.

Shane Windmeyer,
Campus Pride Executive Director
"Individuals who believe that a crime is a crime is a crime do not understand the definition of a hate crime or the unique impact a hate crime has on an entire targeted community," says Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride, a national, Charlotte-based nonprofit for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities.

"Hate crimes terrorize an entire community -- in this case gay and lesbian people, namely our youth. The notion that all violent crimes are hate crimes is inaccurate and harmful to continually perpetuate in this manner," says Windmeyer, who has been featured on MSNBC's The Situation with Tucker Carlson and in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, OUT Magazine and TIME Magazine. "A hate crime is a criminal act motivated by an act of bias toward an individual based on who they are -- their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability and in this case sexual orientation."

The York County Sheriff's Office is investigating the beating as an assault by a mob inflicting serious injury - a new law that took effect last year and carries a maximum punishment of 25 years in prison, the Herald reported, but South Carolina has no hate crime laws.

The FBI is investigating the beating to see if what happened to Esskew was a hate crime or a violation of his civil rights under federal law. No arrests have been made. King's bill would make it a felony with punishments of two to 15 years in prison for someone convicted of assaulting, threatening or intimidating a person based on race, religion or sexual preference.

"Our Stop The Hate program distills the false arguments being made by legislators in South Carolina who are against passage of a hate crime law," say Windmeyer. "Local law enforcement and communities need to stand united in confronting hate crimes and passing a statewide law would give more tools for them to do so locally. Nobody should be a victim of a crime simply for being who they are. Period."