It Can Happen Here ... It Has Happened Here

Submitted by Linda

We all tend to believe hate crimes happen in other places. We don’t want to believe it can happen here – that our “crazies” are not as dangerous as the ones in other areas.
Do you remember Clayton Lee Waagner?

Before the AFA and religious extremists in Venango county jumped on the anti-gay campaign, they focused their fear and hatred on abortion clinics. And in Kennerdale, in VENANGO COUNTY, they created a zealot who landed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives list.

His wife, then living near Clintonville, said, “he had targeted 40 people to kill if they didn't quit.”

The Associated Press reported;
“During his trial, Waagner testified that he had watched abortion clinics for months, stocking up on weapons after God asked him to "be my warrior" and kill doctors who provide abortions.

The Rev. Donald Spitz, a Pentecostal minister who heads Pro-Life Virginia in Chesapeake, Va., and a Waagner supporter, said it was shame that he got caught.”

It can happen here. It has happened here.

All it takes is one person hearing the message of hate and intolerance and deciding to be a “warrior” for God. And make no mistake; there are people in Venango County affiliated with AFA who, like Rev. Spitz, would not be unhappy to see that kind of warrior spring up in our midst.

The “action alerts” sent out by this group ARE intended to motivate readers to action. They first build a case that GLBT people are dangerous to the family and pose a huge risk to the community. The parallels to anti-abortion campaigns cannot be ignored. Then, as now with GLBT issues, they felt they were loosing control legislatively and with public attitudes. This is when there is the greatest danger of someone emerging to take matters into their own hands.

It’s not a matter of free speech. The AFA and WAWN use false reports and twisted logic to create fear and hatred of GLBT people. I believe these fall into the category of “fighting words”. Though it hasn’t been tested in court since Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), fighting words are not protected by the first amendment.