The murder of Sophie Lancaster

[mimi_monsterr]

From wikipedia:

'The Murder of Sophie Lancaster was a murder case in the United Kingdom in 2007. The victim was attacked along with her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, while walking through Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Rossendale in Lancashire. As a result of her severe head injuries she went into a coma, never regained consciousness, and later died. The

Comments

Ugh.

[dallion]

I was looking for the old goths against hate website that was created in response to all the backlash from the school shootings in Columbine and Littleton and came across this:

http://www.godhatesgoths.com/

What a fine display of ignorance that is.

Re: Ugh.

[andshewasxgone]

Wow. Filth Satanic Whores is a big strong. I once found a site similar to this only about Wicca specifically.

All I can do is blink in a fairly dumbfounded manner when I read things like this. It's ridiculous.

Re: Ugh.

[lintu_lollypop]

...This has to be a joke.
(Please, please let this be a joke.)

Re: Ugh.

[pneumatical]

I can't believe I read this far down... but seriously?

GOD ALSO DETESTS RETARDS. DOWN SYNDROME, CEREBAL PALSY, THALIDOMIDES, DWARFISM, SPINA BIFIDA, AND OTHER CREATURES SPASTIC RETARDATIONS ARE REPULSIVE TO GOD....

And it goes on. I just. I have no words.

[almostindigo]

The worst I've had are the people who yell, "Halloween's over!"/"It's not Halloween yet!"/ect. They all seen to have the same insult. It really baffles me. Usually it only happens when I'm walking from my car to a store. I.E. People only have the nerve to honk their horn and yell something insulting at me out the window while they're driving by

[panicbeats]

"Halloween's over!"/"It's not Halloween yet!"

Haha, yes! Variations on these & "you look like you're dressed for a funeral" are some that I get all the time. Very creative, these people are.

[dark_sinestra]

I often get the "Halloween's over" one, too. So original. *eye roll* When I lived in northern Louisiana, I got harassed a lot for wearing a pentacle necklace, and I worked in a metaphysical bookstore that got targeted a lot by some religious nuts. They were a dangerous group. They burned a Yoga teacher's house down and crashed her daughter's funeral. (The death wasn't related to the fire.) Yeah, you know, Yoga. That dangerously subversive devil practice

[velessa]

Over yoga?? The depths of people's ignorance never fail to astound me...

[pensortia]

ah fuck, i've had troubles with chavs before although i dress quite 'commonly'. fuck chavs, they should all off themselves

[twilighttttt]

I wouldn't say I was 'goth' but a lot of people would say I was. I definitely got pushed around and made fun of a lot by people and the school.

[nekusagi]

I like the idea of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation, as teaching kids not to bully is concerned... but the idea of making a crime based on subculture/fashion a hate crime, to me, is somewhat problematic, since it groups attacking someone for something CHOSEN by the person with attacking someone for a factor they have no control over (race or sexual orientation). Killing someone for how they dress/act is fucked up, for sure, but... I'm not sure making it part of a hate crime charge is the way to go. Goths get a lot of hate, yeah, but it's not on the level of systematic oppression gays/minorities/transgendered people deal with. We can choose to leave our clothes at home or wear them where we feel safe. You can't do that with your race or sexual orientation.

IDK. I identify Goth myself.. I know the subculture has to put up with a lot of shit.. but it seems very steeped in privilege to demand a subculture be placed on the same level of something that honestly can't be changed by a person.

[nekusagi]

I think what squicks me the most is that Sophie Lancaster was white, which leads me to think that a lot of this has to do with privilege more than protecting any subculture (not that there aren't black goths/punks/whatever, but I'm about to get to that).

IDK, it just seems like if Sophie wasn't a white girl, people wouldn't pay this as much mind or be calling for it to be called a hate crime. Like white people need their own classification for hate crimes to feel like they're in on it, or something. Missing White Girl syndrome and everything.

[brockulfsen]

I actually like the idea. It stops hate groups claiming it wasn't a hate crime because the victim chose to cross-dress, have Teh Gay or whatever.