In Vancouver today, this violent homophobe got what he deserved
Shawn Woodward was sentenced to six years in jail today for what a judge described as an "unprovoked attack driven by virulent homophobia" on Ritch Dowrey, 62, which has left the gay man with a severe brain injury.
Or did he?
Unlike some of my friends, I think he got enough time, and I don't want Woodward to be assaulted in jail. Once I would have wanted him killed.
Now I just want him to wake up every morning, and reflect on the two lives he destroyed.
Especially the life of this gentle gay man...
I visited Dowrey at his care home in Langley the day before his attacker’s sentencing hearing.
Dowrey can’t remember the attack.
He can’t remember his friends at The Fountainhead.
He can’t remember his life.
I ask him how old he is; “60-something,” he tells me, unable to be more precise. “I don’t remember a thing from the 40s and 50s,” he adds.
I ask him why.
“I don’t know,” he replies, watching me.
Dowrey is sitting in the recliner his Fountainhead friends bought for him. “It’s very nice,” he says. “Very nice.”
I tell him how much his friends miss him. “Thank you, thank you,” he says.
But before you dismiss this sad story as just an ugly incident that could happen anywhere.
Ask yourself why a beautiful city like Vancouver is now the gay bashing capital of Canada. Why the hate is spreading like wildfire.
Why so few straight people seem to care. Or so few bloggers blog about it.
Then ask yourself why Stephen Harper thinks antisemitism is a bigger problem in Canada than homophobia.
Police services are reporting a big jump in hate crimes, and they say gay men are being targeted more often and in the most violent incidents.
Then defeat his foul bigot government that has done NOTHING to fight it.
Think about Rich Dowrey. Speak out. Break the silence.
And kill homophobia DEAD...
Sedum13
ReplyDeleteI just wonder how many times that that slime went into the Fountainhead knowing full well that it's a gay bar, looking for the opportunity to cold cock an older gentleman. It would never have occurred to that cowardly piece of dirt to pick on someone his own age or size.
I wish I had your cool reasoning but a six year sentence means a two year sentence by and large unless he causes trouble.
Oh wait.... he will.
.
hi Sedum13... well perhaps I overstated my coolness... ;) Had I been in that bar and seen that coward hit an older man, I guarantee you he would never have made it out of the door in a conscious state.
ReplyDeleteBut sitting here, under the watchful eye of my martial arts trainer, I see the coward as yet another victim of homophobia. He obviously went there looking to hook up, and when only the older guy was friendly, the self loathing came flooding out of him. Truly pathetic...