Rainbow Flag Burning is

[rlvaughn]

....not free speech. Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for Burning Rainbow Flag Outside of an Iowa Strip Club

A Latino man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for burning a rainbow flag outside of a gay bar after he was charged with a felony hate crime for his controversial showing of free speech.

30-year-old Adolfo Martinez was found guilty of a class “D” felony hate crime as well as reckless use of fire and third-degree harassment for his display. He took a rainbow pride banner from the Ames United Church of Christ and burned it outside the Dangerous Curves Gentleman’s Club on the night of June 11.

I think it is sad that burning an American Flag is "free speech," but burning a "rainbow flag" is a hate crime. I think the "hate crime" aspect is what drove this prosecution -- even though the County Attorney's office said it was not "political." However, the perpetrator made it more complicated than it being just a free speech matter. For example, rather than purchasing the banner, he stole it. Also, the length of his sentence was extended because he was considered a "repeat offender."

Man convicted of burning LGBTQ flag, prosecutor calls hate crime case ‘historic’

 

[Jerome]

Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for Burning Rainbow Flag Outside of an Iowa Strip Club

Why he was at that strip club anyway?

 

[robycop3]

i totally disagree with the disposition of this case! a rainbow flag is not "official" for anything. it's c cause's banner. However, he should be punished for stealing it & destroying someone else's property, or if he endangered anyone or any other property when he burned it.

But a HATE CRIME? GIMME A BREAK !


I'm all-but-certain a court of appeals will toss this appalling injustice quickly. Even if he was a repeat offender, stealing a flag is a misdemeanor, & the bailiwick was wrong for calling it a felony.

And some of the "hate crime" mighta been by that bailiwick, which threw the book at him for being Hispanic.

 

[MartyF]

....not free speech. Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for Burning Rainbow Flag Outside of an Iowa Strip Club


I think it is sad that burning an American Flag is "free speech," but burning a "rainbow flag" is a hate crime. I think the "hate crime" aspect is what drove this prosecution -- even though the County Attorney's office said it was not "political." However, the perpetrator made it more complicated than it being just a free speech matter. For example, rather than purchasing the banner, he stole it. Also, the length of his sentence was extended because he was considered a "repeat offender."

Man convicted of burning LGBTQ flag, prosecutor calls hate crime case ‘historic’

I find it sad that burning a Bible is free speech, but burning a rainbow flag is hate speech.

 

[rlvaughn]

Why he was at that strip club anyway?

Apparently it was a gay bar/strip club, and he was there as a sort of protest. Not sure.

i totally disagree with the disposition of this case! a rainbow flag is not "official" for anything. it's a cause's banner. However, he should be punished for stealing it & destroying someone else's property, or if he endangered anyone or any other property when he burned it...I'm all-but-certain a court of appeals will toss this appalling injustice quickly.

Agree.

Even if he was a repeat offender, stealing a flag is a misdemeanor, & the bailiwick was wrong for calling it a felony.

We have the "habitual offender" thing here as well. Not sure whether it works the same as that in Iowa. Several years ago we convicted a man as a felony, which the particular crime was stealing cigarettes from a mini-mart. The back story, though, was that this guy in his 50s had continually been in crime since his teens, and the DA finally had enough, I suppose. I think the guy couldn't function in society and really wanted to go back to jail anyway. I don't think the Iowa case is much like that, though, and that they went after him aggressively because of the anti-LGBTQ element. Besides, I expect it was in the discretion of the County Attorney on whether or not to prosecute under the habitual criminal banner.

 

[Jerome]

Just a few months ago, also in Iowa:

Slap on wrist for man who burned up LGBT-themed public library books

"On Saturday, Oct. 6, Dorr checked out four LGBTQ-themed books from the Orange City Public Library: Two Boys Kissing, This Day in June, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, and Families, Families, Families."

"Dorr...burned the library books on Friday, Oct. 19...during the three-day OC Pride festival in Orange City."

"Orange City Magistrate Lisa Mazurek found Paul Robert Dorr guilty of one count of fifth-degree criminal mischief, which is a simple misdemeanor."

"Mazurek gave Dorr the following sentence...a $65 fine...surcharge of $22.75 and $60 in court costs."

Paul Dorr and wife Debra at the county courthouse

 

[church mouse guy]

In Chicago a few months ago, a priest Fr. Paul Kalchik was cleaning out a storage area of an old church Resurrection Parish when he found a large rainbow flag. He and the proper members of his parish burnt it in the parking lot. When the Chicago Cardinal Cupich heard of it, he sent a couple of thugs around to ask the priest what would happen if he were dead. The priest has since gone into hiding. That was in September 2018.

So I suppose that 15 years is better than death but the whole thing is an indication of the power and hatred of the heterophobic LGBTUVWXYZ movement towards others. There should be no punishment for burning a rainbow flag.

Chicago Priest Goes Into Hiding to Escape Cdl. Cupich's Punishment

 

[Reformed1689]

So you can burn a Bible, you can burn an American flag, you can burn the President in Effigy, but burning the rainbow flag is off limits?

 

[Benjamin]

So you can burn a Bible, you can burn an American flag, you can burn the President in Effigy,...

Imagine the outrage should someone be sentenced to prison for any of this?

...but burning the rainbow flag is off limits?

Not for me its not! No fear...

 

[church mouse guy]

Imagine the outrage should someone be sentenced to prison for any of this?



Not for me its not! No fear...

You couldn't burn the rainbow flag on Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Indianapolis. You'd have 50 thousand heterophobes after you. In the case of Fr. Paul Kalchik, the Vatican has an international secret police force. Cardinal Cupich says that Kalchik belongs in a mental hospital but his emissaries asked Kalchik what would happen if he were dead in front of witnesses. Does anyone think that Kalchik would survive the mental hospital that they would put him in?